Resources for Moving from Consulting to a Startup

Lots of people have written amazing resources on how to move from consulting into a startup role, as well as how to navigate important but often opaque topics like equity or reverse interviewing.

This is a compilation of some of my favorite resources that I found & used during my job search. That said, the startup landscape is constantly evolving, so this list is too! Let me know if there are resources I should add.

Good Overviews

• The Ultimate Guide to Finding a Startup Job - Very tactical guide on how to identify and reach out to startups, questions to ask to diligence startups’ prospects, and how to think about comp
• How to Make the Leap from Consulting to a Startup - Guide by ex-Bainie Julia DeWahl (early at Opendoor). Covers learning about startups, interviewing and assessing them, and how to succeed on the job
• Ways to Stand Out When You Apply for a Startup - TL;DR: just dropping your resume is unlikely to be effective, adding value is a much better strategy!
• How to Enter Side Doors - good breakdown of how to get the job you want, not via the application form :)

Places to Look for Roles

Job Boards

• Ali Rohde Jobs: Ops/CoS/Generalist/VC
• Next Play: Wide range of roles, informal network
• Chief of Staff network: Chief of Staff/Ops

VC/Accelerator Job Listings

• YC’s Work at a Startup
• Most accelerators maintain some sort of ‘Jobs’ page where you can search roles within their network; that said, if you know a VC who you can ask directly about promising portfolio companies / jobs in their network, that’s even better 🙂

Recruiters (ex-consulting specific)

• Golden Gate - Really great team of ex-Bainies. Lots of helpful resources on their site as well.
• Omna Search - Bigger than Golden Gate, ex-McKinsey founders. Haven’t worked with them personally, but seem to have good reach.

On Chief of Staff Roles, Specifically

• The Chief of Staff role in Silicon Valley: By Julia DeWahl, again 🙂. Overview of the role and FAQs for candidates/executives.
• Don’t Hire a Chief of Staff: For contrast with Julia’s take.

Evaluating a Company

• Reverse Interviewing: Your questions are the last impression you leave an interviewer with. This article has good tips for how to come prepared to make sure the role & team would set you up for success (and set yourself apart in the process).
• What To Ask in Interviews: Startups are risky. You can, and should, ask about PMF, Revenue/ARR, Runway. These questions impact your job stability, ask them upfront!
• Tactical Company Building Lessons: Ask These Questions before Joining: TL;DR, do you believe in the founders and their passion/vision?
• Also ask about comp upfront! This sets expectations & saves everyone time if expectations are misaligned

Comp + Equity

Comp

• Several of the previously shared resources include compensation resources - specifically Omna, Golden Gate, and Vinay Ingeyar (via OptionImpact)
• Other websites like levels.fyi and Glassdoor put out some comp data for free, but coverage of Ops / CoS type jobs varies

Equity

• Equity for Software Engineers: Super comprehensive, and engineers aren’t the only ones who need this info!
• Stripe’s Equity Guide: While this is written for founders, it’s clearly written and a helpful guide for heuristics (e.g. equity %s to grant by role) as well as to understand second-level concepts like ISOs vs. NSOs. Maybe not necessary upfront, but helpful down the line.
• Front Equity Calculator: A free tool from Front to help model the value of your equity package in different exit scenarios
• Next Play’s “Everything you should know about equity: A good plain language overview

Succeeding Once You’re There

• How to Make the Leap from Consulting to a Startup: Yes, I linked this at the top also, but it has great content on this topic!
• Tactical Company Building Lessons: Taking Charge of Your Startup Career: Another repeat, but also contains good tactical advice around leaning into the product and filling gaps on the job