Career Path Thread: Money is happiness

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Career Path Thread: Money is happiness

moon demon: Sep 11, 2001; of the moon, of the dream

So I posted this in the accounting thread as a bit of a rant, but it seems more apt for this thread:

chupacabraTERROR posted:

I'm about 6 months into my big4 tax job and I'm really not liking it. I have the kind if personality who likes to really get involved and have my work actually matter. In college I founded my own website startup and spent maybe 200 hours of my free time doing it. I think it was because I was running the show and I get addicted to things that I can get my hands around. The website hasn't gone anywhere yet, but it's given me a glimpse at what it's like to work somewhere other than big 4 tax.

I haven't even had a busy season yet and I'm not liking it. Being at the beck and call of the client 24-7 is exhausting. Essentially the job has no greater meaning that just doing task A within time constraint Y, repeat as necessary. I don't mind long hours, but I don't know how people stay up till 4am doing tax returns.

My coworker described it in a sports analogy ( I know, I know): public accounting (particularly tax) is like defense, you prevent poor tax decisions and file paperwork after the fact. I want to be involved in the offense where people are making decisions that impact tomorrow rather than yesterday. I guess I've got the startup bug, where I just want to work with a small team and make decisions that can help build something.

For what it's worth I went to a top school with a great GPA so grad school is on the table, but not for a few years. I also have 6 more months of work experience until I can get my CPA (which I already passed) so jumping ship is out of the question for the time being.

Please advise accounting goons I am having an identity crisis

Basically I want to get into management of a startup company. I have my own, but I need a paycheck in the short term. I've considered working for a VC firm here in LA, but I'm not sure they hire people without VC experience? Anyone have any thoughts?

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 00:29

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 04:58

moon demon: Sep 11, 2001; of the moon, of the dream

Harry posted:

You don't like being at the beck and call of clients, but want to join a VC firm?

I know that logic is pretty flawed, but my reasoning is this: doing client service at either firm is really not my final goal, but if I have to choose, I'd rather be learning about how companies are run and how VC values companies than just filling out tax returns. It seems like what I really want to do is mostly for top MBA grads or genius (or lucky) startup founders. I really don't know all that much about what a VC entry-level analyst does, so anyone who has experience should fill me in!

Ultimate Mango posted:

If you want to get into management of a startup, go found or help found a startup! That is one of the best ways to get into VC in general. I have known several people who have made the transition, and it has always been from the relationships they have made with VCs (not necessarily the ones who invested with them either) as a part of a startup. This is also a pretty good read, but may be mostly what you already are working on...

The LA VC market is tough, but there. Might be easier for you to look up in the bay area for someone looking to expand or is just expanding down here.

What sort of industry was your website in? Perhaps there are other related avenues that would be more interesting than corporate tax? Alternatively put two years in corporate tax and actively work towards a transfer to consulting. If you like VC, big 4 consulting will get you a leg up but it is a longer play.

My startup is a website that helps college students find apartments. I've posted about it in BFC before, not sure where the post went. Anyway the link is https://www.aptologist.com. I'm working with the programmer to get the site to a point that we feel comfortable pushing it to college students. It's a side-job for myself and the programmer, so progress isn't as fast as I'd like. If we had the money, I'd do that full time in a heartbeat.

I have some connections in the bay so I may look into that in the future, I'm just tied to LA until my girlfriend graduates next summer. I've considered transferring into advisory, so that's probably something that I'll look into.

Anyone with any VC analyst experience should post and tell me I'm insane!

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 04:14

moon demon: Sep 11, 2001; of the moon, of the dream

Ultimate Mango posted:

Make no bones about it, you are insane. But so are many VCs.

Seems like you are at a place in life when you can be entrepreneurial so go for it, but try not to do something that really hurts long term. Big 4 ain't what it used to be but it still can be a massive career accelerator and provide another path to where you want to go.

Yeah, pretty much. I'm going to try to stay as long as I can bear it, so probably 2 years. After that, I'll take my chances in the bay. By "doing something that really hurts long term" do you mean leaving tomorrow and joining a (funded) startup? Or do you mean something as drastic as moving back home and learning programming? I won't be doing either, but I'd at least consider the first option...

# ¿ Mar 14, 2013 06:16

moon demon: Sep 11, 2001; of the moon, of the dream

Ultimate Mango posted:

Your head is in the right place. Don't bail prematurely on the big four gig and then don't be be of those guys who rides failing startup after failing startup into the ground. Having a successful startup can get you good VC contacts but you can get a bad reputation much more easily.

Another path would be to find an incubator or startup like group that happens to be part of a larger organization. I saw someone parlay growing a team in a tangent business under a parent company with 100,000+ employees and come out the top with a premier VC firm. Parent company folded the startup group but in the experience this junior exec got great contacts equivalent to a home run startup venture even though it eventually failed miserably (I was a part of the team and it was a hoot). Don't limit yourself in thinking, there can be great opportunities in the strangest of places.

I you really want to sell your metaphorical soul, investor activism is heating up and you could likely get into a firm with VC like mentality just from an M&A activity perspective rather than pure startup.

Hm, I'm interested in this incubator/startup group that's part of a larger company. I've heard that Google has one of these, I think I will look into this! Do you know of any other major ones worth looking into?

# ¿ Mar 16, 2013 19:27

moon demon: Sep 11, 2001; of the moon, of the dream

But I just want a job that pays a lot and I don't have to work that much is that so much to ask :mad:

# ¿ Apr 5, 2013 16:45

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 04:58

moon demon: Sep 11, 2001; of the moon, of the dream

So, I need some career advice. I'm currently a tax accountant (2nd year) at a big 4 firm. My degree is in business/economics with an accounting minor. I've got my CPA.

It turns out that I don't really like accounting, or at least tax accounting as I've come to know it. I'm very good at it, and I could make a lot of money doing it, but I just don't care for the work. I'm a very driven person and I can feel this job sapping my drive to ask "why" and it has made me pretty apathetic towards work in general. I see the managers above me and do not want their lifestyle because they are unhappy and work 24/7.

So that leads me to my career choices. Given my background it makes sense to go into some sort of analyst type role where I can use my CPA and accounting knowledge to help make better business decisions. I've also considered a Product Manager type role where I can see myself managing the business end of product development.

If you look at my posting history you can see my interests are in tech. While I don't have any tech-oriented education, I think I could use that passion to help me learn product management. I've considered going the startup route (I founded one in college that didn't work out but I loved it and could get a job with a startup pretty easily). I've also got connections at larger companies where I could pursue this path.

So the question is really about picking a path and a lifestyle. I greatly value my work-life balance, and while I don't mind putting in the hours, I don't think working 70 hours a week is very productive.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Any analysts or product managers in industry have any insight? Big company or startup???

help me I have too many options

# ¿ Sep 25, 2013 21:42

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Career Path Thread: Money is happiness