Looking beyond Corp Dev / Strat
Started my career in IB and have been in Corp Dev now for 3 years. Pay is solid, work is interesting / high impact, and the exposure to the c-suite is excellent, but recently have been disliking the idea of capping out as a head of CD / Strat. Has anyone made a switch from CD back into finance via VC / GE, or switched to a biz mgmt / product / biz dev role? Curious how others have thought through the process and whether they’ve found work more interesting with higher career growth prospects. Yoe: 6 TC: $250k
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Microsoft HefePesos May 24, 2022
Not a common path. Same with VP becoming P. Yes Joe Biden did it but it’s not a common path.
Did you have any exposure to operations? If so you can maybe move to Product Strategy in tech firms, then medium term move to Product Management.
Is product strat and management differentiated among most firms? Would product mgmt experience not be a prereq to influence product strat?
It’s definitely differentiated. Product Strategy requires consulting skills. A lot of market sizing, addressable opportunities, competitive analysis. It’s much more high level, and the skills are easily transferable back and forth to VC and consulting. Product Management gets down deep into the details. What features do you build to reach x goal? How do you prioritise resources and bridge the gap between business and engineering? What’s the user journey? What would the user experience be? Product Management isn’t a prerequisite to Product Strategy, and vice versa. You’d be an excellent candidate if you have both skills. Source: Product Strategy and Product Management Head