Entrepreneur - who do I select as my recommenders

Question

Dear community,

I am Dutch and have lived and worked in 9 countries.
In the period 2007 - 2015 - I worked as a management consultant with intense high profile cases to my name.
In 2015, I started out on my own as a fund raiser for start ups. I worked on 11 ventures out of which one works and generated 650k USD in revenue last year.

I have plenty of people from my journey who are willing to recommend me. However I am having a tough time deciding who to select. Below my choices
1. Angel Investor who put in money into the successful venture, who was also my manager in the past
2. Founder - whose company benefited from my effort
3. Ex clients (Senior Leadership) from period 2012 - 2015 - Intense period of involvement with Strategic outcomes
4. Ex bosses from period 2007 - 2012

Look forward to your views. Thanks !

Warm Regards,
Arj

souvonik2k · Answer

Hi
Looking at the options you have you should select someone as your recommender, who knows you personally (but not a relative), can put your qualities upfront with a few real life situations and who writes well. Hope you can select someone among the above mentioned persons.

arjund · Answer

Thanks. None of the above options are related to me ( So no family connection )
I am trying to gauge who from these options would be best suited though.

ARLeeConsulting · Answer

Hi  arjund ,

I am more inclined towards selecting ex-clients and ex-bosses.

Most recommendation letters ask the recommenders to comment on your strengths & weakness, and on your potential for senior management or becoming a business leader. Of your options, I believe ex-clients and ex-bosses will be most suited to comment on all these, especially ex-bosses.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!
Alex

TheIvyLeagueEdge · Answer

Hi Arjund,

Keep the following things in mind about your referee/ endorser
1) Interaction with referee AS RECENT AS POSSIBLE. Anything over 3 years is not advised.
2) Preferably one who has seen your up close (preferably for 6+ months)
3) Ideally, the person should also have seen you work in a team setting. Will help him/ her answer many questions in the LORs.

Feel free to pm for details

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

I would start by first targeting the person who will give the strongest, most fulsome recommendation meaning they know you best, can speak in-depth to your abilities, and also will speak positively about you. Next the more recent the better, so hopefully these things do triangulate for you. One thing to also consider is that you have some traditional work experience and some non traditional work experience. Consider, through the filter above, if you can pick on recommender from each bucket, it may help give a balanced perspective on your abilities

mbaMissionKrista · Answer

Hey  arjund 
Thanks for posting. I think 1, 2, or 3 could work. 4 might be tough because it's been six years. I'd really prefer someone who can speak about the person that you are today! Not the person that you were six years ago. Now, I can be swayed if you've stayed in touch with that person since 2012 and regularly go to them for career coaching and mentoring. But if it's been a passive social relationship since 2012, I'd leave them off the list. 
Hope that helps! Please set up a free consultation if you'd like to chat more!
Krista

ABatExpertsGlobal · Answer

Hi arjund , Here are a few things you must consider while selecting your recommender: - Pick someone who has worked with you in the last couple of years; the Ad Com wants to know who you are today

Go with someone who has had a direct and close association simply because their recommendation will be enriched with situational examples and not appear generic. - Go with someone who you know will have a number of positive things to say and of course be able to comment on your leadership skills/teamwork abilities. - If you've worked on a range of projects/varied types of jobs, select recommenders who will be able to bring in diversity i.e comment on different facets of your personality. - The recommender should not be related to you neither should you have worked with him in a personal capacity. From the information that you have shared, you could pick from Options 1, 2, 3...Option 4 was very long ago and will not be desirable

For more on this, we recommend you watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoooOOm ... e=youtu.be Hope this helps!

All the best!

ARINGO · Answer

Hi Arj,
Recommendations are usually assessed according to three guidelines. These guidelines will help you select the right recommender:
A. The content. For example, the level of enthusiasm and support conveyed by the recommender and the reasons for it. These reasons will preferably include specific real-life examples.
B. The nature and length of your acquaintance. The longer and more intensive the acquaintance is, the better. The most effective recommenders are usually those that have supervised your work (unless the specific school guidelines instruct you otherwise). 
C. The recommender’s background. Assume two potential recommenders for which criteria ‘a’ and ‘b’ are equally strong. Under this scenario, a recommendation from a CEO or a government minister, for example, would be considered more powerful than a recommendation from a junior manager.

Entrepreneur - who do I select as my recommenders

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