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TylerDurden
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Year Off Before Business School to Pursue Entrepreneurship 07 Nov 2013, 08:09
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Some quick background on myself - graduated in 2010, worked at a major investment bank as an analyst for 2 years, now at a lower middle market private equity firm where I have worked as an associate for about a year and a half.

I would like to go to business school at some point as I personally feel that going through an MBA program would be beneficial to me for a variety of reasons. My firm has given me the option of staying on for a third year as a senior associate, but I really do not see a future for myself in private equity or finance.

I have always been interested in technology and entrepreneurship and have a solid opportunity lined up where I would be able to work on the marketing/business development side at an early-stage start up. I would not receive a paycheck until the company secures additional funding, but I have enough in savings to hold me over and I think this would be an excellent learning opportunity and low-risk way to "try-out" tech/entrepreneurship - if things don't go well, I can go on to get my MBA and pursue another career afterwards.

My questions are: Do you think this is a good idea? How would this look on b-school applications (favorable or unfavorable?) I would essentially be doing this for about a year and plan to go to business school in fall 2015.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
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VeritasPrepBrandon
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Year Off Before Business School to Pursue Entrepreneurship 07 Nov 2013, 12:16
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Wow, I felt like I was reading about myself! I graduated from Notre Dame in 2008 and worked at a middle-market investment bank for 3 years. I then worked at a mid-market pe shop for 1.5 years, before moving to NYC to try out entrepreneurship. I co-founded a finance recruiting firm called TransparenCV in NYC, and am now working on a few other ventures. You and I have very similar profiles!

I would highly encourage you to go for it. I do not regret it. I also knew that private equity was not going to be where I would end up, so I did not see a lot of point in sticking around. That being said, it is a tough road. Entrepreneurship is more difficult than Finance, in my opinion.

For business school applications, YES. I think that it would help you a lot. There are too many straight finance guys applying to business school. Show some initiative and be different, and your odds increase.

I hope that helps! I'd love to connect and learn more about what you're doing.

Brandon