6 Criteria for Your First Role Post-MBA

Raines International recently sat down with David Snider, an ex-Bain consultant turned COO / CFO of Compass, one of New York’s hottest startups, to talk about his experience helping to grow a company to 305+ people and a valuation of $360 million in under two years. One question we asked him: How did you choose this particular opportunity?

David identified his six key criteria for a post-business school opportunity:

• 1) Geography“My preference was to come back to New York, though I’d look at things in Boston and San Francisco even if they weren’t my first choice.”
• 2) Industry“[I considered industries] that broadly interested me… real estate, financial services, and a couple others I could see myself in.”
• 3) Impact“Most important functionally was a role where I would have impact on a business.”
• 4) Trajectory“The business [had to have] a positive expected trajectory.”
• 5) Relationships within the company“Fifth was, ideally, knowing someone in the company, because I thought that would be helpful. I didn’t have to know them super well or be best friends with them, but I had a relationship with Robert Reffkin [CEO of Urban Compass, ex-McKinsey] and knew some other folks at the company.
• 6) Equity“Finally, I thought it was important that there was an equity component in some form. No matter what, I wanted to feel a deep personal investment in the success of the business.”

Ultimately, David says, “I looked at a lot of different options, but tried to keep those criteria in mind. I figured I’d reasonably get four out of six, and the opportunity at Compass was six of six.”

For more on David’s experience at Compass, the skills that he believes are most important to his success, and the type of consultant he seeks to hire, read Raines International’s full interview with David Snider at Raines Intel.