Career Advice

I have been working in a small bootstrap startup ( 50 employees). The company is profitable and have great culture and ethics ( best out of the 4 companies I have worked for). I am expecting a decent salary hike (30%), career and learning growth. Should I look for a larger organisation or make up my mind for a long term career in my current organisation. P.S. I have 3 years of post- MBA experience and I have done Btech and MBA from premium institutes.

Do I loose out on senior roles in larger/ ‘branded’ orgs as I gain more experience due not being an MBA from top 10? Current role - PM at Unicorn YoE - 4.5 , Pm ex -2 Education : BTech from tier 3 college Ctc - 41 lpa + esops I haven’t been able to get any short lists from MANGA or other large tech orgs only from startups.

Engineering grad. Transitioned into marketing right out of college. ~2 years of experience. Started out on a shit pay, currently underpaid but getting good exposure and learning a lot. This was a conscious decision as I am focused on learning, growth and personal development. Feedback is, I have made massive professional progress in the last 1.5 years and the company too (at my request) is giving me more agency to explore and diversify my skill set. This means; mainly more responsibilities, a few operations related decisions & tasks and a few sales calls and client presentations. I work at a very small startup and I feel, despite having the opportunity to learn here, the environment or mostly the pay is too shit/low. I am already a star employee here and I feel it would be a good time to switch, to be amongst a group wherein I can get more challenges and opportunities. Of course, a higher pay would be wonderful as well. While, job switching is an option, I am also thinking about doing an MBA. I feel if I can build upon this momentum and get into a good college - it would negate years of grind that I would have to put (in the current scenario). I really would like you good people to analyse my situation and help me out, please. TIA.

Overview: Everyone around me, be it old school friends to the people in the bangalore startup ecosystem are planning to or already in the process of doing an MBA. What is happening: Most of the people I know, either are going for a tier 1 MBA in India or colleges like “Carnegie Mellon”/ “INSEAD”/ “NUS” these are really good places. Why am I concerned: I dont have great acade, GEM candidate so I have decided to not pursue CAT at all, and MBA outside India is too expensive. I feel like my job and career are going fine with 4 years of professional experience I am making 25LPA in marketing. I am not keen on doing an MBA but I dont want to regret later. I consider myself to be fairly smart but what happens when I am competing with people who have great brand names on their resume and are actually smart. People on GV with more experience, have you gone through this struggle? Sidenote: I also have friends who have cleared IIM ABC, ISB and not gone, because they just wanted the admit letter. Which is brave lol!

Hi folks, thinking of writing a regular mini blog here about my learnings being a generalist in the ecosystem. I currently handle growth at an ecom startup and have previously been through 2-3 startups + a large corporate in my 7 year career. #1: Why you should not stay only in startups Recently started reflecting on salaries of many peers who are also startup folks and trying to see where it stands. There are 3 cohorts: a. People who started out in Big 4/Corporate & then became a generalist: They've been underpaid the most. First pay was 4-5L, and when they transitioned to startups, started at 7-9L. Over time, growing from there is difficult without MBA. b. People who have forever been in startups: They earn more than A on average. But here too, there is a delta in their salaries vs. people with same YoE who went to an MBA and are in corporate now. Side note: I've seen this cohort has usually loved what they've done, and being in startups definitely has positively impacted their thought process. c. People who went to a corporate/big tech etc. mid way: This cohort has done the best long term. Their pay got recalibrated when they went to a larger company in the middle through their career, and when they rejoined startups, they were respected more in salary negotiation. This is to anybody out there who is a generalist and sees a similar path. Try to sandwich a proper, large company in your career. It gives you perspective on whether you like it and if startups is really your preferred route. And it also recalibrates your pay. Startups will limit you basis your last salary. Corporates have standards basis bands. Just something to think over. NOTE: Do share feedback, if this makes sense. And if you'd like to read more of these too.

Do I loose out on senior roles in larger/ ‘branded’ orgs as I gain more experience due not being an MBA from top 10? Current role - PM at Unicorn YoE - 4.5 , Pm exp - 2 Education : BTech from tier 3 college Ctc - 41 lpa + esops I haven’t been able to get any short lists from MANGA or other large tech orgs only from startups.

Total YoE :4 years (3 as dev and 1 as Product Manager). MBA from Tier 1 college. Product experience is in US healthcare but I don't want to continue working in that domain. My current pay is absymally low tbh. Want to work in the Indian/APAC time zones. Plase ley me know or comment here if you have any openings in your company

Hi, I know it’s a much debated topic but I wanted honest views of my fellow grapers/viners/grapeviners. How valuable is an MBA as a PM? What are the trade-offs - MBA vs Non MBA? Does it affect the career 10 years down the line? About myself: I’ve 3.5 years of work experience as a PM in the BFSI sector. I did my engineering from a tier 1 institute and started my career as a PM. Currently wondering what to do next. The learning experience in the current company has been below par as of today with no signs of improvement. I would like to explore VC, PE but I’m happy with PM too. If you are pro MBA, bonus points for suggesting any relevant courses. If against, then please suggest any upskilling resources 🙌🏻 TIA

I am currently working in a Series A funded startup based out of Blr, and we are hopeful to raise another round in a few months (let’s assume this is certain for the sake of discussion). I’m thinking b/w between deciding to stick here for 4-5 years min, and pursuing MBA (aiming for abroad ideally) I am a growth manager right now, with 4 years experience in total, w/ 1.5yr at my present company. I get along with my team very well, think my manager is a great mentor for me right now and really love the product we are building. The growth prospects of the company are pretty good as well and we are very (cautiously) optimistic about raising Series B in this funding winter. My main dilemma comes when I think of money that I can probably earn here or elsewhere if I pursue education further. No matter where I work I’d rather do it for the stock options and give myself a chance at an early age to get to a good financial state asap. At the same time, despite the upfront costs that an MBA brings, there’s sureshot way that I’ll get to a higher pay whereas relying on a Startup’s ESOPs is riskier comparatively. I’ll be walking into my appraisal call in a couple of weeks. I’m paid 20L fixed + 10L ESOPs right now. I studied at a tier 1 institute, not that it matters, but compensation wise I want to be matched to my peers. Is it sensible for me to ask for a marginal fixed comp hike and ESOPs of 30L-40L (is this the right amount to ask for the risk I’m taking) in the hopes of getting wealth - Is this significant enough for me to ditch my other options (or companies)? Or should I stick to standard hikes and pursue an MBA?