Has anyone successfully transitioned to product manager role at a startup from consulting? Any advice? My sense is that many startups don’t understand the world of consulting.

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If you’re at a venture backed firm with >50 employees, at least in most major markets in the US, that really isn’t a startup anymore. Maybe it’s culture shock if you’re coming from MBB or Big 4 that there is far less hand-holding than in consulting / corporate America, but generally speaking the CEO at that point isn’t worried about payroll.

By the time you’re at 500 employees, you’re well into multiple rounds of venture funding or revenue generally exceeding $20-30M or more.

And, as someone who was an early stage employee at 4 companies and co-founder in another two, I’ll say this (without trying to be too rude): it’s not that startups don’t “understand” consulting, it’s that many of not most founders and CEOs will de-prioritize hiring consultants or at least valuing their skill sets. There’s nothing inherently wrong with consulting, but in a startup or even growth stage firm, it becomes very obvious very quickly if you’re not carrying your weight. You will also be working in an environment where there is a lot of ambiguity and very little direction or guidance. Repeat that last sentence a few times in your head. Consultants often talk about ambiguity, but at the end of the day your project leader, principal, partner, etc. is giving you a workstream and defining your deliverables. In a startup, it’s “here’s the 15 things we need done by next month and please do it with 60-80% of the resources you need to succeed.” That’s not hyperbolic, that’s an actual conversation I had with a product manager who worked under me.

If you’re seriously looking to switch from consulting to startups / growth stage firms, talk with friends or acquaintances who are currently in those roles, and if you’re not in tech consulting, I’d highly recommend getting a PM booklist and and real-world exposure you can to startups prior to making the jump.

Normally, once a company reaches 40-50 people the founder may look to bring on an ex-consultant for a strategy and ops role, reporting to the COO, but those roles are far and few between. If you’re looking at later stage, you’re going to be competing against PMs from FAMGA and other startups. It’s not impossible, but I’d recommend getting as much exposure to product management either through client work or talking with friends to get references into later stage companies where you’re likely to have a better chance coming from a non-tech industry role.

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The jump from consulting to product management can be done, but it’s pretty difficult. Tbh most consultants would not make good PMs, so that’s why a lot of tech companies look down on consulting experience. The hurdle is convincing the hiring team that you can actually do a good job—make sure you know the intricacies of the work and can convey how you’d handle the day to day well in your interviews

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“Start-up” is a wide spectrum, you should define it further

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Was thinking venture backed firm with 50-500 employees

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I am leaving my firm to go from consulting to a PM at a startup! AMA

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