There's an oversupply of ex-consultants and they all fancy themselves as the next Jeff Bezos (Bezos is ex-McKinsey and his company operates like it). As a current consultant who sees so many of his co-workers with this dream, I feel many of them are being unrealistic about their prospects. It's not like an ex-McKinsey consultant is really unique in VC pitches anymore.

But many end up bailing because these companies have an "up or out" culture (meaning you either get promoted or fired every 3 years -- with about 80% at each level getting the boot) that makes it very stressful. So it's pretty easy to say "Yeah, fuck this place, I'm gonna go be a startup founder!" when you're 90% sure you're getting fired next year. And being fired from McKinsey/Bain/BCG doesn't mean you're bad, it just means you're not a good fit for the role above you (i.e. if you're moving up from being an engagement manager, you're gonna get laid off if you're not a natural salesperson).

Thing is, being a startup founder is basically the same thing as working for McKinsey/Bain/BCG. It's still "up or out" with each round of funding, and the chances of success at each step are honestly smaller. You also don't have the firm's built-in network and research tools to help you be successful.

I don't even think the average payoffs are better in the startup world. I mean sure, if you can build your company into a unicorn and keep the momentum through an exit you will come out ahead. What are the chances of that, 0.0001%?

A better exit from McKinsey/Bain/BCG IMO would be to shack up with a "second-tier" consulting firm like Deloitte, PwC, Accenture, etc. Depending where you come in, you can pretty easily make partner within 4 or 5 years (anyone coming from the world of top-tier consulting is already used to the crazy workload required for this). Get to that point and you're pulling in $250k-$1M a year without much risk at all for as long as you want to keep doing it. And a generous pension (laugh if you want, but large LLPs are one of the few places where pensions make sense) to retire on whenever you decide you don't want to do it.

And then, if you still have the urge to run a startup, you're in a position where you'll have the knowledge, connections and financial security to go run a startup as the CEO who comes in and runs the show after the founders realize their limitations. IMO this is a better path because 1) any company hiring an expensive outside CEO is likely on an upward trajectory overall 2) VC funded startups are getting more risky, not less, so let the founders take that risk and 3) you can assess the cultural / product / market fit before you take the job.