Why I Quit My Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Job
Business
I left my investment banking job at Goldman Sachs.
And I’m joining a Series A fintech startup here in NYC.
Here’s the who and why:
Why I Left
Goldman Sachs made me into a machine who could…
- Work long hours
- Insane attention to detail
- Learn how to prioritize projects with 1,000’s of emails flooding my inbox
I also worked with very smart people. So why leave?
Look, I am insanely grateful for the opportunity at Goldman. And I loved my team.
But I left for two reasons.
1) Learning Curve
During my first year, I was involved in 8 Goldman-led deals ranging from software buyouts to bond issuances.
Moreover, the average banking analyst only leads 2 in a year!
So I went from barely understanding EBITDA to picking apart credit agreements and cash flow models.
However, after a year, it was clear.
Any new skills I picked up would only be useful as a career investment banker.
2) Career Aspirations
Almost everyone that works in banking wants 3 things:
- Keep working in investment banking
- Private equity
- Hedge fund
I don’t want these careers. I want to build my own startup.
But most importantly, I have crazy conviction in this team and this opportunity.
Who I’m Joining and Why
The startup is called Meow.
No, we don’t sell cat food. We do corporate treasury management.
What does that mean?
Let me make it simple:
Companies have extra cash sitting in a savings accounts earning 0.01% interest.
Meow helps you earn higher interest on that idle cash while obsessing over safety, security and compliance.
Extra yield could be up to 5% for over-collateralized crypto lending.
Or it could be traditional banking products like a high yield savings accounts or direct investment in US Treasury Bills (backed by Jiko Securities).
And it’s all in one simple dashboard.
My job?
Everything except engineering.
To start, I’ll be focused on go-to-market.
However, as with any startup, my job is to do whatever it takes to help the team win.
Why I Chose Them
1. The Team
The founding team is 5 early security software engineers at Gemini.
Given they spent time on the ground floor of U.S. regulated crypto exchange in 2016, they deeply understand the web3 world.
However, what I love is they don’t care about the hype in the space.
They only care about building products that are better.
Also my new CEO Brandon Arvanaghi reminds me of a navy seal that writes software.
And this is the type of guy that I want to follow into battle everyday.
2. Risk Profile
They just closed a $22 million Series A led by Tiger Global, QED Ventures, in addition FTX.
How? They have real revenue and real momentum.
However, with a small team and 10+ years of runway, we don’t need to fundraise in the next few years.
And this is a big advantage given today’s economy.
3. Industry
Building the future of finance fires me up. And this product gets me way too excited.
Lastly, I want to build at the intersection of crypto and fintech because it’s a place I could see myself starting my own company one day.
Written by Chris Hladczuk
Why I Quit My Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Job
Read more on Chris’ company: Put your company’s idle cash to work. – Meow
