<p>Hello all,
Thanks for reading.
I'm graduating shortly from a top 10 executive MBA program, and am contemplating my post MBA options. I'm pretty happy with an offer from a company that I've gotten, but I am wanting to get some additional perspective on where some who have 'been through this' can see this taking my career. Basically, I'm an EE with a power/energy focus from a top school with marginal undergraduate grades, and started off in the MBA program in 2009. I've got some interesting experience and the opportunity that has come up has based on what I can see some positives and negatives:</p>
<p>It's a startup playing in the smart grid space.</p>
<p>Pros:
1. Good package (compared to what I've gotten before and in line with averages out of a good MBA) - good salary, benefits, bonus, and stock options which I've never had before
2. Position is close to where I grew up and around family
3. Position is at a currently <50 person strong startup, which culturally I think is suiting for me
4. I get to 'roll up my sleeves' in terms of the engineering work
5. I was introduced to top leadership team by an alumni on board of directors, which is way better than other methods by which I was doing the job search (more trust there now)
6. Tremendous respect for know how of much of leadership team</p>
<p>Cons:
1. instability of a startup, potentially
2. This experience is not the pure and traditional 'business' experience - ie: Consulting, hedge funds, iBanking, etc. I do want to make lots of money later and the path to the VC world from what I can tell is unclear and I'm unsure if it is congruous with the life I want to live, and I would guess require me to stay in the startup world..
3. I have to 'roll up my sleeves' in terms of the engineering work (ie: means less ability to grow management/leadership, and pure business toolkit, more than likely)
4. No geographical mobility/diversity at this business, yet
5. No signing bonus!</p>
<p>The big things on my mind are the 'next steps' after this stop. If an exit is in order, which there is hope for as it's an exciting space and I think the company is well positioned, I don't know where this leads next, which I guess is OK - but things I think about too are compatibility of this type of lifestyle with a newer desire to potentially meet someone, settle down, and build a family. Also, with onboarding title of director of engineering with outlook to be VP of engineering I don't know how that really looks to everyone else in the outside world. Inherently there are product management responsibilities and been talk of my involvement in Joint Venture work there too, but this is kind of 'out there'. It's exciting, but it's also one of those 'woah, how exactly is this going to work things.'</p>
<p>I for one would love to grab hold and stay at least largely technical even after the top MBA, but I don't want to look back and still be an average engineer or engineering manager later on and have a tough time selling the MBA and using it because of this, as it seems maybe there is a clearer and less rocky path to making lots of money later once I get to the point in my life where I don't feel the need to try to change the world (which I assume I will at some point)...</p>
<p>Any thoughts or perspective on this juncture would be great. I'm 99% sure I will be jumping on board with this opportunity but would appreciate some additional perspective....</p>