February Newsletter

Strategy Students/Alumni,

We hope you’re having a terrific New Year and are enjoying the BYU basketball team. We never thought that BYU would have the leading scorer in the country or ranked 3^rd in the nation and have a chance at a number one seed in the tourney, but as of today, that’s all true.

We hope you enjoy this strategy newsletter/update. Please let us know if you have any feedback or thoughts for us on the newsletter (good or bad).

Career Progression (by LaDon)

In our last newsletter you heard about Nate’s trip to Asia. I’ve been very happy to hear about how Nate’s career has progressed and the experiences he’s been getting. I too have made a change. I’m no longer working at L.E.K. Consulting. On January 20, I began working for BloomReach, a tech startup with 20 employees in Silicon Valley. I thought it might be useful to talk some of you through my reasons for moving on.

First of all, consulting was an amazing first job and I was very lucky to get it. However, it took about six months for me to realize that it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Then I had to determine what I did want to do because consulting could still be the best path to get there (e.g., Kevin Rollins’ job got him into Dell. If you want to work in a big corporation, strategy consulting is a terrific way to get in at a higher level than you otherwise would).

As I spoke with many people, I was continuously told that getting a great mentor was very critical for a career. Also, I wanted to be closer to the action and decision-making than consulting permits. I decided to try to move into PE for several reasons (mentor relationships, develop new skills, etc). I interviewed with 6 firms and was not offered a position but met a lot of great people along the way (interviewers and BYU grads in PE). One of my interviewers was impressed by me and asked if I would be interested in joining a portfolio company of his. I said yes and was fortunate to be offered a position which I accepted.

Here are the reasons why:

1) Great team. My direct boss did consulting, VC, was named the top student in his class at HBS, and has been a part of 2 previous startups. The CEO and CTO are also very, very strong. One of my peers spent two years at both Bain Capital Ventures and McKinsey.

2) Strong product/strategy in a growing market. We work in the internet search area using data mining and analysis in order to drive traffic for our customers.

3) I will learn a lot about the process of building a company from ~$1.5M in revenues to $xM in revenues. Since I want to either run a business or invest in businesses, this is a skill I’m interested in.

What I have learned from the process:

1) Figure out what you want to do and take steps to get there or at least closer. If you’re passionate about something, make sure you do that. I wasn’t passionate about consulting, so I had to find something else.

2) Almost always, people make offers to those that are smart enough who they really like and show a ton of passion about doing what the company does.

3) Get to know as many people as possible. All things get done through relationships. I have my current job because one interviewer really liked me and wanted me to still work with him in some capacity.

4) Work with the smartest, best people you can. If you can find smart people who are good people, that’s a pretty terrific place to work.

Also, I cold emailed about 15 people from the BYU alumni database that now work in PE. About half returned the email and I had a couple of amazing discussions as a result. It was well worth the time. And remember that a career is long. You probably have 40 years to develop skills and relationships. Never burn bridges. And if you put in a good day of work every day for 40 years, you’ll have a great career.

Websites

Here are some sites that I have found to be helpful.

Firefox Cheat Sheet
Don't know a Firefox shortcut, it's not bad to cheat
http://lesliefranke.com/files/reference/firefoxcheatsheet.html

Word Champ
If you a learning/studying a foreign language Word Champ is a must for studying. Flashcards, Word Games, it is amazing how much Word Champ can do.
http://www.wordchamp.com

Convert Center
Convert Center is so helpful with little unit equations you don't know of. It is also great for the big stuff as well. Since it is like every other converter on steroids this is a "I will use this often" site
http://www.convertcenter.com/

Jimmer!!!
A few sites on Jimmer.
http://www.jimmerpoy.com/
https://www.facebook.com/jimmerpoy?ref=ts (Facebook page for Jimmer as POY, seems like a lock right now)
http://jimmeraingetracker.blogspot.com/ (Jimmer chasing Ainge's scoring record)
http://dreamcatchermedia.com/jimmered (screen shot of the very witty replies to the letter to the Daily Universe)

Book of the Month (from Nate)

The Why of Work by Dave Ulrich and Wendy Ulrich (http://thewhyofwork.com/)

The Why of Work gives a blueprint for how leaders can create an 'abundant organization'. In other words, leaders that create meaning in the workplace for their peers, teams, and employs. Although most of us are not at a stage in our careers where we can drive this as managers, the principles in the book are helpful to reflect on as you think about long term career goals and what type of firm you want to work for.

It has also been helpful for me to add value to meetings where I normally would have just been a fly on the wall. Dr. Dyer had a class that was focused on asking the right questions and reading this book has enabled me to ask the people I work with better questions about what we are doing well and what we could improve on as a firm.

Note that I am a bit biased in recommending this book as the authors are my mission president and his wife. For what it is worth, the book is #1 on Wall Street Journal's Business Best Seller's list. It is also on a plethora of other lists so I am not the only one who liked it. : )


All the best,
LaDon and Nate