Consulting - the leading start-up incubator for talents

Jumia, Monzo, Transferwise, Funding Circle, Zopa, Qonto, Gocardless, Jobteaser, Innovafeed are some of the most well-known and celebrated start-ups. And they were all founded or co-founded by ex-consultants. In this article, we look at why there are so many consultants founding successful businesses and leading start-ups.

We’d like to start by thanking the following for their time and great insights. Alexandre Prot (Ex-Mckinsey & Qonto founder), Aude Guo (Ex-Mckinsey & Innovafeed founder), Antoine Loron (Ex-Roland Berger & Hublo founder), Martin Pellet (ex-Kearny & LBF founder), Grégoire Schiller (ex-Roland Berger & Simundia founder), Nick Patterson (ex-McKinsey & Movemeonhttps://www.movemeon.com/ founder).

The “consulting profile” and why some are driven to start companies

“Consultants that started with me at McKinsey had two things in common. Firstly, they were some of the highest achievers I’ve met. Secondly, they didn’t know what they wanted to do.” (Nick)

Consulting attracts high achievers as it is one of the most prestigious careers post-university. This is partly because the brands are so well known across industries. But also because it is recognised as a career that opens doors.  

The combination of high achievement motive, and uncertainty around what you’re looking to do - not a single founder interviewed had entrepreneurship in mind when they joined consulting - means there are a lot of consultants who look to leave after a few years.

Turnover is extremely high in consulting. Whilst some of that is driven by “up or out” policies, the majority of the people leaving do so because they didn’t want to follow the track to partner. And this was commonly accepted within the business. People could therefore talk openly about leaving, and in return would receive great advice that would give you the confidence to launch businesses. Interestingly, both Nick and Alexandre mentioned that consulting gave them the confidence to launch businesses.

Finally, and that’s more an explanation of numbers rather than success, consultants know they have a strong employer brand to fall back on in case it goes wrong. It also means you have some very marketable short-terms skills. The option of  freelancing gives you more liberty to try and start something.

Consultants are great do-ers, despite what you may have heard!

The myth that consultants aren’t do-ers is regularly parotted. However, from what we’ve seen of peers and the consulting alumni community, quite the opposite is been true.. 

In the early days of setting-up Movemeon, the most common challenge we’d hear from potential employers was that they didn’t want to hire consultants. They were concerned that, whilst they were very good at advising, they weren’t good at executing.

Whilst I couldn’t agree more on the importance of execution, I think the common misconception about consultants not being good at delivery, is wrong. Martin said that the high day rates charged by consultancies (especially strategy houses) and the high-standards demanded by boards of large businesses, means consultants have an obligation to deliver results and have to learn to deliver at pace.

On top of being good do-ers and dealing well with time pressure, consultants are also particularly good at multitasking. Alexandre, in the early days of Qonto, was able to work on strategy, finance, management, marketing and even Office Management. Antoine also highlighted that in a similar way to consulting, when you’re an early stage founder you learn by doing. 

Being good at multitasking, being a good “do-ers”, and working with tight deadlines, it looks like early stage start-ups have more in common with consulting than what we could expect!

Problem solving and prioritization: key skills for founders

Movemeon has been founded by two ex-Mckinsey and therefore our working has been influenced by strategy consulting. If I had to highlight two differences between past start-ups’ I worked for - not founded by ex-McKinsey consultants - and Movemeon it would definitely be the omnipresence of problem solving and prioritization in my day to day.

Those two skills are central to consulting work. Diagnosing issues (issue trees, driver trees) and using data to prioritise execution are the central aim of any consulting project.

Alexandre said that his consultant background helped him to structure his reasoning to tackle any complex problem. Aude and Martin agree on this point, in an early-stage start-up you keep resolving problems. How am I gonna finance this project? What type of offices should we choose? More generally, how do you do things efficiently?

Grégoire highlights that consulting gives you the structure to effectively prioritise using concepts like 80/20. Aude defines the ability to prioritise as hugely important. She said “It’s mostly about what you don’t do, not what you do. You need clear criteria to make the decision (not only for yourself but also understandable and acceptable to others; and something that is engaging).”

Networking and communications

If the network is a pretty obvious benefit of consulting, I’ve been surprised how often effective communications have been described as a key skill learnt from consulting. 

Consultancies have unparalleled alumni networks. A shared brand that means people are prepared to not only meet, but give you advice. This is invaluable in the early days, as you look to further develop your idea. Also perhaps more importantly, make your first few sales (if your product is B2B). Grégoire remembers using Roland Berger’s network for closing first clients. Unlinke business school, consulting networks are usually more senior than you and therefore unlock way more opportunities when you’re an early stage founder.

Working with senior people in consulting trains you in effective communication. Aude said “communication is key as 80-90% of the time, being a founder is about aligning people and getting quickly to the point. Our business has people of very different professional backgrounds and needs. You need to understand and address quickly what is important for each person in a way that is relevant for them to get them on board: how do you convey the real message (get to the point). It’s about not spending one hour on a topic if it can require only 3 minutes.“

Related to communication, stakeholders management is a key skill developed in consulting. You need to be able to communicate in the right way with everyone: investors, clients, suppliers.

Consulting and entrepreneurship are still obviously two really different worlds. Grégoire was saying that you have to unlearn consulting to do entrepreneurship as the way you take decisions can be very different. Nevertheless, consulting is undoubtedly a great training for entrepreneurship. 

It trains you many key skills for early stage founders: Communications skills, stakeholder management, prioritization & problem solving. Having worked with 100+ start-ups, mostly founded by ex-consultant since 2 years and closing hiring like Director of Sales operations for 360Learning, Head of Germany for Hublo, Head of Partnerships for Luko, I knew consultants were a great fit for start-ups and those interviews confirmed the transferable skills that you get from consulting.

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