Curious about the entrepreneurial trend among former Deloitte and KPMG professionals – what drives individuals from these firms to start their own businesses after leaving, and what key factors contribute to this common career transition?
None of the above.
Only so many people can become partners or managers making $600K. You reach a point where you have to shit or get off the pot.
I’m sure a not insignificant amount of them see proprietary business strategy documents and get “inspired”
It takes a long time to become partner 25+ years. The burnout is insane as well.
Number 3 is a good one. Most people get into the big 4 with the idea of 2-10 years to leave. It’s just unbelievable burnout.
I have friends traveling 3 weeks a month. Hard pass.
Many ex-Deloitte and KPMG employees venture into entrepreneurship post their stint with these firms due to the invaluable exposure and experience they gain. These companies provide a rigorous environment that instills a strong work ethic and critical problem-solving skills, elements crucial to entrepreneurship. Additionally, the expansive network they build within these firms often proves beneficial in their entrepreneurial journey.
thank you gpt
They have a lot of money after working at those companies.
Have the right connections which’s give easy access to loans and other financial capital.
Often they are pretty intelligent meaning they can find solutions quicker (generally)
Finally they can always get a job pretty much anywhere if the business fails due to their experience at these companies
Not everyone who works at those companies makes a lot. I have friends (CPAs) who worked there and they just made average salaries…
You can work fewer hours and make similar if not better money. Assuming you can generate leads and have a good network its a natural progression.
Adding to connections, financial stability and perpetual midlife crisis I think it’s a personality thing.
Well you have two kinds of people in consulting:
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Prefer the safety net, politics and structure of corporate life and would exit to a client side position if they left consulting
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People who feel stifled by the corporate world and realise consulting is as close to the sharp end of business you can get as an employee and you’re already pretty much operating like a business in the business, responsible for getting projects, billing hours, making relationships etc. I remember saying to my colleagues at many points that this pitch could be a business idea in itself and could make more money with less work as a product company than a consulting project where a lot of value would get squandered by client politics.
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I worked at KPMG in audit. Apart from what other people mentioned, I got to see 100% of how public and private companies operated. I learned their processes. It’s all you need to run a business. The next step is just finding that area or industry that you’re interested in
I wouldn’t underestimate the exposure to many different businesses and their financials. When you do accounting or audit work, you learn how companies work. You get to see which ones seem to be insanely profitable, for instance.
They get hands on experience with dozens and dozens of business models and strategies where a typical employee of a company gets hands on experience to magnitudes fewer.
I worked at KPMG in audit. Apart from what other people mentioned, I got to see 100% of how public and private companies operated. I learned their processes. It’s all you need to run a business. The next step is just finding that area or industry that you’re interested in
I think tech layoffs will probably cause lot of new businesses
i worked at Deloitte for a bit. Deloitte internally has an entrepreneurial spirit. Essentially you can build a small business inside the company if you are incredibly talented at selling the work. People who become partners are responsible for interfacing with top level execs around the world. They win over the work of these execs and then hire internally talented people to complete the work. This then becomes their own internal organization with structure. A self contained business unit.
The employees are basically made to form connections and seek out work from day 1. People that need their skills reach out, but you have to sell yourself.
They are known and trusted by VCs - otherwise you have no chance of getting funded.
If I’d have to guess, a combination of:
- earned good money
- has connections
- has ego
- midlife crisis
- wants the thrill of fucking over investors (sometimes)