Introducing: Career Canvas (#1)

In conversation with Pratyush Rai, Co-founder and CEO Merlin and Ex Consultant at BCG.

“There's no qualification or credential required to startup. You can directly jump onto the ship! There are a lot of common people just like you doing great work and achieving great outcomes.”

You know, that meeting over coffee where you talk to someone more seasoned than you to figure out their path, the mental models they use, and most importantly how they do what they do. Well, we recently spoke to someone who ticks all such boxes.

To kick off this series we are super excited to introduce our first guest, Pratyush Rai. He is currently Co-Founder and CEO at Merlin, which is a ChatGPT chrome extension, which can give your search experience a boost at your fingertips. Prior to starting up his own venture, he worked as a management consultant at BCG. He is an IIT Kanpur alumnus.

Pratyush Rai - Co-founder and CEO Merlin

Read Pratyush’s journey starting from an interest in social impact, exploring the consumer sector to finally starting-up on his own!

What is your honest answer to the reasons for joining BCG from college?

Social impact was a key reason for me to join BCG, however, the work did not turn out the way I envisioned it. Eventually, I got interested in the consumer sector which led to the realisation that I want to start-up on my own.

In college, my major motivation was to join social impact consulting. However, with limited on-campus opportunities in firms like Dalberg, Samagra, which didn’t used to hire from IITK at that time. I figured BCG would be a great option with a strong Social Impact practice. 

But the moment I joined BCG, my views around social impact changed, which resulted in changing my career trajectory drastically. Instead of chasing a social consulting job (after which I might have gone for an MBA), I got interested in the consumer sector. I did a few interesting pieces in the sector which made me realise that I want to completely move out and shift to the startup space. 

In college, a big motivation was social impact, because firstly it was something I thought I would have enjoyed and secondly, it could have benefited me in getting a good MBA abroad, which was one of my (albeit poorly) informed goals at that time. 

Can you tell us your highlights from your 1.5 year stint at BCG?

Consulting firms are solid on training people with top tier learning programs (once in 1/2 months) planned even for the senior most folks. This comes with great culture as these programs often involve senior folks training juniors at the firm.

As soon as you join any consulting firm, you go through a very rigorous onboarding program, where they teach you the tools which will be useful while you do the actual work in consulting, specifically related to problem solving, slide making and excel. That was something which was very interesting for me. I think the trainings in consulting are definitely top tier as compared to any other industry. With frequent training programs (once in 1/2 months), one keeps on updating their arsenal. This type of practice is continued at senior levels. Even project leaders and partners have such meetups where they train or discuss to regularly upskill. 

At BCG, I worked across the industrial goods & consumer sector. Top learnings for me include 1) how managers drive output from teams without creating a toxic culture, & 2) know-how of financial processes & overall ops of a multi-billion dollar corporation.

Luckily, my managers were some of the best people inside BCG, across a lot of ratings internally as well and were also known to be really kind hearted. And that was a great experience because in that process I got to see what great managers are like and how they are able to derive outcome without creating a very toxic culture or without creating a very negative work environment, it was a very inspiring thing for me at that point in time. 

The consumer goods case provided a classic consulting experience, allowing me to delve into the intricacies of a multi-billion rupee revenue company, gaining valuable insights into financial processes and operations.

In between college & starting up - how has working at BCG changed your working styles & overall approach? 

I can identify two types of changes: skill-based and realisation-based. 

Skill based: Direct exposure to top-level committee meetings with senior clients helped provide a benchmark for effective communication and storytelling. Working with such clients also led to insights about how great operators function.
I think that very few people in consulting get to work with extremely good operators because consultants themselves are never the operators. And most of the time, client companies are also not necessarily the best in operating. Because if they were, many of them likely wouldn’t need consulting firms in the first place.
I have specifically just worked with one client counterpart who was an excellent operator. They were great at breaking down problems, project management, corporate governance & managing stakeholders. This still remains a personal benchmark for me to run great ops in an organisation.

Realisation based: Biggest realisation was that most of the CEOs are pretty normal people. They're not very different from how we are and anyone has the ability to do the work which they are doing. It’s helpful to remove the barrier that you need to be something special (intellect, qualification etc.) to be a CEO/CXO of an MNC. I think most of these people are good, ordinary people and people like us can also do the same. 

And I think that was very important because it removed doubts in my mind on whether I need to do anything additional, before I can get going with a startup or something similar. There's no qualification required. You can directly jump onto the ship! There are a lot of common people just like you doing great work and achieving great outcomes.

Picking up from before, what is your PoV on the right path to a top tier MBA which is fantasised by many, especially in consulting now? Also what is your take on pursuing an MBA vs starting up?

Narratives to get into top MBA institutes have changed over years. 10 years back, PE firms were leading in terms of pushing people to great MBA institutes. Social impact became that same thing 5 years ago and if you see the current batches, climate change has become a very strong narrative.Startups on the other hand offer a more liberating opportunity to get paid for building something you enjoy, making money, and running a business in contrast with an MBA.

I'll break down my response into three parts - perspective of MBA institutes, the current reality and my PoV.

Perspective of MBA colleges: According to these institutes, individuals in their programs are typically highly qualified professionals in their respective industries, often among the best in their field. Additionally, they are expected to have a clear vision of their post-MBA goals and how the MBA will contribute to their achievements.

Current reality: However, on ground situation reveals a heavy emphasis on crafting a specific narrative (PE firms, social impact, climate tech) and story during the application process, sometimes leading to a lack of authenticity. Many candidates find themselves seeking external assistance, often hiring consultants(which is actually the right thing to do if you want to maximise chances of selection), to enhance their MBA applications. Additionally, candidates may feel compelled to fit into specific roles deemed favourable by MBA institutes to improve their admission prospects. 

MBA vs starting up: Key demotivators for pursuing an MBA include the significant sunk costs in terms of time and educational loans, with limited positive cash flow. Also, I feel that optimising 4-6 yrs for an MBA based on seasonal narratives (PE, social impact, climate tech) is an unhealthy practice. 

In contrast, startups offer the opportunity to get paid for building something you enjoy, making money, and running a business. The potential to build a massive company with people you like and create value for oneself and others, while getting to maximise freedom to a much much higher degree makes startups a more appealing option, particularly for me. 

For our readers in college right now, is it important to get some corporate experience before setting up a venture of their own? 

Yes, you can do startups right after college. It all depends on what stage you are in terms of your startup. But statistically less people have been doing it, i.e.more people have done atleast one job.

Most founders I know typically have corporate experience before starting a startup, but there are exceptions, like Urban Health founders who ventured into startups right out of college. 

The best experience before starting up is being part of a high-intensity organisation such as existing startups, consulting, MAANG etc. Working in such environments helps understand how winning teams operate. Companies like Flipkart and Swiggy have groomed entrepreneurs because employees absorbed the culture. Consulting and high-intensity sectors like certain roles in MAANG companies provide valuable experiences.

What do you think of management consulting as an industry in terms of their value addition to various businesses?

Consulting provides a third-party opinion that is often crucial for many companies. One such segment are firms with long operational histories (multi-decade or century-old firms). However, it's worth noting that adept operators may not rely on consulting firms as much. And whenever they do, it often leads to significantly better project outcomes.

Even though I personally chose not to pursue consulting as a long-term profession due to identified structural issues, I recognize the significant value it brings. Consulting provides an third-party opinion that is often crucial for many companies. One such segment are firms with long operational histories (multi-decade or century-old firms). Over time, corporations may develop corporate lethargy and ingrained status codes, creating a need for disruption. 

Consulting firms play a role in shaking up these systems, inducing valuable changes, not necessarily in technology but often in cultural disruptions within company divisions. This value is particularly beneficial for companies stuck in their ways, pushing them to behave more like innovative startups rather than stagnant entities.

However, it's worth noting that adept operators may not rely on consulting firms as much. And whenever they do, it often leads to significantly better project outcomes.

Thanks so much for the insightful interview Pratyush! To conclude, we’d like you to share an interesting memory from BCG.

It was a 2AM conversation with a colleague at BCG which inspired me to apply consulting style first principle thinking on fundamental questions like the objective of life, how I can increase my baseline happiness etc. We were obviously sloshed :). The mental model still remains with me as a tool to answer important questions. It underscores the importance of seizing opportunities to engage with mentors for personal growth.

One pivotal incident from my time at BCG involved a deep off-site conversation that inspired me to apply consulting-style thinking to my life and career. Despite being drunk during the conversation, I remember the sequence of events very clearly in my mind. 

We were talking about why people are doing what they are doing, and other deep questions. Basically, trying to really answer all the interview questions in a serious manner. Ironically, when we were drunk, you actually try to get a real answer for those. 

And of course I did not get an answer to that in that instant, but that question sort of stayed in my mind for that instant. And then after that, in many months, I applied that framework. I tried to apply the pure play first principle based framework on a lot of these questions such as why consulting, why BCG, what is the objective of this life etc. And that ended up giving me very personal answers which changed my course of life and increased my level of baseline happiness to a very large degree. It underscores the importance of seizing opportunities to engage with other self aware people who are honest with themselves.

If you liked our conversation with Pratyush, do check out Merlin and also we would love to hear from you. Feedback on how we are doing is always welcome!