u/jack_of_all_trades18

After seven years living in Europe and having been acquired foreign citizenship, I am planning to return to India.

Earlier, people in India were on board with this idea but now everyone has been quite pessimistic. I do see the state of India going down the drain every single day but loneliness is europe has crept in.

Quality of life in Europe is great but my aspirations to pursue entrepreneurship was always an aspiration. A bit clueless of what and how but now it's escalation of commitment because I have become very complacent and 'chill' in life. Sometimes I think I have lost my senses of thinking to leave a cushy job, benefits, etc. Then I see people returning to india with the magnitude of their savings.

To the people who moved from Western Europe to India, how did the transition look like? Did you regret your decision?

Currently, I am in a tough spot (or so do I think). I have been in M&A FDD at a Big4 for 3+ years without a promotion.

Leadership is trying to push me out as they don't see me a good fit. Even though I got great reviews on my work but it is not clicking for me. They have offered a good enough deal for me to leave.

I have no backup option and from the looks of it, job market is absolute shit these days. For years, I said I want to get into entrepreneurship and with lower entry to barriers, I want to take plunge now.

Ofcourse, it entails risks and I am getting cold feet what if it didn't work. I am already late in life and not sure if I can manage another set back. Completely clueless but being at this job has been draining where I constantly feel 'second-class'. Finances are not too bad considering I can live frugally in the near term.

Based on this description, how do you perceive such a profile/CV if I ever apply to finance roles in future? Want opinions from veterans or someone who has been at such a crossroad because I lack a mentor. Please be kind.

About me: European, 30

I'm interested to learn how much weight does PE funds put on Financial Due Diligence services from an advisor (Big4 or mid-market).

1. Has the current advancements changed any workflow? Have you been able to automate any part of M&A FDD inhouse or pushed advisors to lower fees?

2. What is the primary reason of outsourcing the due diligence process to an external advisor?

3. Going forward, if frontier labs (Claude/ChatGPT) is able to execute FDD, would you execute it inhouse? Would you consider an AI-native service firm for such services?

Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks!

My tech co-founder and I have been working on building a product catering to M&A for several weeks (part-time).

I skipped the customer discovery process and validation phase since I am part of this industry and an ideal customer myself. I realise this was a mistake.

Now, we are at a stage where I can approach potential buyers and show the prototype.

When I spoke 2 senior leaders who I am close with and showed them the product which reduces time from 5 days to merely 4 hours, they were impressed (or so they said). Now, I am thinking that they were being nice to me and it might not be an urgent need.

This is created stagnancy where my co-founder and I are in limbo whether to ditch this and move on. On the other hand, I have not even cold messaged anyone yet.

Could you please share advice on how to approach this validation/GTM/talking to potential customers and pitching? I do not want to jump to selling/demo my product as I want it to be a pull-approach rather than push. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Customer profile: Enterprise; small number of players but big checks on such a service

Hi,

I have been at the firm for over 3 years and the usual timeline to get promoted to next level in my offering is around 2 years.

Despite getting great snapshots last year, I have been asked to leave amicably. The severance package is fine and I am done with this firm but I am losing sleep for not getting the title.

Have any of you heard of negotiating a title for leaving?

Am I stupid to take this deal in such a job market? And how big of a red flag it is for any future employer?