Main Responsibilities of an Advisor as an Independent Consultant
Mike's main responsibilities as an advisor involve working with diverse clients—from "Aerospace startups and artificial intelligence machine learning startups" to private equity firms—in areas such as federal market entry, fundraising, and compliance; this flexible role reflects a proactive career path built on extensive networking, including internships at Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund, ultimately leading to valuable experience in venture capital and the startup world.
Networking, Finance, Venture Capital, Startups, Federal Contracting
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Mike Sims
Advisor
Independent Consulting Company
Penn State University, 2020
Executive MBA, UCLA, June 2023
Economics
Consulting & Related Professional Services, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
Entrepreneurship and Business Owner
Veteran
Video Highlights
1. Mike's role involves advising multiple startups across various sectors, including aerospace, AI/ML, and helping a private equity firm with overseas acquisitions.
2. His career path highlights the importance of networking; he leveraged connections to secure internships at Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund, eventually transitioning to venture capital and then advising startups.
3. His responsibilities include helping startups navigate the federal marketplace, focusing on compliance, fundraising, and talent acquisition, showcasing the diverse skillset required in his role.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
Right now, I'm an advisor for multiple startups. These include a few aerospace and artificial intelligence/machine learning startups. I'm also helping a private equity firm with a couple of overseas acquisitions.
My role is really quite flexible. What's more interesting is how I got there. Ultimately, I wanted to get into investment and finance. When I was transitioning, I essentially called everyone I knew who worked on Wall Street. I wanted to understand how it all worked, from investment making to hedge funds, even selling insurance.
This led to internships at Goldman Sachs and a hedge fund. Then I went into venture capital for about a year, all through networking. From there, I jumped into the startup world in aerospace. Now, I've exited that to pursue my next venture.
In the meantime, I help startups enter the federal marketplace and pursue contracts. This includes a lot of compliance, fundraising, and hiring. It's really fun, but it definitely stretches the mind to be valuable to a company that's essentially trying to make it.