Pranav’s Journey From Bain To B-School to BCG (Podcast)

In this episode, we interview Pranav Aggarwal who brings a unique perspective to the table having worked for both Bain and BCG. Pranav shares:

• Why he left Bain (2:18)
• His decision-making framework for choosing an MBA program (3:41)
• Advice for internationals wanting to break into consulting in the U.S. (7:27)
• Differences between Bain and BCG (10:44)
• How he coaches consulting candidates (16:01)
• His take on the most important qualities successful candidates have (19:32)

Want Pranav to coach you through your case prep? You can! He has flexible availability and is available for prep most days of the week. Book a session today.

Additional Links:

• Work with Pranav to land a consulting offer
• Connect with Pranav on LinkedIn
• Join Black Belt, MC’s consulting prep program (1:1 coaching, R/CL edits, comprehensive online prep curriculum)

Transcription: Pranav’s Journey From Bain To B-School to BCG

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Today on Strategy Simplified, we have another installment of our coach interview series. In these conversations, we learn more about their background, journey to MBB, what they’re up to now, and their case coaching philosophy. Next on the hot seat is Pranav Aggarwal, who has unique experience having worked for both Bain and BCG. You’ll want to catch him before he returns to BCG full-time in 2023. I hope you enjoy the discussion. Pranav, we want to welcome you to the Strategy Simplified podcast.

Pranav Aggarwal 

Thank you so much, Stephanie. I’m excited to be here.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Well, definitely excited to hear more about your coaching offerings and your coaching strategy. But first, just would love if we could learn more about you. Could you give us a little bit of background about yourself pre-MBB?

Pranav Aggarwal 

Yeah, let me just take it from where I am right now. So currently I’m doing I’m a second year doing my MBA at Cornell. Prior to business school, and prior to even starting my journey, I did my undergrad in Bombay at a college called St. Xavier’s University where I did business management. That was a three-year long course, post which I got recruited by Bain right out of college. Did that for a few years. At Bain, I was focusing my first year went at the generalist space where you’re working across industries.

And my second year was focused more on the financial services piece, predominantly from the background which I come from. So my family has a business in India, which is in the financial services space. We have a specialty finance, from which as growing up, I’d always thought I’d joined because I think my father started that back in 1988, ’89. And I’ve always seen him work with that. And that’s all I’ve really known about business and it’s from him. I always thought I’d join that.

I did take a leave after about two-and-a-half years and started working with him, through the pandemic as well. Did that for about two-and-a-half years. And now I’m at business school, heading to BCG, San Francisco next year.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

So quite a diverse journey even so far in your career. So is it right to say that you enjoyed your time at Bain in India, but you decided to leave to be able to go and work for the family business? Or did you feel like you had exhausted your time at Bain at that point in time?

Pranav Aggarwal 

As I mentioned, the eventual idea was always to go back to my business. It was always a question of when. Even now, when I think about my time, maybe three years or five years down the line, I want to go back to my business again in India. So it’s all about how can I best use my time at business school and even like undergrad and after that to pick up things, pick up skills, get to know folks which might be able to help me in my business in some way or the other. I think I’d spent about two-and-a-half years before I made that decision.

I loved my time at Bain 100%. I think the people I connected with I’m still extremely close to them. I’m attending someone’s wedding in Decembe because I worked with them at that time. I think it was just the right time for me to move at that point.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

It makes perfect sense. So I’m curious to get your take on this. Certainly we get a lot of questions around choosing MBA programs. You had a consulting background already, your time at Bain, you had your work within the family business. How did those things help influence your decision-making process as you thought about which MBA program to pursue?

Pranav Aggarwal 

I think one great thing about the US, which is something different from India, is the number of offerings you have here. In India, if you look at the top tier of business schools, you can maybe count about four or five of them. And they all end up being pretty similar to each other. But in the US, if you look at just your top 15, top 20, they’re very diverse from within and with each other as well. I think it really depends on what do you really want to do. Like do you want to get into consulting, do to get into tech, do you want to get into banking, do you want to start your own thing. And that decision I think can help you narrow down on the schools that you’d like to select.

If you want to do tech, I probably recommend stay on the West Coast. If you want to do banking, East Coast is a great area. If you want to do consulting, I think consulting something that’s there across. Then I think location matters that in general whether you are okay living somewhere remote or are you a big city person. Those can influence your decisions. For me personally, because everyone keeps talking about a network, like you’re going to business school to develop that network. And everyone treats it differently.

For me, my networks are people who I’m close to who I have great conversations with, which I thought I could have a lot more of, and with a lot more ease in a program that’s much smaller, as opposed to being in a program that’s a thousand people, and you’ll probably meet 100, 200 of them, and just have no idea who the other 800 are. So I think that’s what dictated my decision of coming to Cornell.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Makes perfect sense. And you’re now, to the degree that you have completed your MBA so far, would you say that, because we do hear this every once in a while thinking, Oh, well, I’ll just do a couple years at McKinsey, Bain or BCG, and that takes the place of an MBA. What would you say? Do you say that that’s true? Or what have you learned about the differences there?

Pranav Aggarwal 

I think what ends up happening is like 100%, you’ll learn a lot during those years as well at a consulting firm, but you won’t get the diverse peer set that will get in the business school. You won’t get the different experiences that people have had at these consulting firms. At a business school, in any consulting firm, have you spent those years. I would definitely encourage people who do take this leave, if that’s something that’s on their mind. I agree that it’s not right for everyone.

But I don’t think three years in consulting, four years in consulting can replace this experience at any point, because you’re meeting people in very intimate settings as well. The friends you are meeting will stay with you. And it’s outside of work as well. Plus, if you ever want to leave consulting, you only know people within consulting, and wherever they’ve gone to. Whereas in business school, people will go everywhere, like they’ll go into banking, they’ll go into tech, into even just within those, they’ll go into various places. So I think of network broadens a lot more if you end up doing an MBA.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

And what did you do just this past summer?

Pranav Aggarwal 

I was with BCG in their San Francisco office. And they were kind enough to give me a return offer as well.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

So a few different questions here about that. I understand you’ll be returning to BCG, back still again in the San Francisco office. So staying in the US. Let me hit on that piece first. Certainly, there’s a lot of people that would love to replicate your path coming from outside the US and moving to being able to accept a job and have a sponsored opportunity to stay within the US. Looking from the outside, Pranav, at your journey, it kind of looks like the key pivot point there was getting into a US-based MBA program. Is that correct? Or in what ways do you recommend that those who want to have a similar pathway, make that transition to working in the US?

Pranav Aggarwal 

I think you’re absolutely right. It could be an MBA, could be an MPA, could be another Master’s program. But I think it has to be especially because of the visa situation, you have to study here first at some program, and then be able to work with these companies. It just so happens that the MBA is most structured for it. I have friends across programs, across different colleges as well. But the MBA is the most structured way in order for you to get the jobs that one might want after their master’s program. It’s just the pipeline that the companies also have. They value that.

It’s the structure of the program itself, for example, my first semester just catered around recruiting. My academics took a backseat. And the professors knew that. And they were okay with that. So the program is structured for you to do well, and for you to be able to get a job. So I think the MBA just facilitates that a lot better than most programs would. But in order for you to come here and then stay here, it has to be through a master’s program.

Very rarely, it could be like your company sponsor if, for example I was at Bain again, they work cases where they would bring you to the US or any other country, maybe for a short period, for six months or a year. And if the people you’re working with like you, then they may extend offers to you and you can stay there. But that’s not normal. That’s rare.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Understood. No, that makes sense to me. So that that was certainly one really intriguing, curious thing about your pathway. Another being you are unique in the fact that you’ve not only succeeded through two different MBB interview processes, which several top candidates do. But then you also have on top of that did the different work experience, getting to work at Bain, now getting to also work at BCG this past summer. What would you say are some of the differences between the way firms operate, and what those jobs are like?

Pranav Aggarwal 

I think at the core of it, it’s all about the people that you’re working with. And from my experience, it had only been three months and BCG and two-and-a-half years at Bain. The people are extremely similar. In both these areas, people were extremely supportive. They were really kind, and they were really helpful. Because coming into BCG, my dilemma was okay, do I want to go back to my family business immediately, or do I want to stick here for a few years and then head back.

People, like my mentors at BCG, they guided me saying that it makes sense for you to head back, but maybe stay here for a year or two and experience that life and pick up those skill sets. And they are the ones encouraging me to go back. And they connected me with individuals who’ve had similar journeys, people who went back to either businesses or they started something on their own but did a few years. So they made sure that they facilitated those conversations and helped me throughout this process. Similarly, with my case at Bain, like two years in, you know the firm, you know, the processes well, they don’t want to see you go.

But when I had this conversation, my partner was more than happy saying that, if that’s something that really interests you, go for it. We’re here to support you in any way possible. And even after I left in making connections with various VP and VCs, in terms of investors, they connected me with a few folks who ended up being on our cap sheet by the end of it. So people are really nice. I think that’s a commonality that’s there across both the firms. And it’s in the work they do. I think that’s it’s a similar scale, be it India, be it US, I think you’re tackling the problem in a similar way, you’re trying to deliver the same level of output, with the core being we need to help our client as much as possible and the right way. So I think those are some commonalities between both these firms.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

That makes perfect sense to me. It is the same intrinsic qualities, capabilities, skills that make a good consultant and that is firm agnostic. That’s discipline agnostic. And so you get to work with a really talented, sharp set of people at whichever these top firms you can land a position. I also think it’s really important to pull out another point that you made around it shouldn’t be a scary thing for candidates to be vulnerable and willing to talk about their future goals and their dreams, and where they want to land.

And even in 3, 5, 10 years, that answer doesn’t have to be, oh, yeah, I’m excited about potentially being a lifer in consulting. It’s, I recognize consulting can be a great steppingstone to what I really want to do. And because of the way that consulting firms are structured, the bottom of the pyramid is really big. And not everybody’s going to stay around. It’s seen as completely okay to recognize the fact that it is a revolving door, there’s a lot of turn. And so, you can feel free to share that you’re looking at this as a medium term, or short term, even, opportunity, as long as you’re willing to put in, a year, a couple of years, then you’d still be a great value to the firm.

Pranav Aggarwal 

Yeah, 100%. And I think everyone at the firm is aware of that, from people right at the bottom to be your associates to your managing directors. So everyone’s just aware of that. And at some point, everyone’s had those conversations. Some people have exited and then they’ve come back to the firm. Some people have exited and now trade terms with the firms and now people probably are clients for the firms. Everyone’s aware of this phenomenon that you people will tend to exit. And they’re structured exit points as well. Like after you get promoted to a certain level, people tend to exit to go to business school.

Once you come back from business school, you reach the manager level, people tend to exit then or once you reach the associate partner, the principal stage, people tend to exit then. So everyone knows about it, and everyone’s really encouraging of it because if that’s where your heart is, that’s where your heart is. There’s no point keeping you in a place where you’re not interested in or you think you can do something better, as well.

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MC: Stephanie Knight 

Well, Pranav, we are so glad to have you on board as one of our coaches at MC, given your background and experience. So would love to pivot there and understand a little bit more about the way that you think about your coaching and the way that you work with your clients.

Pranav Aggarwal 

So I usually take my inspiration from the interviews itself. What is it that these firms are essentially looking for? And what they’re looking for are two broad things: one: can I put you in front of a client on day one; and two, do you have the analytical abilities. And these are essentially the two things they’re kind of charging throughout, not just the interviews, but even the process before that. And I think that’s something I keep on emphasizing because the first piece especially, can I put you in front of a client starting day one, because 90% of the folks, they’ll be able to crack the case, with the resources that are out there, the number of reps you can get, I think that’s the easier piece.

But being personable, being able to bring in your own personality into the conversation with an MDP. You’re nervous, it’s clear that you’re nervous, your feet could be trembling, but can you still hold your own. Can you while you’re talking about something which you have no idea about, can you structure that conversation? Can you drive that conversation forward as well? If you if someone says x and you have no idea what that x is, are you comfortable enough asking them or owning up saying I have no idea what x is, can you please tell me what it is? And that’s completely okay.

But I think that piece is something I emphasize a lot on, can I put you in front of a client from day one, because that happens. I was in front of my client day one. I started 9am, 11am I had a client meeting. So that will happen. And my manager was comfortable doing that because of the process they know they have in terms of the grouping. So I think that’s something I really, really emphasize on.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Oh, that makes perfect sense. And alongside that, I think it almost goes without saying that it provides great value, the fact that you’ve had this experience with two different MBB firm’s interview styles, making it through, seeing how that translates to the real work on the job. How do you think that helps you be a better coach?

Pranav Aggarwal 

So I think the case interview itself is just mimicking what the real project looks like, and your partners case almost every week with a client. Because the client will come to them with a problem, and the partner or the MDP on the case will essentially break down the problem. And the different buckets end up being the different work streams that us as consultants will work on. That’s how I think of a case interview as well. When you’re coming to me with those buckets, they need to be structured enough, they need to be MECE enough, or they need to be separate enough, that three individual people can pick it up at the same spot and run with that.

Hence, that’s where that thinking comes in. So they need to be different work streams at that point. And interviewees as well, they need to understand that why casing is used, where is that, how will that be used, why is that being used. And the moment they understand that I think these automatically start improving their own structures and their entire case interview process. And I think that’s something I can bring in given just the experience I’ve had so far.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Absolutely. You’ve gotten to work with and coach a number of individuals, and across your experience, what do you think are some of those key themes that stand out? What are some of the qualities that most successful candidates possess?

Pranav Aggarwal 

I think stepping back, and not just on the interview side, but even before the interview side, I think something people who have seen be successful, they really possess, A, they’re go getters. They will keep on networking, keep on reaching out to people, asking the different questions that they are interested in. I think that’s something that’s important. Second, they’re self-aware. They know what exactly they want, and what are some of the non-negotiables they might have. It could be for some people, location is a priority. So if you know that, you will ask those questions.

For some it’s flexibility. I think knowing yourself as well is very important. And that really comes across in the networking piece because of the questions you’re asking. And the people on the other side can really see whether Okay, are these just generic questions that everyone asks, or is it something that’s catered to them with something that’s important to that individual. I think from a CV perspective, everyone looks at some spikes. Like, what have they done throughout, have they stood out in some way within their own job. It could be anything that they’ve done. But maybe could they lead or train maybe 100 folks in the office.

Did they lead initiatives maybe outside of work in the societies they’re working with, or the social space that they’re working with. Or have they made some sort of routine. So it’s those spikes that they’re really looking for. And I think on the case interview piece, people are most comfortable, and people who are able to have a conversation, rather than think of it as an interview, I think those are the ones that really do well and really end up getting those multiple offers, and just succeeding in that.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Absolutely, absolutely. It has been a pleasure. No, go ahead.

Pranav Aggarwal 

I think just one point on that, my example, my BCG interview, I had about 15 minutes left at the end after my case was done. And the MDP and I, we just spoke about Star Wars for 15 minutes. And I think that’s what truly got me the job. Because in his screen, I could see a Stormtrooper figurine, I think, another one or two Star Wars figurines, and I just asked him if he’s a fan. And that’s what we spoke about for the remainder of the time that we had. And a couple of hours later, he was the one calling me saying that congratulations, you’ve gotten the job.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

That ability to build an actual connection, to relate to someone on a human level. It’s not truly just about, as you said, it’s not just about if you can crack the case. In some ways, anybody can get to that point, or most people can get to that point. But it’s got to be above and beyond that. What are the insights that you can derive from that conversation and through that conversation. And are you going to be ready to be put in front of the client? Do I trust that you’ve got the personality, the temperament. And I think that part of the relational connection during the interview does help allow the interviewer to come to those conclusions.

Pranav Aggarwal 

Yeah, for sure. For sure. 100%.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

I really appreciate you taking some time out to share more about your journey and what you do at Management Consulted. Just want to give you another opportunity to speak anything else about your coaching process, and then how people could work with you.

Pranav Aggarwal 

I think I divide it into two pieces. One is I would love to focus on the behavioral side of things with people. And the second is obviously the case itself. As long as I’ve been saying that 90% of the people crack it, but you need to crack it. That is a requirement before you can get onto the behavioral side. So helping people get there, I think that’s one important piece. And the behavioral piece is something I really work on. I offer two slots: a 30 minute and one hour slot.

Usually the 30 minute we run through certain behavioral, certain questions like, Have you ever worked in a team? Have you ever had any leadership positions. Certain questions that usually come up during these interviews, and in the one hour piece, I’ll run one behavioral and a case, and just feedback for the candidate.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Makes sense to me. We’re taping this in kind of late summer, early fall 2022. At least right now, what’s your general availability like? I know that your availability, of course, will be updated live on the Management Consulted website. But when can people generally expect to find you available?

Pranav Aggarwal 

I think I’m available most weekdays in the evening, and on weekends, somewhere in the afternoon for a few hours. So those are the spots that I’ve left open, but I’m flexible as well. So if someone books a slot, and they’re like, Okay, they can’t make it happy to change the time on a one-off basis as well, obviously.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Appreciate that. And finally here, we just have a tradition at Strategy Simplified. We want to ask you a couple of fun, personal questions before we fully wrap up. So curious, what’s one decision that you’ve made that’s changed the course of your career?

Pranav Aggarwal 

I think for my career, it was literally I think joining consulting after undergrad, because as I mentioned before, I think going back to my family business is always on the cards. But you know, this consulting firm Bain came along, they gave a great presentation, I connected with the people that were there. I spoke to them afterwards as well. And I really thought let me just give this a shot and see what happens. Let me at least apply and see where it takes me, and I think it’s really held me in good stead because I think what I truly took away from it was being able to converse with people across different levels, different stakeholders.

To give you an example, when I moved into my business. I was working with folks who’d been there for about 15 years, 20 years. They were about 25-30 years older to me. And I was trying to get them to automate certain processes which they had never even heard of. So to be able to communicate with them, and what impact that had ,and communicate that to investors and to my dad, just being able to operate at different levels and different levels of fidelity, I think that’s something I have learned because that’s what you do in a consulting firm.

When you’re communicating it to your immediate superior, that could be the consultant or the manager, you’d want to go into how you got there. But when you’re communicating it to the client, it’s just the answer. And being able to look at it from different lenses. I think that was my biggest learning and my biggest takeaway from that. And even at business school, I think that’s been my standout piece.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Makes perfect sense. That executive presence in your communication, top down thinking, answer first, Pyramid Principle, etc. Yeah, absolutely. And then finally here, what’s one thing that you are reading or watching or listening to right now that’s inspiring you.

Pranav Aggarwal 

So I’ve been listening to Andrew Huberman’s podcast. He’s a Stanford MD. I think health is something that’s top of mind for me. Because when you tend to start working long hours, things start to slowly slip away. And I think that’s something I experienced in my first job, which I don’t want to repeat again. So I think that’s something I’m making a priority. And fortunately, people at these firms really want you to make it a priority, as well, and they’re helping you do that. So I think that listening to him really solidifies that belief in me that your health is important. And then he gives you various ways of how to make it better.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Well, Pranav, it’s been great to get to learn more about you. Thank you for coming on the podcast, and really look forward for more prospective candidates to work with you and your coaching service.

Pranav Aggarwal 

Thank you, Stephanie. It was great being here and talking to you.

MC: Stephanie Knight 

Want to work directly with Pranav? He talked in our conversation today about some of his general availability, but you’ll want to make sure to check out his current coaching calendar in the link below. Just like Pranav, all of our coaches are ex-McKinsey, Bain or BCG consultants and interviewers who’ve been extensively vetted and only coach with us here at MC. They love working with prospective candidates to mock through full interviews, or drill in areas you need extra help. You can find a link in the show notes or read more about our offerings at managementconsulted.com We’ll see you next time.