After 7 years at J.P.Morgan, I have decided to pursue a new career opportunity. I’ll be joining ChartMogul, a subscription analytics startup as a senior analyst.

For those of you who don’t know ChartMogul, it helps SaaS (software as a service) companies measure, understand, and grow their recurring revenue. It integrates with multiple payment/billing systems (eg. Stripe, Paypal) on behalf of the SaaS companies, imports and centralizes their data, and provides SaaS analytics such as MRR, ARR, Churn, etc.

I am incredibly excited about joining the team and would like to thank Nick Franklin for the opportunity.

Why am I leaving J.P.Morgan?

I spent close to 7 years at J.P.Morgan. I really enjoyed my time there. I had the pleasure of working with some incredibly talented colleagues and managers. The work atmosphere was always healthy, collaborative, and diverse.

I got the opportunity to work across 2 different cities (London & Mumbai) and 3 different roles (equity research analyst, data strategy/ops, and most recently as a data intelligence product manager). I learned a ton. I am sad to leave but here is why I am leaving.

I wanted to change my role

Over the past 1.5 years, I reflected on my work. I started an exercise where I kept a small notebook with me and noted down all the things that gave me positive energy and all the things that sucked energy.

Over time, a pattern emerged. I realized that I wasn’t as energized by some of the day-to-day product management tasks as much as I wanted to be. Things like creating a detailed project plan, religiously following-up, day-to-day coordination, regulatory documentation were not exactly things that energized me.

Instead, I was most energized by tasks that presented an intellectual challenge such as analyzing data, writing a research report, crafting presentations, carrying out market research, UI/UX, and blogging.

I wanted to be intentional about my career and move into a role that gave me energy and I enjoyed. My senior analyst role at ChartMogul is a step in that direction.

I wanted to work for a start-up

Almost all my work life, I have worked for J.P.Morgan. It is a massive organization with more than a quarter-million employees. Although an organization of this size has its advantages, sometimes maneuvering it can be a challenge.

Jamie Dimon, J.P.Morgan’s CEO, himself admits that large organizations can often get bureaucratic.

“Large organizations, in fact all organizations, should be thought of as always slowing down and getting more bureaucratic. Therefore, leaders must continually drive for speed and accuracy to eliminate waste and kill bureaucracy.”

Having experienced a large organization and some of its benefits and pitfalls, I wanted to experience something different. I wanted to work in an organization that could a) move fast and b) keep up with the pace of change in technology. For me, that meant working for a start-up. I also wanted to experience being part of a closely-knit team working towards a common goal.

Why ChartMogul?

While exploring new opportunities, I had 3 high-level priorities in mind:

  • An intellectually stimulating role — I like to use my brain and appreciate when there is an intellectual challenge to the job.
  • Healthy work environment — I highly value high integrity & transparency within a working environment. In addition, work becomes more fun when you have a good manager and colleagues to work with.
  • Growing firm — A growing firm provides a lot of opportunities. Growth is also the answer to a lot of problems.

For me, ChartMogul ticked all those priorities. The role is intellectually stimulating, people I interacted with were transparent and super nice, and the business is growing fast. To add to it, customers love ChartMogul. It felt like the perfect opportunity.

Making the final decision

Having spent almost all my working career at J.P.Morgan, making the final decision to move on was not easy. Moving on meant I would leave years of hard work and relationships behind.

I relied upon the regret minimization framework popularized by Jeff Bezos to get clarity. I projected myself to age 80, and asked: “Would I regret not having taken this opportunity?” The answer was clear. I would. Hence the move.

I spent fantastic 7 years at J.P.Morgan. I will miss my time there. Particularly, I’ll miss the people. I do believe that the world is a small place and some of our paths might cross again.

As always, I am optimistic about the future and excited for what life has in store for me.