"Don't let a unique chance slip by"

JEFF MAGGIONCALDA | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER | COURSERA

- 

What was the problem you were grappling with?

In 1996, Bill Sharpe, a Nobel Prize winner, offered me a job to write the business plan for a fintech company he wanted to start. By then, I had accepted an offer from McKinsey. Choosing to turn down McKinsey to join a brand new start-up, with no employees, was a huge decision. I had to think hard about this choice: the known prestige of McKinsey versus the adventurous potential of starting something new.

Whom did you approach for advice and why?