9. Sophia Arora, Founding Growth at Jack & Jill - McKinsey to AI Startup, Building a Consumer Product That's Coming for LinkedIn

Sophia Arora did what most people from a consulting background talk about but never do. She left McKinsey, moved to New York for Oddity Tech, then came back to London and joined Jack & Jill as their Founding Growth hire - a seed-stage AI startup building an AI career agent for the next generation of workers. In this episode, Sophia talks about what it actually looks like to go from structured corporate environments into the chaos of an early-stage startup. She gets into how Jack & Jill is trying to flip the job search model on its head, why most people are making huge career decisions with almost no real visibility into the market, and what it takes to grow a consumer product when your competitor is basically LinkedIn. We also get into the harder stuff - what the job search felt like when she was doing it herself, the burnout, the compromises you nearly make, and why the best time to look for a job is when you don't need one. If you're thinking about making a career move, building a consumer brand from scratch, or just curious about what early-stage growth actually looks like, this one's worth your time.