Natalia Kovalenko
Studied at Bocconi University
Worked at Morgan Stanley
Available Monday
Starting at 6:00 AM UTC
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About Natalia
I'm a strategic finance operator who has moved between banking, high-growth operating roles and venture capital. I coach people making similar transitions. I started in M&A at Morgan Stanley. I left for strategic finance at Deliveroo. I then moved into early-stage venture capital at Triple Point, before deciding to return to operating. I'm now Strategic Finance Lead at Plum, a UK fintech, where I run strategic finance, fundraising and investor relations. 4 roles in 5 years, across 3 fairly different views of what a finance career can look like. I've also worked the other side of the table, running the hiring process for a strategic finance role on my own team. That range is the point. I know what these roles actually involve, what experience transfers between them, and what a hiring manager is screening for, because I've both made the moves and assessed the people making them. I write about career transitions at Off Track By Design.
Why do I coach?
Most people leaving a structured career path are handed one recommended next step and very little reliable information about the alternatives. The default route is thoroughly documented. Everything else runs on word of mouth, and on who you happen to know. I made my own moves without much of a map. The thing I kept running short of wasn't motivation, it was information. What the work is actually like day to day. Which parts of your experience transfer and which quietly don't. How to evaluate an opportunity when you have no reference points for it. How to tell a coherent story about a path that doesn't look linear on paper. Those are answerable questions, and answering them properly saves people a year of expensive trial and error. I coach because I'd rather someone made an informed decision than a default one, including when the informed decision is to stay where they are. I'll tell you if I think a move is wrong for you.
Work Experience
Strategic Finance Lead
Plum
April 2024 - Present
Hiring Manager
Venture Associate
Triple Point Ventures
July 2023 - February 2024
Finance & Strategy Manager
Deliveroo
September 2021 - July 2023
Interviewer
Investment Banking Associate
Morgan Stanley
September 2018 - September 2021
Interviewer
Natalia was also given offers to work at
Bank of America
Education
Bocconi University
Bachelor's Degree, Economics & Finance
2015 - 2018
Finance Major