Magali McIntyre of Route-In

Magali McIntyre is a force to be reckoned with. Half an hour on Skype with her is testament to the fact that this is an alpha female I’m talking to, one intent on taking the traditional route into investment banking (and a myriad of other city jobs) and shaking it up with her new venture Route-In; the site that pairs up experienced mentors in ‘target industries’ with whoever might need access to them. Yes, the former investment banker (who worked for Lehman Brothers until 2008) speaks a mile a minute (passionately illustrating her points with some good old fashioned body language). And boy does she have a lot to do (‘I came up with the idea in April – a little more than a year ago’), but despite being mother to two young children, she certainly has the energy in abundance. And why not? It’s one of those classic business ideas that begs the question – how did no one think of this before?


After a back injury incapacitated her in 2008, McIntyre took three years off to have her children. It was at the end of this period, whilst considering if and when she wanted to go back, that the light bulb moment happened during a seminal call from a City headhunter. ‘They said “We have this position, are you interested?” I said yes, send me more information. They said: “If you don’t mind me asking, you’ve been out of the market for three years… Do you think you can still use Excel?” I was so offended! I thought, okay, so that’s what I’m going to have to deal with if I go back to the city.’

This time away proved essential: ‘I reflected on my years in investment banking. We had endless discussions about what else is out there. But nobody would share their contacts, so everybody just stayed where they were. I took time to go back to France and sit in the admission panel of my business school (the ESSEC; one of France's Grandes Ecoles with a seriously tough interview process to match). ‘I was just sitting there, interviewing lots of candidates – very sharp, very competitive ones, but some of them were so ill prepared.’ One young man even went to the lengths of setting up a fake business (with a dummy website to boot). ‘Unfortunately, I was on the panel. I said: “That’s interesting. How did you code it?” And then he crumbled.’ McIntyre was visibly moved; ‘I thought that’s so unfair, because they’ve been here two or three years, and either they’re not advised or they’re ill advised. It would be so simple. When you have so many people off work or who have the time or are happy to mentor.’

So what does the service offer those investing their time? For one, satisfaction; two, the process is monetised (they set their fees and then Route-In take 20%), and three; ‘Some of them want to work flexibly, or they’re in between jobs, or they’re already mentoring but they’d rather do it through something that’s organised.’


The vetting process for mentors ensures only the highest quality of candidates; ‘We collect a lot of information about them. We know precisely who they are and what they did. Then it’s for them to build what we call a public profile, where they decide what they’re happy to show. They don’t have to show their current employer. The idea is not to let everyone know that they work for Goldman Sachs. Privacy is very important for them, and for us. They can choose to show their first name, or a pseudonym.’

It’s quite moving listening to McIntyre speak, she's is literally on a one-woman mission to open up the traditional ‘route in.’ ‘Regularly, even candidates from Oxford and Cambridge only get one interview,’ she says. ‘They’ve got only one shot. So they need to be prepared, and the ones with inside connections can do that – and the other ones can’t. The technology’s here, the graduate market is at its worst; we’ve never had this many high-calibre people who have more time on their hands - it just made sense.’ Yes she’s nothing if not impassioned by her new role. She’s also used to the rigors of spinning plates – in fact I get the sense she enjoys it; it’s ‘Go, go, go!’ she laughs. Once she decided upon the idea, ‘I wanted it as quickly as possible. My husband is an investor, so it’s good to have somebody to bounce ideas with. Poor him!’

With regards to the site, everything was designed by McIntyre herself; ‘The code of the colour, every word, I drafted the font, the logo.’ Investment came in a nano second via two personal contacts, ‘one of whom said yes straight away.’ All the investment she needed (though she’s coy about saying exactly how much).

Despite the site launching only last year, McIntyre has some big ambitions; in five years she’s like it to be an ‘add on for LinkedIn. It’s my baby; I just want it to grow. I don’t want to keep it to myself, I just want what’s best for my product.’ Whatever’s best for Route-In will no doubt require some juggling however, which leads us onto Sheryl Sandberg (yes it was time for a bit of much needed controversy): the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook has certainly been racking up the column inches with her seminal work ‘Lean In’ – does McIntyre feel the same pressure? Yes, but she’s candid about the fact that she has help. ‘I spend at least three and a half hours per day with my children. Pure quality time, no organisation, doing the shopping or anything, just talking about their day. I think it’s much more than most parents.’