From New Grad to Manager in His 20s: A Cake BD Lead on Growing Fast

Updated 2026/10/16

For this post I interviewed Sean, Senior BD at Cake Taiwan, about how he went from new graduate to manager in his twenties and grew quickly at work.

Sean studied Library and Information Science at National Taiwan University (2016 to 2020). While in school he took part in several inter-university student projects and worked as a campus ambassador for brands. After graduating, he worked as a project PM at a nonprofit and then at a marketing consultancy. He joined Cake at the end of 2021 and was soon promoted to Senior BD.

What does BD mean to you, and why did you choose it for your first job?

For a startup, or a new business unit in an established company, the core goal of BD (business development) is to help the company find the best way to survive, become profitable or reach product-market fit. That usually takes a mix of sales, data and marketing skills, and finding growth opportunities as things change. I chose BD for my first job mainly because it calls for a generalist, which fits who I am. I also wanted to have a direct impact on the team instead of waiting a long time to see results.

First job, fast growth and the path to promotion

As a new graduate starting out in BD, what skills or knowledge did you need to pick up quickly?

Q: What challenges did you face early on, and how did you overcome them quickly?

The most immediate challenge was hitting sales targets in a short time:

1. Understand how the company’s product is positioned in the market, so you can target the right customers more precisely and raise conversion rates
2. Explore market demand to find new business opportunities for yourself and the company

Q: Any tips for getting up to speed and performing well early in your career?

One thing that matters a lot is not being afraid to ask questions. Go to your manager and colleagues for advice, and change how you work as soon as you get feedback. The other is building the habit of asking yourself, “Is there a faster, better, more efficient way to do this?” If there is, try improving the process or bringing in a new tool.

What hard skills, soft skills and personal traits does a good BD need?

Personal traits: curiosity and resilience, the ability to marshal and deploy resources effectively, and the ability to find opportunities in uncertainty.

Hard skills: market analysis, business presentations, data interpretation

Soft skills: communication and coordination, business acumen, problem solving

What do you think let you go from new graduate to manager so quickly? Could you share the three factors or mindsets you think matter most for growing or getting promoted fast?

The main thing is to actively think about how to “help the team succeed” instead of just finishing your own work, and to step outside the usual boundaries to find new opportunities and resources for the team.

Was there a project or experience where you felt you made a real breakthrough?

I once led a large project as its overall coordinator. I ran a cross-functional team and went out and found external partners myself. We tripled revenue, and competitors in the market quickly followed suit. That experience greatly improved my ability to bring project management and business development together.

A manager’s responsibilities and challenges

As a young manager, what do you see as your strengths in the role?

I can understand my team members’ needs and difficulties fairly well, and build trust in an open way where we grow together.

What was your biggest challenge after becoming a manager, and how did you handle it?

I had to juggle “the team’s sales targets,” “each team member’s growth needs” and “company-wide growth projects,” find a balance between them, and learn to tell what was urgent from what was important.

1. Hold regular 1-1s with team members to align on goals and progress, share advice and provide resources.
2. Swap management experience with other middle managers and keep refining the team’s growth strategy.

What advice would you give first-time managers? For example, how to communicate with direct reports your own age, or how to manage people with more experience than you

Work hard at building trust with your team, and check in often on each person’s core goals, so they’re growing in the right direction and know how to make an impact.

Advice for new graduates

If you could talk to yourself just after graduation, what would you say?

Take part in as many different projects and internships as you can. The point is to add experience to your resume, and also to train your problem-solving skills and expand your network with every attempt.

What advice do you have for new graduates or current university students who want to get into BD?

Train your curiosity. AI has made knowledge cheaper to get than ever, but without curiosity and the drive to learn on your own, it’s easy to slip into passively taking in information, which limits how much you can grow. Stay curious about the world, about business and about people, and go out and explore and ask questions. That is how you keep building your competitive edge in a fast-changing environment.

What hard and soft skills are essential for people early in their careers, or those switching into BD?

The core soft skill in BD is “communication and expression.” Beyond presenting well, learning to listen and understand needs also helps you find new business opportunities. Research skills that let you get to know a company or an industry quickly are also very useful in day-to-day BD work.

If new graduates also want to move into management quickly, what details should they watch, or which skills should they focus on now?

1. Don’t stop at your own work: think about what more you can do for the company’s growth
2. Get better at working across teams, and learn to see things from other people’s side
3. Ask for chances to lead small projects, and build your leadership step by step

Anything you’d like to say to new graduates who are considering Cake or about to join?

If you want to grow fast, like taking on challenges and want to help build a world-class company that started in Taiwan, Cake is the place for you.

About Cake

Why did you join Cake (a startup and talent database company) after graduating? What attracted you most at the time?

In college I read a lot of stories about internet startups in Silicon Valley and Taiwan, and I wanted to work at one. My first impression of Cake was that its interface and user experience were very different from traditional job banks, and that stuck with me. I happened to be job hunting at the time, and saw that the BDMA program would let me get close to the core of the company’s operations and make an impact, so I applied. At every stage of the hiring process I could feel how much the company valued each candidate, and that’s why I decided to join. Talent matching and hiring are essential to every company’s operations and growth, and they play an important role in a country’s economic development.

The flexibility and trust Cake gives young managers

From the day I joined to now, as a manager, the C-level leadership has fully trusted everyone on the team. Operating data is transparent and the company’s decisions and direction are shared openly, and you can tell the company wants to use this openness to empower us to take actions that make an impact.

You can see this in our core values too: Think Big. Start Small. Win Together. Drive Impact.

Did a mentor or colleague guide and help you along the way? Can you share a specific story?

I was lucky to meet a group of colleagues at Cake with ages and backgrounds similar to mine. Everyone is very capable, so working together has been a lot of fun, and there’s none of the infighting or suspicion you sometimes find in sales teams.

Going from individual contributor to manager, how did your mindset and way of working change? What opportunities or platforms did Cake give you to learn and grow quickly?

As a junior employee or IC, it’s natural to focus your work on hitting your own performance targets and to think about how your output helps the company. After becoming a team lead, I started practicing looking at the company, the team and each team member’s growth from a wider angle. Now I think about how to help each team member reach their full potential while making sure the team is pushing in a direction that matches the company’s goals. To use a sports analogy, an IC aims to be the team’s MVP, and a manager aims to be the best coach.