IAC executive Michelle Arbov gives career advice

Michelle Arbov, Vice
President of M&A, IAC
IAC

• Michelle Arbov, age 28, is vice president of mergers
  and acquisitions at media company IAC.
• She helped lead a series of high profile acquisitions,
  including IAC’s purchase of Angie’s List for over $500 million,
  and played a key role in scaling its HomeAdvisor
  business.
• Arbov was named this year to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list
  for finance. Business Insider recently asked her to
  share her best career advice for other young
  professionals.

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Michelle Arbov, age 28, is a rising star at IAC, a $15 billion
internet conglomerate founded by media mogul Barry
Diller. 

She joined the company three years ago as the associate director
on the merger and acquisition team and has been promoted
rapidly.  Now, as the vice president of M&A
at IAC, Arbov leads the company’s efforts in corporate
development and financing. She was recently named to
Forbes’ 30 under 30 list for finance.

IAC, whose holdings include widely-recognized brands such as
Vimeo, Tinder, and Investopedia, is known for its aggressive
acquisition strategy. Arbov has handled a slew of high-profile
deals and has been instrumental in scaling IAC’s pillar business
in the digital home services marketplace. 

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A notable example is her work on IAC’s $500 million purchase of
home services website Angie’s List in 2017. This led to Angie’s
List’s merger with and IAC’s own reviews site HomeAdvisor which
created ANGI Homeservices. That company went public in October
2017. 

During her three-year stint at IAC, Arbov also led other
prominent deals, including the acquisition of home improvement
sites HomeStars and MyHammer, as well as ANGI’s recent purchase
of household services company Handy. 

Before her role at IAC, she worked at Goldman Sachs and hedge
fund Och-Ziff Capital Management. She shared her  career
advice for young professionals with Business Insider. 

Find a company that values ambition. 

“Join a company that aligns with you and your ambitions. Culture
is a huge factor in choosing the right place to work. An example
of a great culture is one that values hard work and lets you take
on as much as you can if you raise your hand — as long as you
deliver.”

Learn from challenges 

“Challenges generally means you’re growing and you’re learning,
and I think learning is a key thing to constantly strive and
achieve in any job. Challenges are good in the sense that you’ll
learn from them. And it probably won’t be a challenge in your
next iteration.”

When facing a challenge, “it’s always important to take a step
back and think about what the goal is, what you are trying to
achieve, and what the task at hand is.” 

“You can have five different deals that you’re trying to push
forward, and it’s always a challenge in terms of what should take
priority. Ask questions to whoever the right people are and
figure out what the priority should be. Try not to get
overwhelmed … think through it and take it day by day.”

Have confidence 

“Having confidence is believing in yourself. Keep your eye on the
prize and continue to ask for more and do more. It’s 
important, especially as a female.”