I’ve worked for a few of the banks in the wealth management sphere. Investment advising/business development within the private banks in Canada. Going back to school for an MBA in entrepreneurship, focusing on fintech, startups and VC.
Has anyone done this? Or anyone know who has? Any advice from anyone or maybe tips to transition from wealth management to venture capital?
Any help is appreciated.
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Sell your experience to firms that focus on FinTech for the internship. VC seats are hard to land - networking is so key. There are maybe 30 people in Toronto who work in VC at not bad shops, and they all know each other. The internship is the key piece here - unless you have operating experience it’s the highest probability way for you to get into VC. And remember that not all VCs are created equal - there are a lot of shitty $20mm and under funds run by people that have no clue what they are doing and have no competitive advantage to winning deals. Great example is that VC fund from 2021 or 2020 that only invested in black companies and was run by an ex army guy and an ex actor lol. It folded in less than a year after getting so much press and small commitments from the banks
Thank you, I appreciate the wisdom. Any particular shop you suggest? I’ve started networking and will continue to do so. If you’re ok for me to DM you, please let me know.
Feel free to DM. Portage / White Star / iNovia / OMERS Ventures do more on the Fintech side, and Portage and White Star have taken MBA Interns before I believe.
Other good shops would be Georgian / Radical / Whitecap / Framework / Real (tho I’ve heard they’re experiencing turnover and can’t raise a new fund) / Kensington
The most legit ones are Portage / iNovia / Georgian IMO. The problem with these Canadian funds is they can’t compete on deals because they don’t have value creation or experienced people (by global standards). They can win deals in Toronto because their tennis partner from the Toronto Lawn is the dad of the kid raising a Series A, but they aren’t leading the round lol.
Ripple Ventures is a good example of a Canadian fund that has good distribution and marketing in Canada. They somehow got on BMO’s wealth management platform, but still aren’t competitive on large deals - though I respect their growth.
I really hope it changes, but Canada does not have a track record of incubating global businesses, and our culture is not entrepreneurial. Blackberry and Shopify are anomalies, not case studies. Takeaway is VC isn’t a big space in Canada, and pick carefully
Venture in Canada is garbage and would completely avoid.
Above is great advice. Networking is going to be your best tool, start grabbing coffee and getting smart about the space as early as possible. If you can find second year MBAs/recent grads who got into VC or a startup, that's a good place to start since you can ask them about their process and recruiting without the "pressure" of messing up a real coffee chat due to nerves or being unprepared.
The summer internship will be your #1 most important, if you can get a part-time offcycle internship in the fall that may help. Obviously a VC role would be great but even a fintech startup would really help. If your school has that fintech/startup lens I bet they have some resources to help as well, so be in that career office early for any extra tools.
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