For VC -- mid/upper-tier BB tech group or PM role at a notable Series A/B startup?
See title. Currently summering in solid west coast tech coverage group (Barclays, BofA, CS, JPM) from a west coast target (Berkeley/Stanford/USC/UCLA). CS major. Received an offer for a PM gig at a startup, recently raised a sizeable Series A/B led by a notable name (a16z, General Catalyst, Accel, Insight, Sequoia). Looking to pivot into VC (mostly interested in Series A) for long term. I have moderate conviction (not 100% but more likely than not) that it ends up being acquired by Big Tech or IPOing. Don't have a particular area I want to specialize in in VC, but startup is in a generally interesting field. But I'm also having a pretty solid summer experience in IB. Thoughts?
Depends on type of VC fund you want to get into. Early-stage funds (seed and pre-seed, sometimes Series A investors) want operational experience, but tbh they rarely hire at the associate/VP level. It's usually a very small team of partners. Growth-stage funds (Series B, C, D, etc.) want technical finance skills. i.e, modeling, exit/returns analysis, industry research capabilities etc. I jumped from a MM investment bank in NY to a growth-stage venture fund in SF after two-year analyst program. Uphill battle for sure given they usually want TMT bankers from Bay Area.
Any insight on the recuriting process for SF growth style funds? Interview specifcs/timeline would be great!
There is no "on cycle" recruiting for VC. Almost all firms are <20 people and so they only hire when a position opens up. We hire someone every two years or so to fill an empty seat if someone leaves. Pretty standard across the industry. I got my interview through a recruiter. Interview consisted of phone calls with a VP at the SF office, followed by a phone call with each of the three partners. Final round was a case study - pick a subsector you're interested in, describe the growth drivers/trends of the market, create a market map of incumbents & disrupters, identify two companies that fit our investment criteria. Basically a watered down investment memo in PPT format.
Agree. Also just depends on firm DNA. A16Z wants product guys. IVP wants Qatalyst bankers. So and so wants McKinsey tech guys... you get the jist.
IB tech will position your odds better than a startup because you have a brand name stamp of approval and you'll even have some headhunters help you out. Yes you'll often hear that funds want people with operational experience but based on my interactions with people who came from the operating side, they usually stumble upon the VC opening from knowing the right person. PM is still a great way to get in albeit it'll require you to be a lot more on the ground floor networking with folks whereas IBD will provide a more structured recruiting path although it may skew a bit later stage sometimes.
I did the networking strategy to get into consumer VC (series A-C) and met a ton of folks who went to VC from various paths so feel free to DM me if you want to talk more
Second role 0 questions asked. Startup + PM experience is gold. Fuck being an MD’s bitch for 2 years working 80 hours a week.
At early-stage, I think you are better off on the PM side especially given you already have a technical major going for you. The move into VC won’t be straightforward because there’s no structured process, but you’re better positioned to evaluate deals and you’ll have a more useful network. I work at an early-stage firm now, definitely can succeed doing either but I think the PM experience will carry over well.
It depends on what type of firm you want to be at.
There are really two phases of your career in venture investing. The first is about beginning, as in your first investing role and how you get it. The second is about settling in, as in what you choose to specialize in or developing a lane to sit within.
Moving from the first phase to the second is fairly straightforward. You can be at one 'type' of fund and move to another type just by spending enough time talking to people, appearing smart, and paying attention to what opportunities emerge.
That's possible because once you're in the game and have an understanding of what great founders look like, what great customer or personal references sound like, the psychological issues to be aware of between a founding team or at the board level, how to think critically about how a company is growing and whether the way it's growing is right, what 10x employees look like and how to refer them, how to support a portfolio company through their next fundraise ... that's all portable to another firm that may practice the game a different way.
(By type I mean "scrappy early stage where we basically back great humans who will claw their way to the next stage through sheer grit and ingenuity" versus "early stage where we like to see product-market fit and will help you operationalize by adding great employees and think through important metrics to track" versus "growth stage where you know all the metrics and are simply going to pour more fuel on the fire" versus "growth stage where you are experimenting with new things to add and we like that" versus "growth stage where we run basically an index strategy and like to build a basket" and so forth.)
So the question is less of a blanket "which job is better for me to get into venture" and more "which flavor of venture do I want to begin with". If you want to be at a growth shop that really cares about metrics, do tech banking. If you want to be at an early stage firm that thinks hard about the product decisions a founder is making and still has in front of them, take the startup role.
Put plainly, you won't get to First Round from a banking job. You aren't likely to get to A16Z either, despite their scale. You are unlikely to get to ICV from a product job. You will not get to Tiger from product.
Overall, what I'm trying to illustrate is that it's not perfectly linear.
Good luck.
Ea neque adipisci quaerat libero excepturi. Pariatur nesciunt aut quisquam. Est molestiae fuga consequatur voluptatum rerum tempore dolores corporis. Dolor sit est numquam est nisi minus incidunt. Incidunt voluptatem doloribus molestias et. Recusandae et est commodi.
Sunt occaecati et dolor et laudantium quod. Cupiditate voluptas voluptatem non facere ipsa qui dolorum. Quis et hic et non tempora quasi autem. Quos et nihil vero fugiat non ipsam consectetur.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...