How to Find Corporate Finance Jobs at Startups?
Hi,
I'm a recent college grad looking to work in corporate finance or VC and was wondering how I can find corporate finance jobs at startups or what the best way to going about this process is? Since I graduated from a non-target, I've not really been searching for VC stuff as I know it is very competitive to get into and I might not be qualified at the moment, but I feel like working in corporate finance at a startup could lend itself to making a transition to VC later on, but I was wondering how to find such positions since they're smaller and are typically less structured in when they recruit (at least from what I've seen). If anyone has any advice, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks for the help!
From what I've noticed startups tend to hire more experienced people to run their finances. I believe its because their finance teams tend to be way smaller (1 or 2 people) than a large corporation and thus the person needs to be very versatile in the functions they serve for the company. Not saying you can't break in right out of undergrad but it will be very hard.
Edit: Look at craigslist in an area known for startups. ie SF, Silicon Valley. Cheapest and easiest way for them to advertise positions.
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Seems like those with tech and business backgrounds usually have the edge.
Most startups don't have corporate finance people, depending on how you define that term.
Corp Finance could include any of the following and more: -Corp Dev -Corp Strategy -FP&A -Treasury -General Finance
True startups have limited need for finance people. They typically have a controller/CTO and maybe one or two support people. Startups (at least in tech) don't usually have much, if any debt, so they have fairly straight forward capital structures. They can also outsource some of the strategic analysis to their VCs, assuming they are backed. It's also unlikely that they are looking for acquisitions so they probably don't need corp dev.
The places that finance people do tend to get involved with a startup are in either business development/partnerships, supporting the CFO/controller, or some type of product management role. Sometimes startups will have a jack-of-all trades type person to support the C-level and do research and analysis...this can be a cool role, but not all startups have it and locating these opportunities is difficult.
As TechBanking said, most startups have very very little use for corporate finance people. And even in the few cases where they need finance people involved, that work will typically be handled by their investors - their investors/VCs will refer accountants/corporate financiers to them, and their investors will also have in-house finance employees available.
The cases where you might be able to find a position are at larger, well-established startups.
In my experience, early-stage startups are rather unusual in the kind of experience they hire. Startups often don't hire entry-level/no-experience employees, because startups need you to be able to hit the ground running. At the same time, early-stage startups often can't afford to hire employees with extensive experience (except as founders, of course). In that case, your best bet is to get a corporate finance position at a large company, and then go to a startup after a few years.
To follow up with what others have said, this largely depends on the stage the company is at. And how you are actually defining "startup".
A true startup, and to use many of the recent Y-Combinator funded companies as an example, are teams ranging anywhere from 1-3 people (obviously varying). Within the company's co-founders, there is usually a "hustler" (business guy), someone who handles sales/marketing/finances, and the "hacker" who handles much of the technical ascpects of the job (for web-companies). There is no real need for additional employees until the company starts operations, starts gaining users, or starts generating revenue.
Additional employees are usually added after the Series A financing when a company starts its attempt to scale. (crunchbase.com, techcrunch.com, and venturebeat.com will usually report the majoity of theses financings). A lot of venutre capital firms will post employment positions for their portfolio companies on their websites. Check out Seqouia Capital, Founders Fund, KPCB, and others. I bet you will be able to find something you are looking for at a later stage company (more on that below). When companies start scaling and recieving VC money, that's when they start needing specialized employees and functions like a comptroller, full-time CFO, etc.
Where you might find a corporate finance jobs would be at a company with growing revenues that has been around for a couple years. Think more Pinterest, Square, Yammer, Second Market, Dropbox, Twitter, Foresquare, etc. and less Asana, Angel List and Airtime (which is only Sean Parker, Shawn Fanning and two other guys at the moment). Getting experience at one of these firms can help you when it comes time to actually join a startup with only three employees.
Go to your favorite VC funds' websites; some have "opportunities at our portfolio companies" job listings. Have a look, and don't be too choosy about "corporate finance" specifically.
Why? Story-time: A friend started out doing marketing for a software co in the portfolio of a large west coast VC. That company got acquired by a Fortune 500 a month after he got a big promotion within the VC-backed co. He transitioned into the Fortune 500 at a job-level in corp strategy that would have taken him at least 5 extra years to get to.
Get your hands dirty in whichever way you can add value to the VC-backed co (you'll often find yourself wearing many hats). Go to b-school afterwards and then you can get your corp finance job with a much stronger background.
I Second what Themistocles said. In most case you won't have the chance that his friend had, but still, at a start-up the hierarchy is almost flat, you will learn a ton and it will be a very good experience for the following of your career, be it in Business school or another corporate job.
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