is cleantech a possible choice for non-tech graduate
hi
I am new here ,and I have been observing VC industry for some time . now I am a bit confused about my future career in VC.
I am a business economics major , fresh graduate, without tech background , wanna to start a career in VC
If I want to dive into VC, could clean-tech be too high technical knowledge barrier for me to go further ?
Personally speaking , I am kind of passionate of clear-tech/energy industry,
OR should I focus on Internet/Consumer division which might be easier for a Non-tech background youth?
Could any insider share some thoughts about it .
THANKS
I personally believe that with the exception of a few items, everything is learnable if you have the passion for it. There are tons of resources available for you to pick up any technical foundation for cleantech (yes you do need to know some basics but knowing the major players and trends in the field is equally important). The main hurdle you have to overcome is to make people recognize your passion. What I mean is, people with engineering backgrounds may have an easier time breaking into VC pre-MBA or at a relatively young age. Depending on other aspects of your background, you may need to say, work at a cleantech startup or go into a business development role and work in industry before moving to VC. But your final goal is certainly doable.
If you are really set on VC, you should get startup experience.
thanks Charmwithsubstance and JohnG for your tips
sorry for me I am newbie (fresh graduate) , why many people think it is better to involve in start-up first then directly
into VC junior position ( like sourcing and little modeling )? could you explain me a bit of that ?
PS: I am contacting one of famous local VC in my country, the partner might willing to give me junior position
intern in VC in cleantech .
thanks
The reason people suggest start-up (or corporate dev/industry experience) is a lot of business judgment comes from working in the field, rather than reading a book or case studies (as junior VCs without any experience would do). This link tells all about it: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/11/the_venture_cap.html
Being a junior VC myself, I of course have to defend that if you're a quick learner and willing to spend hours catching up on industry knowledge, VC will expose you to the right people and businesses and other resources to learn. But a lot depends on discipline.
Congrats on your potential internship. I do have to warn you though - it's a great opportunity for sure, but keep an open mind to other opportunities (IB, corp dev, etc) that could open doors for VC down the road. I say this because you say you've already gradudated. VCs like to take on interns for research, deal logging, etc without ever intending on employing them. Our VC firms take on 5 interns a year and have never hired any. You may not be doing work directly related to investment - though this depends on firm.
if you don't have other opportunities, I'd say take this as it exposes you to a great network and having a good name on your resume can be helpful - just don't be too upset if it doesn't transfer to an offer.
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