Is undergrad startup internship helpful for future VC recruiting?

Hey guys,

I am an international student currently doing my 2nd year at a LAC. I have several offers for this summer and I am only considering two options.

a) a tech start-up internship in NYC
b) BB back in my country (Asia)

While my goal is to work at a BB in the US after undergrad, I am also very interested in business roles at start-ups and VCs. I understand it's difficult to get a VC job right out of undergrad so I am wondering which option would be better. Which internship offer should I take? Thanks

 

I would take what you plan on doing in the future. Since you said, your goal is BB; then, go for BB in your home country. Next year, try to get an internship at BB in NYC, London, Chicago, or some financial center; and, after graduation you should be able to land a BB job. After 2-3 years at BB, you can switch to any industry and do whatever, or you will be able to launch even your own startup or be a partner of a startup.

 
Best Response

Totally depends on the startup. Uber is a startup, but so is my friend's fuckup younger brother's "company." The quality of the opportunity can vary quite a lot. I would say categorically that you haven't given enough information about either opportunity (is the BB for IB?), but if your goal is BB IB -> VC, then I would rank the range of possible opportunities as follows:

1.) Name brand startup (Series C or later w/ major VC investors) in a product role. 2.) Foreign BB in a front office role.

(big gap)

3.) Name brand startup in a strategy or bus dev role (partnerships, etc.). 4.) Name brand startup in a finance or operational role. 5.) No-name startup in a product role. 6.) Foreign BB in back office role.

(big gap)

7.) Other roles at a no-name startup.

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Nothing-Ventured-Nothing-Gained:

Can you explain why the start-up focus should be on a product role? What makes that different from strategy or business development if the long term goal is VC

There are 2 categories of VCs - early stage and growth stage. Growth equity guys tend to hire ex-bankers because there is more modeling and process involved. Early stage guys like folks with product backgrounds because the companies that you're investing in are not going to have much if any revenue traction, so finance knowledge is pretty useless. It's more about judging products and giving advice on product development. And culturally VCs and entrepreneurs are positively biased to people who are directly involved with product vs. sales & BD.
 

Without knowing more, I'd say you stand a chance, but not a good one. It's going to depend a lot on the type of role, how you spin it, and how you generally present yourself. Unless your startup really hits it big and gets some great brand name recognition, you're just not the typical candidate VC firms are looking for.

The biggest thing you can do between now and whenever you want to get into VC is network. A lot. Get to know as many people as possible and form meaningful relationships. Not just with VC's, but with everyone in the Tech community, both in your geographical community and back in the States.

 

If you're asking if you can get into a decent US VC fund after this experience, I would be highly skeptical. I don't mean to be negative but most VC funds don't do a ton of hiring out of undergrad (or even bschool) anyway and if they do it's kids with absolute rock star credentials-Stanford/Harvard, incredible grades and internships/pre-MBA experience, STEM types with finance knowledge, etc. Try, ask the VC's you've worked with, but don't put all your eggs in that basket and spin your wheels.

Why not stay with this startup or parlay it into another company? Take this opportunity, work your balls off, add something to the team and make yourself valuable. And then if you don't/can't stay use the network you can develop there to get something else. If you're working in HK and there's an Indian app I'd imagine you have a link to HK or India so be geographically agnostic unless you really want the US. And there's a gigantic Indian presence in the Valley so work that angle.

If your goal is definitely VC try to get top notch industry experience and see if VC is an option or get into a top MBA program with that experience, but understand that getting into VC is very difficult. Tons of people want it and they come with incredible backgrounds. I'm not in VC but I know a decent amount of VC and senior tech people and I'd personally go for industry experience. But I'd be interested to hear from VC's.

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