List of VC shops

I don't know how helpful the M&A background will be- most bankers I have seen in VC come from Tech groups. Maybe someone can correct me though. There also aren't many VC funds over $1B (at least not as many as PE). I would first figure out what kind of VC you want to do (IT, digital media, biotech, etc.) and then target firms in that area. As far as specific firm names, your best bet is probably to buy the Vault VC guide.

Agree with ideating, most bankers come from tech focused groups (even MMs like Jeffries/Wiesel that focus on "growth areas"). But there are at least 20 (probably 40 total) VCs with an AUM > $1B. Check out www.thefunded.com for a full list and use the $$$$$ guide to figure out AUM.

But in regards to hours, your hours are not going to be great if you're joining as an analyst (OK definately not > 80 hours), but you should expected 60-80 hours a week on a pretty regular basis, and a correspondingly lower bonus. Also expect to do a lot of deal sourcing, aka cold calling,

VCMonkey

Thanks a lot for the advices and great responses!
Few more questions:
1. So you think my banking internship would be worthless when I eventually want to land in VC with prior PE experience -->Better look for another buyside internship and reject the banking offer?
2. Is it possible/usual to work parttime(20h~25h/week) for a fund while writing your final thesis? (don't need assistance just writing the thesis beside work to gain more work experience) I know PE funds that offer this when you have previously done an internship there.
3. I have got a business administration and industrial engineering background my IT knowledge(minors) is very theoretical/mathematical, almost no coding. I'm interested in regerenative energy industry, entertainment/media business concepts, don't know much about biotech. Prior experience with automotive.
4. It is definately a big difference from 60 to 80 hours. Any chance to start as an 2nd year analyst or even associate with business+engineering master and 6-9 months working experience?

I'll caveat all this by saying that I don't work in VC and all my knowledge is purely second-hand from a family member. However I am offering an opinion because there aren't too many people with VC experience on this board.

1) Not worthless. Signals you and gives you all the necessary modeling experience you will need. However other backgrounds are much more helpful (CS major from MIT, took a semester off to do a start-up that had 30k viewers/month that you sold for x amount, did a summer with Microsoft corp dev., as an extreme example) I can't comment on the PE vs. IB experience for getting into VC.
2) I have no idea about this but I would assume it would be easier to swing if you a) offer to work for free and b) are fine with cold-calling and other work that no one else wants to do.
3)Not sure what to say to this.
4)I don't think so, not without FT work experience.

Thank you very much for that!
I think I should just try out, what works for me.

1. No I don't think a banking internship is worthless, it signals that you are a high quality candidate (i.e. competitive enough to get into banking). Prior PE experience helps (not buyout, but growth capital), since it gives you "an ownership mentality".
2. PE funds offer part time jobs? This is news to me. Agree with ideating, just offer to work for free (read my post on this).
3. You don't need coding experience, what you need is to be able to size up very complex technologies and describe them in everyday English. If you can do this, you can work in a tech-focused VC group.
4. No, none.

Hope that helps,
VCMonkey

What about FDJ, Sequoia, Oak Investments...? I'm not even in the field, just from the area...cant remember the names of the other funds but I went to school with kids who parents def ran Billion dollar firms...a lot of VC shops run as PE as well now...although you're prob right about not as many $B VC and PE.

I think I may need to clear this up: what I was thinking was that fund size doesn't necessarily correlate with fund "quality" as it does in PE or HF. For example, USV just closed a $125M fund and it is one of the most prestigious VC funds in the northeast. From that, I awkwardly made the point that there weren't as many 1B+ funds as PE when I should have elaborated and said that there are plenty of quality funds <1B.

If anyone doesn't know, USV refers to Fred Wilson's Union Square Ventures, internet-enabled services focused fund. They are actually looking for an Analyst right now.