How to Demonstrate Interest in Finance

I don't work for a VC fund, but work with a VC backed company and have been researching the space for a while. My understanding is you should:

a) Blog about companies, investment thesis, or anything than interests you - Great VCs are a part of the community. Fred Wilson's USV recently posted a analyst job for which candidates were evaluated mostly by their online presence. b) Angel Investing now is a good idea - show passion and you are putting money where your mouth is c) Alternatively you could network into your startup community and help startups part time or volunteer with a non-profit start up.

Also, understand that being from an "elite" boutique or GS isn't going to help you much. This will be an all out career change. Yes some funds, especially later stage ones value modelers but for grunt work not check writing. Some groups like Bain Cap hire consultants but overwhelming industry experience or being a rich guy is the best way into the VC club.

You need to learn the industry you want to interview for. No one is going to hire you for modeling skills or because you were a banker. The interviews will be very discussion based around individual sectors- they want to know that you know what you're talking about. For starters, definitely choose between tech or healthcare, because very few people do both (some firms do both, but you'll rarely, if ever, be hired to cover both). Another major point of interviews will be client interaction during your time in M&A and the ability to handle yourself in conversation with C-level folks.

Do you have any deal experience in tech or healthcare?

Thanks a lot for your replies, both are really helpful and constructive. A sense of entitlement is not what I want to portray, it's something definitely prevalent among young analysts in that people feel like top funds and companies will come at your feet to try to hire them away from their IB gigs. It's helpful for me to hear that the VC Funds care about your knowledge and passion for the industry, and nothing else.

@"FunnyReference", I'm going to take up all three of your suggestions - maintaining a blog sounds like an awesome idea, definitely a great way for me to build my knowledge and grow myself as a potential VC tech analyst. I have an ex colleague who is now working at one of these tech accelerator organizations, will try to reach out to see if I can get an inside look.

@"meph", I've worked on some tech pitches, but nothing has materialized. Working on various pitches/researching the mobile tech industry has been the extent of my experience in tech. But as I am part of a generalist program, I've not focused on tech more so than I have in, say, industrials/media/consumer/etc. Not go into such detail, but I do have an interest in the tech side of healthcare, particularly concerning the communication of data across every sub-sector of the healthcare system. I will try to disciplined when I research the different industries and try to build up as most knowledge as I can, most likely around healthcare as I at least have some interest already.

Appreciate the comments!

I recently made the switch from HealthCare banking to VC and there were a few things that I found the most helpful:

1. Have a specific sector / sub sector or two that you know very well and are able to talk about in depth. Tech / Healthcare aren't sectors. You want to be able to talk about something much more focused. IE I think the technology that connects doctors to patients is very exciting. Of particular interest to me are the companies that streamline patient check-in and allow doctors to charge patients at the point of sale. A few companies that do this are x, y, z. Z is particularly exciting because they already have a contract with HCA. This foothold in the largest hospital system in the country gives them a clear edge... from here you should be able to talk about how this company relates to their competitors, where it stands in the market, general tailwinds and all the other stuff you generally talk about when you're valuing a company. The important thing is to understand both the company and the five other companies out there that are doing the same thing.

2. I'm sure this is pretty obvious but talk to a lot of alumni if your school has any sort of network. Talk to the young guys because they've probably been in your shoes and the old guys because they can hire you.

3. For headhunters a lot will come to the initial interaction you had with them and if you came across as a competent candidate for a VC role. There is nothing you can to do change this but pinging headhunters to follow up, update your resume and re-express your interest is always helpful.

4. It's a pretty tough jump to make given the skills learned in banking don't really translate to VC so one thing to consider is trying to move to a growth equity firm where your modeling skills will be more appreciated. This will probably make more sense if you want to make a quick move but will probably be closer to banking than an early stage VC role would be. Another option would be to work for a portfolio company for a few years in a biz dev role and try and make the jump afterwards.

Not to discourage you but the stat I heard that really scared me is that within NYC there are ~100 junior VCs (Principle and below within all of Tech). Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

not weird at all and easy/normal to bring up. don't however go too far and talk about the multiples and stuff like that in just an informational/informal talk.

if im talking with someone for the first time i will feign a bit of ignorance and ask them to tell me more about their group. somehow i always end up meeting people in a sponsors group so i always end up asking (like i dont know anything) "do you have a lev fin group and how often do you all work with them?" Almost always, I will know at least one deal their bank/group has done and if not I will at least know a big transaction in their space. so you end up ultimately just stating "i saw that X just got bought out by Y or that Z is going public in a few weeks" and they can talk about that deal as much as they want. if they give you a longer answer you can probe more and get a bit technical, if they give you a very quick answer then you should just focus on talking about more casual/fun topics.

dont force it though - if you dont get a chance to talk about deals/news its okay. it helps them to know that you keep up but you'd rather come across as an easy parson to talk with than a guy who asks stuff out of nowhere and is trying too hard.

hope that helps .sorry im tired so the organization is this post is pitiful

Keep it to high-level stuff (don't be dropping multiples or anything) and make sure you know your shit about the deal before bringing it up.

Completely agree - thanks for the sound advice.

So what if my experience aren't aligned with the job I am seeking? For instance, if I want a job in IBD, but my internships have been in buy-side PE and public finance.

Depending on what you did in each, you can spin each experience to be aligned with IBD at some level.

For example: "My private equity experience has prepared me well for a career in investment banking. I was exposed to the transaction process, and developed an understand for what a buyer seeks in an acquisition. Furthermore, the experience provided a venue to hone my financial modeling and valuation skills."

You get the idea, just take the time to dress something like that up. You can do something similar for pub. fin. (stress financial modeling, research, presentation building, client-focused teamwork, etc.). Just strip down your experiences until they sound similar to what you are seeking.

Throwing in facts about the company is somewhat of a copout when you are having a hard time aligning your skills with the job description (not a good sign). Guilty as charged.

Remember the school doesn't need finance classes for it to be a target. The best way to get into a target school is to get really good grades freshman year and be able to effectively communicate how the school you're transferring too will help you achieve your future goals.

Wouldn't it be shallow to tell them that their school has a better alumni network?

Just keep your GPA high (while taking relatively challenging courses) and get involved. Make sure to take math and econ classes. I'm also transferring from a non-target to either Vandy or Northwestern (accepted by Vandy, awaiting a decision from NU). PM me if you want more advice.

get 4.0 GPA with decent classes - that's all

^You don't need a 4.0 although it helps obviously. A 3.7+ should keep you competitive for most top schools, assuming you have a stellar HS record and solid test scores.

Do some business stuff (selling ads) for the school newspaper, do model UN or smth - that should suffice