All in on VC Internship or Keep ‘Safe’ Recruiting
Hi all,
Current sophomore at a HYPSM, CS major but not going into SWE so exploring finance atm (not keen on IB). Was planning to recruit heavily for consulting this summer and fall but have recently stumbled across a pretty unique opportunity.
In the interview process with a fund in Silicon Valley (early and late stage investing in mostly tech companies) that has around $10bn AUM. Investments from $10m-$150m range. Summer ‘25 internship role with high chance of a full time return offer. It’s a small team, 100 worldwide and only 25 in the US. It’s a very quiet opportunity, have longstanding connections to the company that could definitely help me get the role (obviously very grateful but a bit uneasy). However, my eventual goal is to work in pure finance and not tech. I get that this VC opportunity is tech-adjacent but it’s not a NYC PE role which would be my ideal landing spot. I’m not a huge fan of the Bay Area tech bro VC culture in general, but I know this could very easily change.
All in all, if I do receive an offer from this VC fund for a summer ‘25 internship, should I just go with it and not recruit at all for consulting? Is this opportunity more valuable than an MBB summer internship role for example? I definitely feel like the work would be more significant and I’d have more skin in the game, it’s just more unconventional, there is something to be said about going down the ‘safe’ MBB->MBA->PE route, though I know this is by no means guaranteed. However I know investing opps don’t come up like this too often, especially for fresh grads. Curious what you all think, thanks!
See if you get the internship offer first, then take it from there
I agree mostly. The only caveat is, if I cash in a connection, I can’t really renege in the future, I have to decide that I won’t recruit any further if I do get the offer…
This is a very wise comment
My vote is use the connection and do it
VC won’t close any doors these days. You can always go VC to IB or VC to growth equity (PE might want modeling experience first). But don’t overthink it
At Stanford? Feel free to pm me
Nope, east coast :) would prob be an easier decision if I was on the west coast
Haha gotcha. In the West Coast and did EB IB and UMM PE and am trying to go more into tech lol. Thought finance wasn’t the most exciting stuff, work hours are bad, and grass is always greener
It is pretty difficult to move up stream in investing stage: VC -> PE. You could also look into growth equity if you want a blend of both, would easily recruit for growth after the VC internship. But same problem of it being difficult to move directly to buyout.
Interesting, thanks for your opinion. What would you say is the most sure-fire way to break into later stage PE? MBA? IB? Thanks
Most surefire way to break into PE is through IB the better bank/group, the better. Which is why it doesn't make sense you're so adverse to it. If it's because of hours, bad news, PE at a large fund is essentially banking 2.0.
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