As it says above, could recruit for a pe associate role or join a tech startup backed by a tier 1A firm (a16z, Sequoia,etc) that bootstrapped to a substantial MSDmm ARR before even taking the money. would be like employee number 10 so part of the founding team.
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That said you can join startup and then go VC after if you’re passionate about something and want to attack a theme. Hard truth about startups is that if you don’t have the founders ear you have to understand you’re going to be on the other end of some really hard decisions / pivots /changing strategy
My first comment didn’t load idk why. My hot take is that unless youre a first 5 employee hire at the startup, the worst investing seat will be 1000x intellectually stimulating than even the best, most fast growing startup.
This shouldn’t be a hot take— you’re absolutely right. Startups are a bit overrated. They can be extremely political / have pretty dumb bosses, and you have to assume that the startup equity is worth $0 (it’s also often issued as exercisable options btw , which you have to pay in to to get and that money is likely to be lost).
The real prize of working at a startup or corporate in general is if you can find ppl that you mesh with, a comp / WLB that suits your needs, AND perhaps most critically, be in the mental space where you’re ok just coasting at a particular pay level without much (or any) development
This is a personal decision that depends on your willingness to take risk and your interest in tech vs. private equity.
A few things:
Downsides:
I passed on a few startup jobs back in the day, and on jobs at tech companies that have since achieved incredible scale, in favor of my "path" on the buyside. I sometimes feel pangs of regret that I didn't take more risk earlier in my career. Now that I'm earning pretty decent money and will need to take a 50%+ pay cut to join any startup, I doubt I'll ever be able to take that leap.
PE is dead as an asset class. Take the startup role.
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