10+ years in Public Equities... any chance to move into VC?

Hi WSOer,

A little bit about myself. I started my career 15+ years ago as a data scientist (99.9% of people outside of my firm didn't know what I do back then), I did a lot of cloud data integration and data analytics work as a consultant. I left the tech industry to do an MBA because I wanted to get into VC. The MBA school counselor at the time told me that I cannot get into VC because no VC firm will take a fresh MBA grad with no previous IB experience and my tech background alone was just not going to cut it.

So I worked in corporate finance for a brokerage that is also an asset manager, did a lot of IPOs and raised some money. The firm one day realized that they had too many bankers in the firm and asked if I want to become a portfolio manager on the AM side. I did my CFA and became a PM, covering North Amercian equities and I have been a PM since. Being a PM pays the bills and I had a lot of unique chances to meet some interesting people like blue chip CEOs and most of the superstars in this industry.

Anyways, I can't help but to think about 15 years ago when I gave up VC because the door didn't open. Once in a while, I would revisit the idea. Recently, a friend who is a senior principal at a VC told me to just give up my dream because I'm too old to start from the bottom again - I'm in my mid 30s now and no VC firm is going to hire me as a junior analyst/associate. Another friend advised me to start my own VC firm, I can probably come up with $10-20mil no problem just from my own network, but at the end of the day I'm not a VC person.

Just looking for thoughts.