Early-stage VC to late-stage VC or growth PE / CFA
Hi guys,
I joined an early stage VC fund as a full time analyst after graduating from a French business school’s Master in finance. Prior to this I made an internship in a Big4 audit firm and passed CFA 1.
I really like this sector, the diversity of projets and startups I can meet, but I miss data crunching and financial analysis. I am not comfortable with the lack of « technical » analysis and the fact that some investments rely too much on intuition or on senior profiles’ past experience.
Do you think that it’s possible to switch from early stage VC to late stage VC or PE funds without going through IB? I’m currently preparing for CFA level 2 in order to maintain these financial skills, is it relevant to continue CFA path or am I somehow already « trapped » in early stage VC?
Thanks for your help and advice
BusinessAsUsual_, way too quiet in here. What about these resources:
More suggestions...
I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.
also in the same boat joined an early-stage VC fund and would like to find out. I imagine there is a way might be a good idea to reach out to someone at a later stage VC fund for a coffee chat to find out.
seems a lot of early stage VCs are trying to lateral to a growth stage firm (Series B+). More "science" than "art", and significantly de-risked. Carry also seems to come earlier as it doesnt take as long as an early stage company to show promise
100% doable, I was at a smaller early stage VC and got into PE. A lot of the knowledge and skills are transferable, biggest difference is more quantitative vs qualitative but that’s a given. If you’re still early in your career you can find a firm that will bring you on without IB.
The most common question I got during interviews was “why change asset class?”
I made this transition as well. Be very conscious of the firm you're joining because there's a big range in the weight they'll put on your VC skillset. Some really valuable the thematic / market knowledge + network you'll bring (and it'll be valuable regardless), but others will entirely write-off the experience because you "didn't do real investing". If you end up in the later bucket, you're going to have a long timeline to prove yourself and will always have the "VC guy" history hanging over your head. Just make sure you're transitioning to a more growth-oriented shop, not one run by a bunch of ex PE guys from some mega firm. Most important is when you do join any of these firms, make sure you have an A+ analytics skillset -- first impressions matter a lot when you are interviewing and join -- you def don't want to come in with what may look like holes in your analytic skillset.
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