Getting into premier VC(Seqoia, Accel) and PE(Blackstone, KKR) funds
These are some of the most coveted brands and companies that everyone wants to break in. So in order to get in, do you need to be an IBanker or you can move right in after some networking, straight out of undergrad or MBA or after having work ex in Top Investment/Asset Management(Fidelity, AXA, Blackrock) companies ? It would be awesome if any of you guys could share your experiences.
Are you a high school student?
You're not getting into a MF in PE like KKR without being a star at your job in IB - thats the pre -req and an MBA from a top school doesn't hurt either AFTER having a run in IB.
There is no direct path into VC let alone Sequoia or Accel - There is no structure to recruiting.
If you want to have a shot at a top tier venture fund, found a company and have a monster exit with them as investors. OR work at a breakout company in their portfolio as an exec and network your ass off. You'll see some Ibankers and consultants in the mix of a lot of these firms but no venture fund is giving anyone a seat unless they can provide a tremendous amount of value. All associates have incredible deal flow which increases the surface map of their potential investment universe.
Bottom line: be a Star in whatever you do
Thanks for the response, am currently pursuing my MBA from a Top 25 B-School in India.
You won't make the cut. Even MBA business schools">M7 in the US is an uphill battle..
No one give a shit about India, better off going to China lol.
Unfortunately I do not think there is any logical path for you to take from that background. The most likely path is to be a founder with a mega-exit, but if you pull that off you may just want to sit on a beach somewhere. Good luck to you, but it is going to be an incredibly difficult and uphill battle.
You won't make it straight in w/ that profile, sorry chief. Top 25 means your school is not top 10 or 5. And that's an Indian school. Would be extremely difficult even from a top US school.
Go west young man.
So all I gotta do is found a wildly successful startup or become a C-Suite executive at a successful startup to get in VC? Easy peasy eggs and cheesy. BRB cooking up the next StockX real quick.
Founder of Stockx would never get into accel or sequoia
You're too damn late to the race man. Ace that back-office job at the IB you can get into. Then jump to front-office by kicking ass at your earlier role and by doing a tremendous amount of networking. You might even have to go from a back-office BB to a front-office small boutique IB outside Mumbai. If you can't make the jump from BO to FO - forget getting into any of these firms, or any other elite firms in high finance in India.
To give yourself a reality check, just read the minimum requirements the Michael Page recruiters keep posting on LinkedIn. So here's the plan - BO at BB > FO at any IB that will hire you > Maybe, just maybe, get into a PE fund/asset manager that would be willing to interview you. Do this over the next half-a-decade and you might have a chance.
Alternate course - go through SEBI's website and have a look at the close to 600 AIFs that are mushrooming across the country. They give contact details of most of these AIFs; so, for the summers, try acing an internship at one of these places and you might be able to start early at a boutique shop right out of b-school; that is assuming - you are able to cold mail/call them, get an internship and ace the internship.
It goes without saying that staying in the top 1% of your class, being the head of the finance club and being a member of the placement committee will help you. Also, think about the CFA/CMA qualifications you can take up.
Also, some brutal honesty here, it's not that bad to work in a back-office role and making a comfortable life. I know a ton of people in Mumbai who started at the back office, jumped to front office and then came back to back office because the FO life was not for them. Since you'r so late to the run, it tells me, it might require a crazy amount of motivation for you to make it in this area in the long run.
May randomness be on your side.
P.S. I request you, urge you - please conduct thorough research before posting open-ended questions on these forums. You are only feeding fodder to the cycle of stereotypical opinions people have about Indians entering finance. More often than not, I have hit the wall only because some guy I am trying to network with had a really bad experience with some Indian dude who had no clue about what he was doing and yet kept spamming. Cheers.
Thanks for speaking in my language. I hope to learn more about the career positions and understand what is actually going on in finance. Also it would be wonderful if you could tell me how to go about the research online, since people around me don't talk around much in the finance lingo.
If I were you, I would strictly focus on building credibility in the industry. By not being at any of the IIMs, you've already given yourself a huge drawback from the startline. So, strictly focus on the boutiques.
JPMC, BoAML, GS and Citi must be visiting your campus for back-office roles, for IB at least; stay away from the Risk roles, they don't add much value in the long run. Take the IB BO job - they pay well and bring you close to where you want to be. That is the least risky route you can take. Post that, focus on getting into Spark, O3, MAPE, Veda Corporate Advisors, RBSA, Equirus or Dinodia. These firms are open to hiring at Associate levels, when individuals come from a decent BB and have some amount of credibility in their profile. Add the folks from these places to your LinkedIn network, in a non-spamming manner. Open conversations with them about industry dynamics and have 10-15 minute phone calls with them; secret advice here - put a disclaimer in your cold message that you are not going to ask them for a job/internship. Nurture these leads for the next two-three years, while you're still slogging at your BO role.
On the other side of the lake - if you're damn confident about your investment skills, cold mail/call Category II or Category III AIFs. But be very sure about it - because these shops are just starting up, so the pay will not be industry wrecking. At the same time, you will be able to acquire skills that would otherwise have taken an entire lifetime for someone going from a top 25 b-school to a high-finance role.
Be very serious about CFA, it's still a gold-standard for firms hiring in asset management space in India. No disrespect to the people working there, but stay away from roles in credit rating; it becomes extremely difficult to go from there to anywhere more ambitious.
If you have the time and audacity, finish up the CA course in addition to your CFA and MBA, and get an AIR. It will save you a ton of money and you won't have to go for a second-MBA for rebranding yourself.
So, if you are able to reach the endgame of MBA/CFA/CA with AIR + great BO experience + good FO experience at a boutique, you will at least be able to get on the radar of the recruiters for the shops you just named. But, as I said, it will be an uphill battle no matter how you plan ahead.
Would be extremely difficult even from a top US school. Spankbang Beeg Redtube
The entrepreneur exit -> VC path is hilarious to me. NO ONE I network with started a business with the intention of being a VC. They usually "fall into" VC because their success and network provided them the opportunity to do so and they wanted to give it a shot and help other entrepreneurs. It's not a "path" that you can follow step-by-step; it's more like an outcome that occasionally happens when you've proven your chops.
Believe it or not, you can actually make it into a top tier VC out of undergrad if you play your cards right, but you need to be exceptionally methodical and have leadership capabilities that you'd normally never see in college students. VC's in the seed/series A stages have grown their appetite for finding startups founded in college dorms but they need scouts to source those opportunities. As a result, some top tier VC's have scout programs where college students can help source deals which leads to a strong network and potential job opportunity.
If you want to pursue the method I outlined above, I don't think you necessarily have to go Ivy League but you do have to enroll in an entrepreneurship-heavy college like Babson or Northeastern. That said (and I can't stress this point enough), you'll need to do a ton of ground work on your own: networking, attending demo days, creating your own structures, developing relationships with entrepreneurs. It's a whole thing and it's really really ambiguous but do-able for the strong willed.
Otherwise, go with the tried-and-true path of top Ivy -> IBD -> PE/VC and grind grind grind.
As someone who has pals at Ivies doing the straight out of undergrad to elite VC path, the common paths are Contrary Capital & Dorm Room. Friends have worked at those and ended up at top VC firms/PE MFs
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