Looking for VC study materials (valuation, term sheets, etc.)

um... bump to where please? were you able to find good materials?

Product management or entrepreneurship is the best place to go...after all, when you're at a Board, you want practical business advice given; not pearls of wisdom from a douchey HBS case study reader or a former banker...

location is the key...go to boston (babson works; MIT or Harvard engineering) or sf area (Berkeley/stanford) schools or a tech like carnegie mellon

I don't know about this program, and Babson doesn't have much of a reputation in the VC world to be honest. From several conversations with people in the industry, Stanford is the best for VC placement, followed by Harvard and MIT.

As far as professional experience, besides operating experience at a tech firm or entrepreneurship, strategy consulting or banking experience focused on areas like healthcare and tech seem to be the best bet for breaking into VC.

thanks for the great replies

I think eiffeltowered hits the nail on the head regarding experience and Rolodex. VC is a very relationship-driven business, arguably even more so than private equity and investment banking. As such, VC requires one to be actively involved in the entrepreneurial scene. Being in tech M&A, I think, does contribute to this, so I wouldn't rule out banking completely. However, at the analyst level, it does take initiative to get out and meet / talk to people when you're not cranking at work, even though it may be difficult to do.

again, great replies!

well, starting a company sounds definitely more interesting than M&A sweatshops. You probably have to be the type to really leave that security of Banking and consulting behind for the same hours and no sure money but more risk more reward, right? I was still surprised that Babson is ranked no 1 for entrepreneurship. How do you rank that? What actually the point in studying in entrepreneurship? I understand that guys studying engineering in stanford (or oxbridge`etc. for that matter) have an edge. They come up with a smart product and start a company (very simplistic).

Do you see any advantage in studying entrepreneurship over studying normal Business or even a more technical course? Maybe not necessarily with regards to VC but with regards to the first step of starting a company.