PE to Startup to VC?

2nd-year PE associate in NYC thinking about eventually moving into VC / growth investing or a startup; pretty confident I don't want to stay grinding the ranks in PE.

One path I’ve been considering is:

PE → strategic finance / bizops at a strong growth-stage software or AI company → VC / growth equity later

Curious whether this is actually viewed as a strong path or whether leaving investing makes it materially harder to get back in.

For people who have seen this work:

• Does 2-3 years operating at a strong startup meaningfully improve your profile for VC?
• Is this more helpful for early-stage VC, growth, or both?
• Do firms actually value operating experience, or do they mostly prefer people who stayed on the investing track?
• How much does the quality / trajectory of the startup matter?
• Would this path still be realistic for top-tier firms, or mostly smaller / sector-focused funds?
• Does strategic finance / bizops count as meaningful operating experience for VC recruiting, or are product / founder / GTM backgrounds viewed much more favorably?

Basically trying to understand whether startup operating experience creates a differentiated investing profile or just makes the path back into investing less straightforward.

Would especially appreciate examples of people who went PE → operating → VC/growth and how they positioned the move.