PE -> VC -> Startup -> HF (TMT)

Hi fellow monkeys!

I'm looking for advice. I have 5 years of experience in PE & VC. 4 years PE, 1 year VC (which shut down due to the partners breakup). Now, I am thinking of starting a small e-commerce business selling my own products using ads on social media platforms, SEO etc to drive traffic to my own site (shopify/wix etc). It started as a hobby but thought about monetizing it and once it's up and running, I can run it on the side easily, while working on a full time job. It's print on demand business model which is not as time consuming as other business models. After that is launched in the next few months, I was thinking of applying to a HF (TMT role)

Just wondering how much do HF (TMT role) value such experience? Whether I should kill the idea of e-commerce and focus on the job hunt or do it anyway and then start the job hunt after?

A few things I thought about pros and cons of carrying this e-commerce side business out:

Pros 1. Great opportunity to show that I can think like an investor in terms of capital allocation & general business analysis 2. Developing an understanding of best practice & scale practice - applying what I learn in running the e-commerce to a far larger company in terms of scale: thinking about why the platform is picked (Wix, Shopify), who the target customer is, issues dealing with bidding for customer traffic through different traction channels (managing ads campaigns, revenue channels) 3. Having hands-on knowledge on e-commerce from running it

Cons 1. I may be able to develop a more knowledge than the average TMT analyst but from an investment perspective, the edge may not be as valuable? 2. People from biotech background goes into biotech investing, gives them a lot of edge as the sectors are difficult to model and understand. However e-commerce may conceptually not be as hard to understand / model hence the experience will not be as useful for investing 3. May drag the timeline (preparing a few good pitches takes time too) & delay the job hunt for getting a role in HF (TMT)

Thanks!

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