Skills to develop in Software M&A IB to lateral to VC?

1/ Pick a sector you're interested in and sign up for Tegus. I should caveat that this approach only would work for non-consumer sectors. Read reports of the ~10 most successful Series B-D companies in that space. Or just raw dog the research yourself. Write 1-2 pages on each. Eventually you'll have a ton of research and you'll know who the decision makers are in that space. Then start hitting up those decision makers on LinkedIn. Offer them $50-100 to talk (edit for this thread; you can offer to donate $50-$100 instead of pay, which is what I do, as some people pointed out offering the money might seem icky). Ask them about their jobs, their pain points, etc. Start looking into those because reliably someone will be solving them. Start finding those people on LinkedIn and talking to them. Write your own original research after talking to them and start putting it in front of the thought leaders in those spaces. Ask them if they are raising money. You then know a lot about this area. They will let you invest. I've done this process myself coming from PE. It feels like a full time job though so you could slow roll it over a year while working in PE, just expect to spend your weekends doing this. You can send a research paper to GPs and it doesn't matter if they read it or not. You follow up later saying "hey remember my research, well, I executed against that investment thesis and invested in (x), and now I have a new thesis on a new subvertical, I'm going to do that now. see ya!" and then do it again. Then you are just being a VC and if someone likes your ideas and investments, they will hire you. Bing, done. 

2/ See my previous post here. Happy to answer follow ups. As it stands right now, there are generally no "sure shot" funnels from IB to VC unless you are GS TMT, MS Tech, or Qatalyst. The "networking" in VC is not the same as PE where you have a sniff-test conversation to make sure you can walk and chew gum and eat spreadsheet shit for two years. You need to demonstrate some ability to drive value in VC which is generally not what you would be able to do right away with a banking skillset. The banking skillset gets you through financial diligence work, but that is sparse for earlier stage companies. There is much more about founder, product, and market analysis than financial analysis. Outside of diligence, there is also sourcing and value creation strategies, which banking does not prepare you much for. If you want to rely on your transactional skillset, you could find growth stage firms up the chain that will be much more focused on traditional business diligence; however, the growth markets are absolutely obliterated right now, so that would be a bang-head-against-the-wall-for-a-year type endeavor.

Previous post #1 is linked above, and previous post #2 is linked here. Let me know if any follow up questions. You should read the above with an eye for how it applies to your own situation because it is not perfectly apples to apples but the ingredients to the recipe are there. For example, you should still be developing perspectives on a space, developing a presence (most easily done online) within the market that attracts dealflow (because that is something you are entitled to do as a junior; it is the wild wild west and not like IB where you have to have your VP proof read your emails to your MD and green light when you can speak in meetings) and generally advocating for yourself, your ideas, and your ability to independently create value. My word of caution would be you are so young that you really do know nothing, so I would err on the side of being a gracious observer and market participant who is eager, appreciative, and sees no man or no work as beneath him/herself.

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Might sound cringe but it’s a path many take especially at top firms