Swimming upstream: VC to PE or IB?

I landed a gig at a seed stage VC out of undergrad. I love the work and even more so, the lifestyle. All my IB friends are jealous of my ~60 hour workweek and flexible setup, and I'm learning a ton. However, a lot of the skills I've been honing are more so in the qualitative analysis realm as opposed to the hard modeling skills an IB position would bring. 

I'd like to eventually make the jump to growth equity or maybe even PE but from my understanding the hires in these fields predominantly come from the pool of exiting IB analysts that are modeling gods. Has anyone swam upstream in VC before without sharpening those skills in an IB role? Is that possible? If not, should I look to exit for an IB gig to then make the jump to PE/GE easier after another few years?

Or am I overthinking this whole situation? The story I've heard from a lot of IB/PE people is that VC is the promised land and they're all looking to jump to my spot. Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated.

2 Comments
 

Learning to model is easy, you can pick this up yourself through one of the many available, inexpensive online modules. Tons of IB analysts that exit to PE barely do any modeling in their groups anyway; they teach themselves.

Is there any reason why you want to move towards later stage investing? It becomes far more process oriented. It sounds like you enjoy your current role, which is more rare than you might expect.

 

Rem eaque at vero. Vel harum occaecati fugit pariatur est. Et molestiae quae ad ipsam. Iusto autem quis expedita ut fugit a. Ducimus tempora culpa nihil suscipit minima in ducimus.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”