VC out of Undergrad -> Carry possible?
Title says it all. Currently in college, understand VC out of undergrad is very difficult and also heard that turnover among jrs is common. I'm wondering how possible it is advance up the ladder in a fund after going in straight out of undergrad. Thanks for responses.
Lmao you kids are so fucking entitled it's unbelievable.
To clarify: I do not mean get carry out of undergrad, I mean make it into a fund where it is possible to achieve a position with carry (likely after ~ 4- 7 yrs working for the firm). If that's not what your comment was referring to, then fair I guess.
Ah, that's more reasonable then. Apologies for jumping the gun. I mean it's just general progression at funds that will get you carry and that comes with time. You're more likely to get it sooner at smaller, younger funds. Outside that it just comes down to do your job well, put in time, and add some kind of value to the table.
I know multiple analysts, who straight out of school, got carry in their funds. You don't get what you don't ask for. Also most VC funds pay worse than banking or PE roles straight out of school. Its not unreasonable to request.
OP here. Can I pm you?
It’s seriously unlikely, but possible to get on track for a role that will give you carry out of undergrad.
The best indication of whether firms actually offer a path to partner is to trawl LinkedIn for current and former employees at a given firm to see how often they promote juniors internally vs. juniors having to leave to get a promotion. A decreasing number of old fashioned firms effectively require MBAs to progress past a point - check that too.
Makes sense. Appreciate the response. Good tip too
Makes sense. Appreciate the response
Most VCs don’t leave much room for transition from analyst / associate —> partner.
Generally you leap to another firm or need to found / exit a multi million dollar startup and then you get brought on at senior levels
Interned at a pretty well known VC (not sequoia tier but respectable) and ended up pivoting to IB due to career progression at the VC I was at.
Basically all juniors are pushed out after a few years. Almost all seniors are outside hires or have been around since the beginning of the firm, or are former portfolio founders who had a good exit.
Without any startup experience, many junior VC people hit a wall (at least internally), and either need to MBA, lateral to a newer fund, or launch a startup to eventually make partner track.
All of this can be seen on LinkedIn/company bios. Are there partners that have been there since college? Then this is possible. At least at the funds I talked to/the one I worked out, this is extremely uncommon.
At the firm I was at, I worked closely with 6 junior employees. Over the past 2 years since I interned, 5 have left (3 to portfolio cos or their own startup, one MBA, one to another VC). One has gotten promoted but he was the absolute rockstar when I was there- sourced a few deals and everyone loved him. Recently caught up with one of the ones who left and he said he basically hit a wall and wouldn’t get promoted any higher so he left.
I remember I spoke to a partner there early in my internship and he explained his own mentality- VCs need to convince entrepreneurs why they are a valuable partner. If you’ve only ever been a VC, how valuable can you be? Especially compared to someone who headed a successful startup or someone who has already been an investor/board member in other successful startups (hence the lateral hiring). Don’t necessarily agree with this mindset myself, just sharing a data point about why starting in VC can be a tough career path.
Also this was an early stage VC- think things get pretty different when you go to more of the GE type firms.
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