Venture Capital: Chief of Staff Role - Input Appreciated
Hi Everyone,
Obvious throw away account here for anonymity. My question is pretty straightforward and would love to hear a few different opinions on it.
Currently a second year analyst at T2 Digital Consulting firm. High performer, but have always been fascinated with Venture and startups. Pretty well connected within the ecosystem, but as many of you know, Venture is hard to get into.
If I'm interested in being in Venture for the long haul, how do you monkeys view a Chief of Staff/Partner Operations Manager/Platform role within an up and coming early stage fund? Can't really give anything more away than that, but have had a few interviews and it seems like a really unique opportunity to be with a growing fund.
I don't see why you wouldn't take this opportunity. Most people from T2 consultancies probably don't have a shot at entering VC to begin with, so why not jump on this opportunity and grow with the firm assuming they're > $50MM? VC is a networking game - the larger your network the easier it will become. I'd say get a few solid years in of this and help the fund grow then if they do well continue, if not, you're already in.
Just do it - Nike
The chief-of-staff role is one that is really dependent on who you work for and tasks are going to range from glorified assistant to replacement CEO. With that in mind, how you progress going forward will really depend on the quality of work and responsibilities given and how much the partner you work for (or other investment professionals) is going to spend time coaching and mentoring you. It's also a unique opportunity to built a very close relationship with a senior person and that can really, really help going forward. Similarly, things can turn sour really really fast if you work for a psycho.
From my limited experience (only know a few people who did this and not necessarily at VC funds), the experience was either absolute hell and didn't last long or it provided a huge leg up and opened doors that would normally have remained closed for several years. Ultimately, it all boils down to the conversations you had and how confident you are with whoever you'd be working for.
Makes sense and agree. Basically the fund has a very flat hierarchy. One founding Managing Partner, another Partner and a third Principal. The fund has been doing very well in recent past and I was referred to them from a mutual colleague. The fund is well known within its specific geography (SF/BOS/NYC) and has multiple seed/series a portfolio of companies most people here would recognize.
My role would be around daily operations of the firm, outward marketing, community engagement, portfolio support, investment memos, diligence, etc.
I see it as a stepping stone with a growing fund, but could also be as you said, hell. I think it puts me in a great position to move up and bridge the gap between operations and investment.
I think it's very fair for you to ask about long-term career development (ie. where does this position lead to) and that should give you a pretty good idea of how the partners view your long-term potential. Some of the tasks you outlined (diligence, drafting investment memos and to some extent portfolio support) are the bread and butter of an Associate role and given there doesn't seem to be any junior investment professionals, I'm assuming they are planning to use you to fill some of that gap which would bode well for a future transition. In any case, I think going to such a small platform, there really shouldn't be anything you should feel afraid to ask and ultimately, you'll have to make the decision. Good luck!!
mtnmmnn has covered it really well.
Such a role hinges entirely on who gave it to you. Some executives look at it as a "you're my right hand", others look at it as "you're my bitch". That's a difference between literally having your boss' email inbox (where you can write and reply to emails as them) or being a go-fer doing menial administrative work. And there's obviously a spectrum in between.
From what you've shared, the role is truly a catch-all. They don't have enough budget to hire three separate people for Associate, Operations Manager, and Community Manager.Know going in that this won't be a cakewalk: while they don't have the dollar scale to support that many roles, the work will still support/require that many roles because the portfolio isn't going to be any narrower in count. The deal volume will be the same as a bigger fund that would have a larger management fee, the check size is simply smaller.
You'll have to flex between:
... and more ... all within the same day.
To succeed, you have to be a 'jack-of-all-trades'. The question (for your future career optionality) is whether the second half of the maxim 'and master-of-none' will apply to you.
If you want to move into an investing role, pay more attention to all the investment-related functions. This would be:
It's likely that those would be no more than 25-35% of your time if you allocated it based on your written job description. Try to make them 50-75% of your time (so you're a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-a-few).
Venture (especially at the early stage) is an incredibly fluid business. People react to the strongest value they receive. If you're crushing it sourcing (a), uncovering interesting things about people or companies or even spaces the firm is considering investing in (b), or helping find fantastic talent, smooth out various business processes, refining sales decks, or any other type of support for the companies in the portfolio (d), your boss is going to love that you're spending all your time there. If you're sucking at it, they're not going to love that you're doing less in other areas in favor of focusing on a thing where you're performing weakly.
After 18-36 months, you'll have a strong skill-set in the core things a venture investor needs to excel at. Hopefully you'll also have a strong network of founders who can sing your praises, employees at various companies both in your portfolio and beyond who can also speak strongly about you, partners at other funds who've interacted with you and think you're sharp, and corporate contacts who will take your call.
At this point you can put feelers out for a chance to move to another firm. You'd be looking for a Principal or VP position (whatever they title the pre-partner role). The goal is to sell yourself as someone who has done a couple years of associate work plus some cool operations or infrastructure stuff.
If you accepted an associate role it would be as if you're lateraling (and thus accepting that the prior years of work counted for nothing, which isn't fair or correct). Note that if you try to switch to a firm much larger in AUM, this will be harder; they'll likely call the pre-partner role "Vice President" and not want to give it to someone without a prior full-on investing role. If you're staying in the early stage universe, again, things are much more fluid.
Congrats on the opportunity (not sure if you have the offer yet), seriously. Venture is an incredibly exciting field and there aren't many seats at the table.
If you believe in yourself and your ability to shape your own experience in this role, it can be a good way to build the skill-set and network that helps you launch a career in the space. If you're less of a go-getter, someone who tends to execute better on clear instructions, or who deals less than perfectly with ambiguity, this probably isn't a perfect fit - it requires a lot of initiative.
Good luck.
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