Venture Capital vs. IB
Wanted to hear some opinions about my situation. To make it short: I did not get an IB SA position for 2020 because I did not decide for IB until January, so would have to go through FT recruiting in the fall. However, I interned this spring at an IB boutique and started to build a network.
I just now got offered a full-time Analyst position with a VC firm after graduation, where the analysts do not do any sourcing but more research, pitching and valuation. It sounds similar like IB, but pays less and the valuations are not model heavy (mostly comps, barely DCF).
My overall goal was to do IB first and then decide what to do after like a year or so. What do you guys think? Should I take this offer or take the gamble of FT recruiting to get into IB?
bump
Anyone can help?
If I were in your position I would go for VC. It doesn’t sound like you’re in a position to secure a full-time role with a top investment bank, so it’s probably best to go VC
At the end of the day, take money out of the equation for the short term. You cannot fake true VC experience. I think you are setting your self up well to do VC for a while and then move further down the pipeline to a growth equity PE shop if you want. I get it IB has a aura around it but at the end of day it can be a lot of smoke and mirrors. IB also uses a ton of multiples work and if you want to go ahead learn modeling, do that on the side(implement it into work and become a direct value add). I would fully take the VC and not look back.
How common is it for people to go from VC to growth equity PE? Is it a relatively "easy" path (as easy as IB=>PE)? Just wondeing as I love hearing about different, maybe less known about paths to different roles that most people on this site seem to believe only IB exits to.
Not easy, it is always easier to go from a later stage to an earlier stage of investing, not vice-versa. That being said, the better the VC firm you end up at, the more likely it is to make such a switch
How'd you get a FT VC offer this early? What firms are even recruiting right now?
Got it all through networking. And because of covid they are not doing any interns this summer, so they are hiring for FT already.
Is this a summer or full time? What do you want to do long term?
It is for full-time. I am not sure what I want to do long-term. I have though about VC before and it seems interesting, but since I have no experience, I am not sure if I would actually like it.
I wanted to start out in IB because it give you a good amount of opportunities, so I wanted to do that and then figure out the next steps during my analyst years. My concern is that if I do VC, I might get stuck there even if I don't like it and the only way out is a costly MBA.
it’s really hard to answer this without more details. what is the size of the fund and what city? if you don’t want to share city, is it a NYC/SF/Chicago/DC?
You don’t want to go to a VC shop that’s not very reputable. If they barely have a fund and can’t get a deal done you won’t be able to leverage that for reputable growth equity funds.
If it is a decent fund with plenty of capital left and a track record of investments, go the VC route and never look back
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