For the past two years, I've been trying to get a VC Associate position and have networked with Partners/Associates from around 30+ funds. I've had numerous in-person coffee chats, over the phone networking calls, and even interviewed twice (one time making it into the 5th round of the interview process). I also hired a WSO Tutor/Mentor back in 2017 to level set my goals and expectations.
The general advice I've always received is:
1. Move into a Tier 1 Strategy shop (MBB, OW, LEK)
2. Get into a M7 MBA Program (one VC from Stanford said even this wouldn't be enough if I couldn't get into H/S)
3. Get Tech experience at a VC Backed Startup at a Director role or above OR get experience at a FAANG company
Recently I received an offer for a Product Manager role at a large FAANG Company (think Mountain View). If I take this role, I'd want to stay in the role for at least 2-3 years, which would put me at 30 years old (a bit old for a MBA). Should I forego this opportunity to instead apply to M7 Programs and aim for MBB post-MBA if my goal is to work in Venture?
Summary:
Take FAANG Offer and delay getting a MBA, or stay in consulting until MBA and move to MBB?
FAANG offers will always be there assuming you attend a top business school.
Within my program, a few of my peers, who started at Salesforce, will be recruiting directly for venture capital. It is a very intensive off-campus recruiting process regardless of the school in which you attend.
@Perfunctory" , that's interesting. What types of roles did your classmates have at Salesforce? Product Management or BizOpps? Wondering if one is viewed more favorably than the other.
PM. I'm shocked he came back to business school based on his pre-MBA compensation and the prestige of working at Salesforce.
@Perfunctory" , maybe he wanted a 2 year break. :) What is interesting is that PM roles at a lot of the FAANG companies (plus Salesforce) are highly specialized in a niche area of one module for one product and i would argue that the experience gained in these roles doesn't necessarily beat out IB/Consulting in terms of aligning closer to the VC Career path.
In the case of Salesforce, some of their products are Sales Cloud or Service Cloud. For Sales Cloud, you would have different objects/features such as Leads, Opportunities, Accounts, etc. A PM would own one very small sub-set of the overall 'Leads' module and only interact with that one piece of the module. This leads me to my next point: that not all PMs get exposure to high visibility revenue impacting features in products or product modules. These roles are probably very limited and probably hire based on prestige/education as well (PhD in the Sciences or Computer Science from top schools). It would be counter-intuitive to me that VCs would actually be interested in a PM at a Tech Company vs. someone with IB/Consulting experience. I also checked Salesforce Ventures and the entire team seems to have a background in IB/Consulting and I couldn't find anyone that moved over into the Corporate VC role from Salesforce's own Product Management group.
How much does having M7 MBA really matter? Understandably, having a good MBA network could be useful as connections is a huge part of growing a career in VC. But you could also grow that organically (by establishing your reputation within the local startup community). I wonder if going from FAANG —> VC recruiting is something you can consider (skipping MBA altogether).
The other thing to note - as @Perfunctory" mentioned, VC recruiting at MBAs (even at your S/H) requires a lot of personal hustle and legwork. You’ll need to demonstrate a passion for tech, and your own personal views/thesis. Landing summer VC associate roles also may not translate to FT offers because firms may not have a need for it. And when firms DO hire, they (particularly if it’s a smaller team) may have very specific profiles in mind when hiring (e.g. “let’s try and find someone with Fintech startup / partnership exp”) based on their needs.
EDIT: to add - I wonder how much additional value a MBB post-MBA will bring to going into VC. I’ve seen people move into tech industry post-MBB, but if you’ve already got the consulting background, more consulting but at a tier 1 firm post-MBA doesn’t seem all that additive unless you’re trying to move into industry. Maybe taking on a director type role at a good startup after MBA (while having VC summer) could be a good play to lateral later (assuming the ability to convert that summer to FT isn’t available).
Given you already seem to be doing your homework, you’re probably already aware... but there’s a good blog site that has VC postings that are all quite up to date: https://johngannonblog.com
+1, Apologies for the late reply - somehow I missed the response notifications.
Thanks for the great post. I also check the johngannonblog daily and it has been an invaluable resource. I think the VC Summer + Startup post MBA makes a lot of sense and it is one path that I didn't consider, but I'm leaning towards that now.
I think the MBA brand definitely helps people who may have had a less 'well-known' school for undergrad which is why I was leaning towards it.
Doesn't get much better for exit opps into VC (from the operating side anyway) than being a PM at a top tech company.
princepieman , that's what I've heard as well. I find this interesting because there are literally thousands of PM positions across the FAANG companies. I'm not convinced that a FAANG PM position outweighs Startup experience in the lens of VCs.
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