Do VCs value early stage sales experience?
Currently in tech IB thinking about early stage (Seed - Series B) startup roles after banking with ultimate goal of VC.
I want to go somewhere early with more upward potential / smaller team than a sure fire growth stage co with a less senior / less equity comp role, and was thinking that means that as a non-technical hire I would likely only be a good fit for sales roles given biz dev hires are pretty rare at early stages. Thinking SaaS for context
do VCs value sales experience? Is it considered “operational”? I would argue it is at an early stage if you’re building out a sales team and very close to customers, product, vision, etc. but I know some VCs find sales experience among potential hires / founders unimpressive
It's an absolute grind in a way that is probably nothing like tech IB. Curious why you became a banker at all if your goal was to go work in sales you should have started in sales, having been a banker won't give you a leg up other than good work ethic
My goal is to work in VC, would use sales as a way to work for an early stage co. Would you recommend going straight to VC? a biz dev role at a more mature startup?
Would definitely recommend bizdev over sales. At an earlier stage company you'll get access to the SLT and learn a lot about how hard it is to actually be an operator. The earlier stage you go the more kinds of roles you'll get to try your hand at plus get to experience actually being involved in raising rounds. Versus later stage private you'll get to experience a smaller subset of roles as an operator but will more likely experience the exit.
You will be a meeting setting monkey.
Joining an earlier company might be better cause you might get promoted faster but will have less established sales process and less support tools probably. Your likelihood of outright failure is probably higher at a smaller company.
Why don't you aim for a PM role?
Going from banking to PM directly is almost impossible
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