Early Stage VC Pre-MBA Internship Interview Questions

I have an interview this week for a Pre-MBA internship with an early stage VC fund. Are there any particular questions I should be prepared for? I'm planning on making sure I understand how and why they invest and researching the companies they've involved with as well as having some companies ready that I think would be good investments. Anything else I should expect to be asked?

Thanks!

 

Some questions I've been exposed to.. in order of most to least commonly asked (most general to most technical):

Name a VC or PC of a VC that you think is doing well and why? What are the portfolio goals of the fund (industry specific, market size specific, investment range for revenue, EBITDA)? How do you scale a company with minimal effect to: capital structure, human need, product pricing, etc... (give numerical and logical example)? What does an anti-dilution structure look like with a majority shareholder at any size transaction?

 

You should be able to figure out their strategy by their investments. Put them all in an Excel chart and categorize them by their stage (when your VC invested), industry, other investors in the deal (did your VC lead?), and misc product/founder details.

You may also want to see if anyone working in the firm blogs.

Anti-dilution structure is categorized under cap table math, you can read about it online. Try to build some cap tables yourself from scratch if you have the time.

There isn't really a 'normal' interview for early stage VC firms, because a) they rarely have organized recruiting processes, b) the partners have diverse backgrounds, and c) they spend all their time talking to abnormal people doing abnormal things. If you can handle the technical requirements they might throw at you (cap tables), it should usually be about how passionate and knowledgeable you are in the startup and tech world.

 

I did a VC interview a few weeks ago and one of the questions I got was: What industry interests you? What companies are you following in that industry? Talk to me about a recent exit in that industry.

Wasn't expecting to talk about industries in VC. I wasnt sure if thew interviewer wanted public companies or actual VC funded startups in that industry (E.g consumer goods - Warby Parker).

 

All interviews are influenced by both interviewer and candidates respective backgrounds. Given the diverse breadth of backgrounds in VC this means interviews tend to be less standardised (and without knowing your background its hard to tell at all what will be asked). That said....

As others said know the firm, their investments and strategy.

Demonstrate genuine interest in and knowledge of their sector(s) and stage(s) as well as PCs.

Early stage VCs / Incubators always seemed especially interested in "why". Why them, why sector, why now. Why, why, why.......

 

Just got done with my 6th and final interview after landing an internship at a VC firm for this summer. My interviews varied but ill give you what I can. To introduce the company without name it is an internal VC for a larger company with a 500 Million dollar portfolio and 15 employees. So as you can see the office is pretty small, and being a tech vc may be different than the average. First I interviewed with the person I would be working for this summer. This guy asked me the usual of walking me through my resume and asking me to highlight the portions of my experience that would help me with my work for his company, next he asked me to go through the financials of a business I started and pitch it to him as to why it was a good investment. I was asked about the mobile technology space and I was asked to talk about what sectors I saw great potential for growth, when this growth was expected to occur and what type of companies I knew about in the space. I was asked why I a freshman in college thought I was qualified for the position which called for first year MBA or graduating seniors. I was asked about my work ethic and which classes I was taking this year and whether i was challenging my self by taking these classes. Through out all of the interviews I got the impression that they were looking for some one who they would all get along with well as I would be spending the better part of three months in their office. I think the personality aspect of the interview was a key part in receiving an offer as this particular company hires only one intern a year and it is really a large investment of time and money. I was asked about my major choice, Math and Econ @ MIT. I was not asked any of the typical brainteaser questions I was expecting to be asked, my friend interviewing for Goldman SSG has horror stories about these thrown in mid conversation then asking to return back to the word they cut you off at. The VC world seems like a tough interview to generalize on but if I had to I would say my experience reflects a community of PHD investment managers gauging your potential to learn the skills they have faith they can teach you. I think they are looking for work ethic, drive, and an insatiable want to learn. THey are looking for a brain that can talk and pitch a deal, they have faith they can teach you the skills, they want you to know your shit cold and be able to summarize complexities and find the worth in the unknown rather than pump out menial feats of logic. -MH

 
mhshisper:
Just got done with my 6th and final interview after landing an internship at a VC firm for this summer. My interviews varied but ill give you what I can. To introduce the company without name it is an internal VC for a larger company with a 500 Million dollar portfolio and 15 employees. So as you can see the office is pretty small, and being a tech vc may be different than the average. First I interviewed with the person I would be working for this summer. This guy asked me the usual of walking me through my resume and asking me to highlight the portions of my experience that would help me with my work for his company, next he asked me to go through the financials of a business I started and pitch it to him as to why it was a good investment. I was asked about the mobile technology space and I was asked to talk about what sectors I saw great potential for growth, when this growth was expected to occur and what type of companies I knew about in the space. I was asked why I a freshman in college thought I was qualified for the position which called for first year MBA or graduating seniors. I was asked about my work ethic and which classes I was taking this year and whether i was challenging my self by taking these classes. Through out all of the interviews I got the impression that they were looking for some one who they would all get along with well as I would be spending the better part of three months in their office. I think the personality aspect of the interview was a key part in receiving an offer as this particular company hires only one intern a year and it is really a large investment of time and money. I was asked about my major choice, Math and Econ @ MIT. I was not asked any of the typical brainteaser questions I was expecting to be asked, my friend interviewing for Goldman SSG has horror stories about these thrown in mid conversation then asking to return back to the word they cut you off at. The VC world seems like a tough interview to generalize on but if I had to I would say my experience reflects a community of PHD investment managers gauging your potential to learn the skills they have faith they can teach you. I think they are looking for work ethic, drive, and an insatiable want to learn. THey are looking for a brain that can talk and pitch a deal, they have faith they can teach you the skills, they want you to know your shit cold and be able to summarize complexities and find the worth in the unknown rather than pump out menial feats of logic. -MH

wow. congratulations, this is an amazing insight into the not so talked about world of VC

The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee WSO is not your personal search function.
 

I worked with VCs and interviewed with them so here are my thoughts

  • What kind of questions should I expect to see in VC interviews coming in as what I guess would be a pre-MBA associate?

They will test your understanding on the specific focus of the industry knowledge (internet, media, life sciences,etc.). Know who are the main players, who would you invest, what is the overall trend and what type of companies you should be looking at, etc. If it's a later stage VC/growth equity, of course know your growth equity model well and be able to talk about the the deals you had done with companies that are more later VC stage criteria investment instead of a muti-bil buyside transaction

  • What would be my day-to-day responsibilities at that level at a VC firm?

At lots of VCs you will be the one reaching out to entrepreneurs, making calls, and running your own transactions (with other partners) once you sourced an investment. It's an exciting job for some because you get to work with the brightest people. You will need to convey your willingness/ability to social in a business manner during the interview as sourcing will be at least 50% of your job

  • What is the comp at a VC firm at this level (base/sign on/bonus)?

Based on what i hear, you make less than bankers (about 100k to 150k all in) but if you work at a good VC, it's almost a golden ticket to the top 3 B school and also if you ever plan to start your own company in the future, knowing people in the VC field will make your fund raising much smoother.

  • What is the lifestyle/hours like?

9-5 with lots of traveling involved. A lot VCs are in menlo where a lot startup firms are. But sometimes you might need to go to NYC, Texas and Seattle to meet up with clients. If you dont like traveling, just pray that you dont source a client in NYC...because you will go there once a week once you source a deal

 

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