VC Principal, just moved to the US, what now?
I just moved to California and will need to start looking for jobs soon. Would love to get advice on what kinds of jobs I should be looking for with my background.
I was a Principal at an overseas VC with AUM in the mid hundreds of millions. We also developed some proprietary back-end tech which we used to create a FinTech company valued at several hundred million dollars. Before that I worked as a project manager for a large European bank (not an IB).
I have bachelor degrees in economics and biotech, from a non-target school. I've also got a terrible GPA so I'm not sure I would get into a decent MBA program if I tried.
My impression of the US VC/PE market is that it's an uphill battle if you don't have an IB background, and if you don't have your degrees from a prestigious university.
I would love some direction as to what my best options are for getting a job here.
Hi Mango201, hope I can help. Do any of these links cover what you're looking for:
No promises, but sometimes if we mention a user, they will share their wisdom: JMM3 Jeri-Kwek gnunez.carlos
You're welcome.
Not particularly, but thumbs up on the bot. Well done team at WSO.
I've heard VC is a tight knit industry, so hopefully you have some U.S. connections (or connections with U.S. connections, etc.)
Given your level of seniority, if you have solid investing experience I would think not having an IB background 5-10 years ago would not hurt you at this point.
Was your experience in a late stage / growth equity VC or earlier stage VC (seed/series A)? Move to more traditional PE would be much harder for the latter because the skill sets are quite different. Also PE hiring tends to be quite homogeneous, whereas VC is willing to look at individuals from different backgrounds given nature of job and benefits from diverse view - so they’d be less inclined to ding someone on GPA, provided they have solid work exp and bring something useful/different to round out their team.
Having said that, they value quality and depth of your network to source / attract deals the further up you go. So if you’re coming from a non-target school, then you can make up for it if you’ve established a wide reaching (US and international) network in your prior role.
I have some US network, but not as extensive as someone who has worked in the valley their whole life.
Our check sizes were typically $2M-$4M, but we went as high as $15M, in which case we were funding companies with low range tens of millions in revenue. Not sure where the line between growth equity and PE is, but that's probably getting close. I don't have that much experience building sophisticated PE models but I feel like I have enough of a background that I could teach myself a good chunk.
Do you think, given my background, I could transition into a PE role? Or should I be focusing my search more on VC? Or something else entirely? HF?
If VC, should I be applying for other Principal roles or should I expect to have to accept an Associate position? Are Principal hires typically external or promoted from within? And how much of a premium do they put on university pedigree and or IB xp at this point in our careers. Given my background, and the fact that I'm about seven years into my career (of which five were in VC), do I match the profile?
APAE already answered the lion’s share of your questions in his post below, including emphasis on your experience, getting a warm intro, and suggestions on fund size. So I’ll only ask - what’s with the fascination and focus on PE? Are you asking because you think you need to cast a wider net, or is there a genuine reason for wanting to transition. I’ve personaly never seen someone go VC -> PE (not directly anyway, I’m not including cases where someone started out in VC, lateraled to IB and then PE, but those are usually early in one’s career).
If you’re asking because you want to cast a wider net, then I’d discourage it and say focus your time on VC and getting a sense of which funds would be a good fit for you (size, sector focus, interest, potential fund raise leading to hiring, potential networks in, etc). You already have good experience in VC, so there’s a coherent, natural story there. Traditional PE would be a much, much harder sell, and unlike VC, does often like to see prior IB (sometimes consulting) and PE experience (if you’re going for post-MBA roles).
For a good view of potential places hiring in VC globally (but primarily in US) check out: https://johngannonblog.com. John’s blog has frequent updates on postings and stuff that doesn’t get widely posted. He also sometimes sends out job alerts that you can’t find on the blog and he gets via intel or directly from firms - those are for people that sign up for his newsletter/updates (it's free).
Principal hires are ideally from within but sometimes firms will look outside the firm if they feel they lack the expertise
Was your prior geography APAC or Europe?
I ask because there are a number of mid-sized firms that do the Valley + China or that do New York + EU (through a London office).
Depending on your answer, you could pretty easily initiate a conversation with them (obviously through the warmest intro you can find).
Beyond that quick comment, I see no reason why you aren't a solid candidate for any of the massive funds like NEA or General Atlantic or similar. You aren't asking for a partner role, you're looking for the equivalent of the post-MBA role they will hire occasionally out of Stanford or Harvard for.
Difference is, you are the de-risked candidate. You have a track record of however many investments you made at that fund, plus you have operating experience on that internally incubated company. You have a reference list of probably 8-12 founders who can speak at length about the level of support you provide and the caliber of thought you bring to the table.
That's ultimately what's going to determine whether someone wants to hire you: if you help portfolio founders win faster. The other component is sourcing: can you get good founders into the portfolio to begin with.
Your impression of banking being a prerequisite is completely inaccurate. It's really rare to see a banking analyst go into venture capital proper. Those that do are almost invariably going to a growth equity shop (they aren't looking at startups [logarithmic growth], they're looking at small businesses who need expansion capital to continue their linear growth) or a late-stage VC who is firing $50-200m checks into the Series C/D/E rounds of companies whose exciting problems were all solved three or more years earlier.
VCs (as defined as early stage: seed, Series A, maybe Series B) are not touching businesses that require valuation or a ton of analysis. They're working with true startups who are trying to figure out product-market fit and the associated metrics that prove the long-term viability of serving that fit (LTV, CAC, churn, etc.).
That doesn't require a banking skill-set. You could argue the banking skill-set (conformity, ability to beat yourself to death for 90 hours in one week, comfort or even preference for conformity) is actually a hindrance.
The best background for venture (defined as I did above) is as an operator. You have experience as a venture investor and operator; banish the idea that you're less qualified because you didn't do banking from your mind.
Your GPA is also irrelevant at this point. The focal part of your profile is your work experience. You don't need an MBA. You simply need to follow the VC preference for warm intros and find a way to get in front of as many of the $1b+ AUM shops as possible.
The reason I suggest that size firm is because that's where you'll enjoy the highest likelihood of there being space at the pre-partner level. A firm with
That's so encouraging, thank you.
To answer your question, my VC XP was in Israel. Which is actually a larger startup ecosystem than any European center. My (non-IB) banking XP was in Europe.
I know I can get a job here. I just wasn't sure where I sit on the totem pole. Having you point to a fund like NEA gives me a lot of confidence. I can't see them hiring an external principal, so I may need to accept a title cut. I think I can be ok with that. Speaking of NEA, that's where my impression of IB being a prerequisite comes from. Two of the guys I knew who worked there came from top IB programs, and from target schools with great GPAs (no MBAs though).
It's a little cheeky to apply for a post-MBA role without one, but you're right - what I lack in credentials I have in work XP, and I am the de-risked candidate.
Feeling bold.
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