How do I Get a Job in a Venture Capital Firm?
Business
Fascinating how many young professionals nearing the end of their 2-year consulting or IB gigs expect early-stage startups or VCs to welcome them with open arms – then get punched in the face by reality.
Want to leave the corporate world to get into VC or startups?
A few quick pointers to get you started:
- Swap the suit for a t-shirt on your LinkedIn picture
- Stop referring to yourself at the 3rd person on your bio
- Stop with the buzzwords; cut to the chase
- Relentlessly build out your network of startup folks
- Get active on Twitter
- Offer your services part time for free to a startup. Do whatever they need you to do (and trust me, it won’t be strategy)
- Launch a startup yourself. You’re almost certainly gonna fail (sorry), but it’ll give you loads of credibility & actionable experience.
Two things usually matter for Seed through Series B stage startups: Building & Selling. If you can’t code, you better be willing to sell.
Two things matter for junior VC roles: sourcing & diligence. What’s sourcing? It’s sales. Again.
If you can’t code and you can’t sell, focus on BizOps, Chief of Staff, or FP&A roles at Series C/D+ startups.
If you’re past the VP/Principal level in investment banking or consulting, the early stage startup & VC ships might have sailed, sorry. Your services might be needed at a late stage / IPO’ed startup, and going a bit earlier from there should be a bit easier.
Written by Will Champagne https://www.linkedin.com/in/willchampagne
How do I Get a Job in a Venture Capital Firm?
