How to get into Venture Capital
November 11, 2010Venture firms hire young people, in part, to keep an ear to the ground and an eye to potential investments. For seed- and early-stage VCs, that means new companies being formed and gaining early traction. For later-stage VCs, that means companies that aren't yet profitable but have made progress in developing a core product idea, figuring out a business model, and/or scaling a service.
Attending Meetups, conferences, talks, and events are a means to becoming knowledgeable about companies, not the end. That is important. If you spend your time going to events, you better have something to show for all that time. At least some of the other applicants for that VC job will.If you find an interesting site or service, send a short (< 4 sentence) note to a VC, explaining why you find the idea so compelling. Young people are great entry points -- we'd love help in knowing what's going on. As email-overloaded as venture capitalists are, most appreciate notes about companies when they are accompanied by well-formed opinions. If you don't know anyone in VC or don't want to attach yourself to a single firm, blog or Quora-post your thoughts rather than email them.Understand and have well-formed opinons on what is happening in techThe most important task of a "young kid" in VC is expressing consistent, well-thought-through opinions of what is happening with specific companies, in the industry, and in society. It sounds hyperbolic, but I am not kidding.
How to get your thoughts out there? Start a blog. Curate news on a Twitter account. Jump into the Hacker News comment threads. Talk to friends, colleagues, and role models. Offer to help out compelling companies or entrepreneurs. People will not remember the first or second time they see you, your avatar, or your writing, but they will surely remember the fourteenth time. Reputations are built by putting ideas out and shaping them through back-and-forths in comment threads, Twitter, email, coffee chats, etc.Navigate some venture math in your head and cap tables in ExcelThis is the easiest skill and the most teach-able/learn-able of the three. I'd recommend spending very little time on it before you're employed: you'll figure things out when/if you have to. I learned cap tables and venture math from Michael Dearing at Stanford, Andrew during my first week at USV, and turn to VentureHacks and Brad Feld's blog when I need direction.
Charlie O'Donnell cites a statistic about there being more MLB players than non-partner "investment professionals" in American venture capital firms. I don't know if it's true, but it's a great cocktail comment. If you want to be one of them because you love the work, fantastic; but if you want to be one because it's elite and cool-seeming, remember that it's still a junior finance job. (A much better one than most others, but still: you're a junior kid working with investment managers in a specific asset class.) There's tons of other, exciting things to do with your early- to mid-twenties.The very best way for you to know if you want to be a VC analyst/associate is to act in the role. Work with great entrepreneurs, read tech news and determine what's important and what's fluff, or form and test hypotheses about the industry or specific companies. Doing the work is really the only way to decide if this is what you want for 2+ years of your life -- and 2+ years when you're young, flexible, and likely have all sorts of other opportunities.