Loading...
Answers
MenuHow do I land a job at a VC firm?
Answers
How do you land a job anywhere?
I like you file this under "job search strategies"
Text me, we will work out a great strategy...
Guy Kawasaki answers this better than I could: http://guykawasaki.com/the_venture_cap/
😊
You may start finding out opportunities with Investment Bankers who focus upon startups. You will learn a lot and then you may utilise this experience to find a job with a VC.
Hi I am Priyanka.
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Go to the profile of Alex Taussig
Alex Taussig
Partner at Lightspeed. Focused on tech+pop culture. Current: Daily Harvest, Vector, Zola. Past: thredUP, Jaunt, RentJuice/$Z, $TWOU, $CBLK, $IMPR, Vertica/$HPQ.
Feb 21, 2017
VC has a lot in common with investigative journalism. Less paper though. (Source: “Spotlight” Movie.)
How to land an Associate job in VC
Associate jobs in venture capital are rare. I was fortunate enough to land one of these roles 8 years ago and learned a ton by starting out on this path.
Around this time of year, I receive a couple emails each week asking for advice on breaking into VC. Here’s some boilerplate guidance to get you started on your search.
Do you even want this job?
VC is a peculiar beast. It shares little with product management, engineering, finance, or other previous jobs you may be coming from.
Investigative journalism is more similar to VC than these other professions. You develop a nose for something interesting and unknown. You chase down a lead, putting your foot in the door when it’s often not welcome. You scrounge around for data to inform your thesis. You compile your analysis and have conviction to publish (or in this case, invest).
Investigative journalism requires resourcefulness, rigorous analysis, and a strong sense of purpose. It also requires a thick skin. You will be told by more “experienced” people that you’re wrong, or that you’re wasting your time. It will take years to develop your “gut” instincts, so you need lots of patience in the meantime. And you’ll make plenty of mistakes. The payoff is huge and well worth the journey, but the journey itself can be arduous.
Is that the kind of job you want? Would you prefer it over working with your product team, writing code, or building and presenting financial models? If so, then you might enjoy being an Associate.
Find your superpower.
No single job adequately prepares you for VC. The best VCs do not share a single background. While the industry is less diverse than it should be, diversity seems to be increasing. Our belief is that diverse firms will outperform over time.
Instead of focusing on past job skills or education, focus on your “superpower.” It will likely fall into one of these three dimensions:
Access to a proprietary network for deal flow,
Unusually deep understanding of a trend or sector, or
Some ineffable reason why entrepreneurs enjoy spending time with you.
Ideally, you have more than one of these superpowers, but even one will do if it’s sufficiently strong.
For example, you may have been an early employee at a successful company and know all the engineers who will likely do their own startup. Or, you may have studied and blogged about a particular sector for years and have deep insight into future trends. Or, you may be excellent at throwing dinner parties that founders want to attend.
Whatever your superpower is, figure it out and position yourself around it.
Build a firm list. Get intro’s from portfolio company CEO’s.
Lists of top VC firms are not hard to come by. CBInsights did one last year. Only 19 firms have more than one partner listed. While the list is certainly not definitive, it illustrates that there are few top firms, and hence fewer opportunities for you to find good fit. You should prioritize those firms where your superpower uniquely fills in a hole on their team, or in the sectors they’ve invested in.
Once you have your list, you should request intro’s from founders who have received investment from those firms. Getting the intro is an acid test for your ability to network your way to founders. Plus, an introduction request from a portfolio company CEO is never ignored.
Remember: your only goal at this point is to get the meeting. You don’t need to “close the deal” just yet.
A few other tips here:
Reach out to senior partners. They will have more visibility into the hiring needs of the firm.
Reach out to partners who share something with you — an interest, an college or hometown, a publicly stated opinion, etc. Start with a common ground to build rapport.
Deeply research the portfolio. Have strong opinions about deals the firm has done, both positive and negative.
Don’t worry if the firm has an open rec or not. If they don’t have one now, they may in the near future.
Create a sense of urgency.
https://medium.com/lightspeed-venture-partners/how-to-land-an-associate-job-in-vc-c4f14aeffafb
For further queries you can consult me.
Related Questions
-
How can a failed 40 year old tech entrepreneur find a job at a startup?
Carolyn's points are spot-on. Tactically speaking, I would suggest that you make contact with the recruiting partners at the top VCs. Greylock, a16z and others have partners specifically focused on helping their portfolio companies with recruiting. Cold calls and emails with a "I'm an entrepreneur that has built two companies, one of which grew to X in Y time, and the other grew to X in Y time. I'm interested in exploring opportunities within your portfolio who are looking to scale-up their growth and sales" should get some discussions initiated with these recruiting partners. Stage of company matters too. You're more likely to find a fit with a company who is post a $1m seed raise and already scaling-up. I'd also think a lot about what role you're interviewing for. The problem with a generalized entrepreneurial background is that it can be perceived as "jack of all trades, master of none." So in order to improve your resume, you might be best to be 2nd to a great growth lead or be the first hire under a VP Sales. Also, I'd suggest that you research the ages of the founders. If they are under 30, they are more likely to be biased to hire younger talent, but over 30, that bias often swings the other way. I'd recommend you call Carolyn if you want help on how best to present yourself to prospective employers. I'm happy to talk to you about your background and experience and recommend more specifically the kinds of companies and roles that might be the best fit for you. Best of luck!TW
-
Among platforms for startup funding, AngelList is the 800 pound gorilla. Does it make sense to use simultaneously other platforms like Gust, etc?
Short answer: Of course! Many angel groups require you to submit through Gust because it offers a consistency and makes reviewing applications easier. But not all use Gust same as not all use AngelList... I haven't met an angel who frowns upon using multiple platforms. I would encourage you to leverage your twitter and Facebook or Instagram to meet angels and get in their radar (don't hassle or stalk) just try to get exposed a bit to them by being part of the same meetup group, follow the same blog, membership... Subscribe to their own blog.. And when you submit funding request considerations do please send a follow up email or a call or basket of fruits if you have contact them before.HV
-
What due diligence should be expected for a seed investment from seed fund(s) and individuals?
Very little. At the angel/seed stage, they're investing in the founders, so there's no expectation of patents, etc... They might check that you're incorporated in good standing, and ensure you have a solid startup/corporate lawyer, and have good employment and IP ownership agreements with your staff and contractors, and that's about it.JM
-
What is the generally agreed upon "good" DAU/MAU for mobile apps?
You are right that the range is wide. You need to figure what are good values to have for your category. Also, you can focus on the trend (is your DAU/MAU increasing vs decreasing after you make changes) even if benchmarking is tough. Unless your app is adding a huge number of users every day (which can skew DAU/MAU), you can trust the ratio as a good indication of how engaged your users are. For games, DAU/MAU of ~20-30% is considered to be pretty good. For social apps, like a messenger app, a successful one would have a DAU/MAU closer to 50%. In general most apps struggle to get to DAU/MAU of 20% or more. Make sure you have the right definition of who is an active user for your app, and get a good sense of what % of users are actually using your app every day. Happy to discuss what is a good benchmark for your specific app depending on what it does.SG
-
How much equity is typically taken by investors in a seed round?
From my experience I would not advise you to go with Venture Capital when you're a start-up as in the end they will most likely end up screwing you. A much better source for funding would be angel investors or friends/family. The question of how much equity should I give away differs for every start-up. I remember with my first company I gave away 30% because I wanted to get it off the ground. This was the best decision I ever made. Don't over valuate your company as having 70% of something is big is a whole lot better than having 100% of something small. You have to decide your companies value based on Assets/I.P(Intellectual Property)/Projections. I assume you have some follow up questions and I would love to help you so if you need any help feel free to call me. Kind Regards, GiulianoGS
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.