I’m constantly approached by individuals that ask how I got into the VC game. I think everyone’s situation is a bit different. I got in by knocking on hundreds of doors, getting an internship and then displaying how much I wanted in by being a work-a-holic, tech insomniac 
But it doesn’t always work that way.
Some people would be awesome VC’s, yet they can’t seem to earn serendipity.
The best piece of advice ever given re: entering the field was an email from Ho Nam, of Altos Ventures.
Here is his response to the question: “How do you get a job in venture capital?”
I’ve been asked to provide advice over the years on this very issue and I have to say that I don’t have a good response. VC is a very small industry and is a difficult industry to “break in” to even for people who graduate from the top MBA programs or have had great success as entrepreneurs.
The best advice I can give is that you should pursue your passions and do a great job in whatever you decide to do. I’ve had many job offers in VC and I have to say that every time I’ve ever gotten a job offer, I was not looking for a job. If you do great work, you will discover that people will find you.
In order to be “found” by VCs, you probably need to be in a business which does interact with VCs or VC backed companies. So starting your career in high tech industries which receive a lot of VC funding would be a good start. There are many areas which receive VC funding and I don’t think that you need to necessarily start your career at a start-up or at a VC firm. If you start at a larger company such as Google, Microsoft, HP, Intel or Oracle you will learn a tremendous amount about the high tech industry.
If you can find a fast growing company, you may find that career advancement opportunities are much greater than if you join an industry giant. However, I’d caution you to join just any start-up. Most start-ups fail so you should be careful and choose a company which is doing well and growing rapidly. It could be a $100mm company or a $1B company, as long as it is growing fast. If you want to show people that you can be a good VC, show it by picking a great company to work for!
Then, later in your career, you will surely have opportunities to join a much earlier stage company, in which you will have much more interactions with VCs. But I would not be in such a hurry to get into VC or into a VC backed start-up too early in your career. Take your time. You have your whole life ahead of you.
You should also consider the fact that most great companies don’t even raise venture capital funding. Companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, SAP, Oracle, IBM, eBay, Intuit, SAS and others were either already profitable when they raised VC funding or never raised venture funding. Look to join the best company – by which I mean a fast growing, profitable company…and the VCs will come find you. If you join a bad company, you can pitch lots and lots of VCs but you won’t get many people interested.
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Scott, great post. This really is a discussion that comes up so much, especially among young professionals in the finance and tech world, and everytime it does, it’s always interesting because literally everyone you talk to in this space come through a different path. I have written before about some typical paths or profiles of VCs (i.e., the former mgmt consultant and the entrepreneur w/start-up experience), but there really is no one standard. I think this fact more than any other throws off the typical investment banker types who think that just because they can form the prettiest valuation models in Excel without ever once using their mouse (i.e., Excel Monkeys) and if they have MBA from top ranked schools, then they’re automatically going to be good VC’s. I’ve found this is rarely the case and these types of people are becoming more and more rare in the VC space and even in the larger buyout private equity world. This is especially frustrating for finance professionals right now, because one of the sectors many I-bankers thought they could naturally turn to when they were cut from bulge bracket firms was VC, but they’ve realized it isn’t that simple. Clearly, there’s much more to being a VC than knowing accounting principles or navigating Excel. Perhaps that would be a follow on discussion to this one … i.e., what makes a good VC?
Scott- I love the post however I’ve never been able to accept the advice of “don’t worry you have your whole life ahead of you”. That sounds like old people advice and it also sounds like someone with no drive. I have an entrepreneurial anxiety that drives me to do act NOW. I’m currently writing a book on it and it seems that its so rare to have the feeling of, why am I wasting time…need to accomplish big things now!
Great email though and glad things worked our for your hard work.
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