Venture Capital Career Resources
This page lists a variety of resources that might be useful to those who are trying to pursue careers in venture capital. Many of these items are things that I read during my job search. My hope is that this page can act as a starting point for those who are passionate about getting into the business. I have discussed my job search quite a bit in my business school blog, but since I’m trying to use this blog as my home base, the page will live here. You’ll notice that I try to link to my blog where possible. Please use this stuff as guidance, not as gospel. Everyone takes a different path into the business and those paths can be incredibly varied and diverse. If you find other resources that aren’t listed here, please include them in the comments so others can benefit from your findings.
Also, if you are seriously considering pursuing a career in venture capital, I would appreciate if you could vote on the poll below. I am considering writing a short eBook about getting jobs in venture capital (with the proceeds donated to charity) and am trying to gauge interest.
Thanks, and enjoy the ride…
- How To Get A Job In Venture Capital by Brad Feld, ditto by Seth Levine
- A nice paper written by one of Jason Mendelson’s MBA students about VC careers and VC demographics
- Questions from a reader of my b-school blog about getting into VC biz
- How Fred Wilson got into the VC biz and my reply
- Fred Wilson talking to some b-school and law school students about his career in VC
- Kauffman Fellowship Program
- Charlie O’Donnell’s thoughts on cracking into the business
- Thoughtful post by VC recruiter Denise Palmieri
- Charlie O’Donnell’s interview with Jim Robinson of RRE Ventures about VC careers
Entry Level VCs – how they act, what they do, what motivates them, and career path
- Dealing with a junior VC (part 1 and part 2) by Healy Jones
- AskTheVC post about analyst roles
- Lee Hower’s thoughts on making a career in venture capital
- Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge on the onramps to venture capital
- Sarah Tavel of Bessemer defending the “young VC” and her post on the pre-MBA hiring process at her firm
Blogs and posts that focus on the mechanics of the venture business itself
- Ask The VC
- Get Venture
- Venture Hacks (the entrepreneur’s perspective!) and an exhaustive archive of their posts
- Vault’s VC career page as well as Wetfeet’s VC career page
Internship Stuff
- Internship at my firm (L Capital) for summer 2009
- A post (by me) that talks about which NYC VC firms had interns while I was at Columbia
- PEHub’s MBA section and home of the yearly internship rodeo
- Recent vSpring Capital internship posting (posted 2/11/09)
Recruiters who specialize in VC placements
Networking and Interviewing Tips
- Advice on the dreaded “Cold Call”
- Market sizing tips
- Some stuff I was asked in an informational interview
- A great video about business development that is also applicable to VC (after all, VC is alot like biz dev)
Venture Capital Jobs
- Job posting for pre-MBA analyst role at RRE Ventures (posted 2/3/2009)
- Associate at Zelkova Ventures
- Analyst role at a life sciences VC (posted 2/7/2009)
- Post-MBA associate role at Alliance Bernstein (posted 2/22/2009)
- Pre-MBA analyst role at Firstmark Capital (posted 2/22/2009)
- Pre-MBA analyst role at Saints Capital (posted 4/14/2009)
- Pre-MBA associate role at Adams Street Partners (posted 4/20/2009)
- Pre-MBA associate role at Norwest Venture Partners (posted 4/24/2009)
- Pre-MBA associate role at Menlo Ventures (posted 5/21/2009)
Other Resources
- Track VC fundings and M&A activity in real time through @vcdeals on Twitter
- Matt Winn’s punctuative VC database
- The LearnVC site
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[...] a feed based on that tag. I could also create a drop.io drop similar to the one I set up for my VC Careers page for jobs that come in via email. This method would allow my social network to view jobs that [...]
Friends helping friends find jobs « Yet Another VC Blog
December 8, 2008 at 10:32 pm
[...] Venture Capital Career Resources (glad to see people are finding this useful, but wish there were more people commenting!) [...]
My top five posts for 2008 « Yet Another VC Blog
December 31, 2008 at 7:28 pm
[...] » I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a short (< 50 page) e-Book about how to get a job in venture capital. All proceeds from the eBook would go to charity. To gauge interest, I’ve created a [...]
Any interest in an eBook on “How to get a job in venture capital” ? « Yet Another VC Blog
March 26, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Hi, I´ve read a lot of posts both in your B-school blog and your VC blog. I am planning on applying to the J-Term starting Jan 2010. I was interested on your thoughts about it, especially from the job search perspective, compared with a two year program.
I have a finance background and a job in VC would be ideal. Having said that, I am realistic and would like to keep my options open, especially bearing in mind that I am an international (Spain) and it will not be easy to stay in the US post MBA.
Will the lack of a summer internship be a handicap? Have you seen your classmates hindered by this? Thanks in advance!
Inigo
April 3, 2009 at 8:31 am
@inigo
Thanks for reading.
I don’t think lack of summer internship will be a problem as long as you gain some experience during the school year by interning part-time with a venture firm or a startup. This will position you well to go either route (VC or startup) when you finish school.
Regardless of 2 year / J-term, the VC job hunt is very hard. The only edge I perceived is that firms who were looking for a class of 2008 intern in Fall of 2006 would have not been an option for me. However, there were still plenty of opportunities available for those who ferreted them out.
One thing you might consider if you can get some time off before starting school is to do a pre-internship with a VC or startup. Mark Davis (www.markpeterdavis.com) (CBS 2008 and now VC at DFJ Gotham) took this approach and it led to him working w/DFJ during b-school and now full-time employment.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have additional questions.
Thanks again for reading.
-John
jgannonwp
April 3, 2009 at 2:48 pm
[...] As a junior staffer at a VC firm, I think its important to understand where and how you can be helpful to portfolio companies. The advice I received from my venture capital teachers Stuart Ellman and Will Porteous of RRE Ventures (blog) has stuck with me, and I’ve tried to operate using that advice since starting my VC career. [...]
New kid on the block: How a junior VC can contribute to portfolio companies « Yet Another VC Blog
April 24, 2009 at 2:54 pm
John-
Your blog is anything but “Another VC Blog.” The content has been quite helpful.
May I request some advice? Currently I am a practicing heart surgeon (Northwestern-MD; General Surgery Residency-Stanford; Cardiovascular Physiology Fellowship- Stanford; Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship-UVA). I have always been interested in medical device commercialization and IP related to devices and healthcare. I recently completed a JD at Syracuse University in patent law and technology commercialization. I had such a great experience that I am starting Cornell Exec. MBA in the Fall. Planning to transition my career to VC at some point after two years- I’m currently 40.
Are there any opportunities out there in VC (in any capacity) for a person such as myself as I complete business school? I will be in NYC area every other week. I am from SF and so will also be speaking to friends in VC out there for the same type of opportunity.
Any thoughts would certainly be appreciated.
Randy
Randy Green
May 17, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Hi Randy – thanks for the note and I am glad you are enjoying the blog. I appreciate that you left a comment as well – it’s good to know someone is out there! :)
Regarding opportunities to get involved with firms, here are some thoughts:
- Firms will often hire subject matter experts to assist them with due diligence on potential investments. If you fit that description, I’d try to identify firms who are thinking of investing in that subsector of medicine, and approach them to learn more about their firm.
- Approach firms with an idea for a structured project. You could propose a study of the cardiothoracic surgery widget market (substitute ‘widget’ for a real technology – as you know I’m not a healthcare guy :) and outline why you think it’s an attractive area in which to invest. And, you could point out potential companies in which to invest. As part of such a project, you’d need to spend alot of time talking to these companies as well, so you’d have the opportunity to do some sourcing as well.
- If you’re unable to get involved with a VC firm, I’m sure there are some startups who would benefit from your services. In the same way you could propose a project to a VC firm, why not approach an interesting startup that’s addressing an area you find compelling?
jgannonwp
May 18, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Great insights. I appreciate your time.
Randy Green
May 18, 2009 at 11:07 pm