Breaking into Venture Capital: FAQs
Common questions on how to get into VC post-MBA
There is a ton of great content out there on breaking into venture capital. However, when I was starting my process, I found a lot of that content to be either:
Not specific enough to MBAs; or
Not actionable enough to implement in my search.
So, I thought I would write from my own experience as an MBA trying to get into VC and include questions I’ve fielded from other MBAs looking to get into VC. The information is anecdotal and all processes look different. This is just another data point. But the idea is to share a detailed, targeted, and tactical overview of how I approached recruiting. This process helped me land a role at a top fund in my target geo (I’ll be at B Capital’s new early stage “Ascent” fund in Los Angeles — feel free to reach out). I hope my experience and learnings help you too. If there is a question you have that I missed, let me know in the comments and I’ll address it!
This series will break down into two parts:
A collection of FAQs that have come up in conversations with MBAs; and
An overview of my own search experience.
Part 1: FAQs
When should I start networking and reaching out to VCs?
Start networking the summer before your MBA starts. If you missed the boat in the summer, start in the fall. If you missed the boat in the fall, push to land a winter-quarter/semester internship and dedicate as much time as possible to networking and recruiting. It takes a looooong time to build a solid network. The longer you push this off, the more difficult it will be to:
Build good deal flow;
Get pinged by VC friends/contacts when a new job gets posted; and
Ask a contact to vouch for you when applying for a job (huge for getting your resume flagged).
What does it mean to share deals? Where can I find deals?
First — where to find deals. If you want to get into venture capital, and then be a successful investor, you need to be able to generate good deal flow. Personally, I like to research deals using Pitchbook. When I started my research, I began by searching investments made by funds I admired within the last ~18 months. I built an XLS organized by industry, stage, geography, founder background, prior investors, capital raised, etc. I gave each company in my database a “score” and, as I began networking, noted which funds could be a good fit for intros. Crunchbase Pro also publishes rich fundraising data that can be downloaded in a CSV file and uploaded to tools like Notion or Airtable. Newsletters like StrictlyVC and blogs like a16z fintech help you stay on top of latest trends, hot startups, and new investments.
Now — how to share deals.
Sharing deals means either: sharing relevant companies and deals during a networking call, or sharing companies and deals via email. My first calls were probably…not great. But I took notes and got better. Here’s what I’ve found works well:
Good: You built up a database of interesting startups in spaces you like. You prepare for your networking call by determining what types of investments the fund you’re speaking with tends to like based on industry, business model, and investment stage. During the call, you discuss a few companies with the investor and give a concise summary of why the space is interesting and why you like that specific company for the investor’s fund.
Better: Building off the “good” example above, not only have you built a database of companies, but you’ve also begun reaching out to these companies and sitting down with founders. You’ve determined which founders are fundraising and made a note of round dynamics (e.g., size, price, timing). You arrive at your networking call ready to talk about the company, the deal, and also to provide your perspective on the founder.
Best: You’ve followed the steps of the “good” and “better” examples above, but you’ve also taken the time to follow up with the founder. You’ve requested a pitch deck and asked if he or she would be open to introductions to relevant funds. During your networking call, you’re ready to talk about the industry, the company, the founder, why it’s a good fit, and mention you would be happy to make an introduction. You follow up on your call with the company’s pitch deck, a quick blurb about the opportunity, and reiterate the offer to introduce the investor with the founder. Once you have double opt-in from founder and investor, you make the introduction.
What should a networking conversation look like?
The best networking calls should feel like peers discussing interests and trading insights on markets, trends, and startups. You are building relationships, not collecting contacts or deals. Be prepared and ask good questions, but don’t make the conversation feel like an interview or worse, an interrogation. Your goal should be to find common ground and mutual interests. After your call, follow up! Send an article relevant to what you two talked about on the call, share blurbs of a few companies you find interesting, or (ideally) introduce your contact to a founder you spoke about on the call. Keep the relationship warm by following up every few months. My process took place almost entirely during COVID, so I did everything online. However, if you can, invite people out for coffee or lunch — making the process more human and more personal will make it more fun and lead to a stronger network.
How do you know whether a firm will hire an MBA intern?
You don’t, so ask! Everyone that takes a call with you knows what your end goal is. Part of the reason VCs advise MBAs to bring deal flow to networking calls and look for “ways to add value” (sorry, had to say it) is to demonstrate that you know how to hustle and that you’re committed to the process. This effort demonstrates you are worth investing time in and supporting. At the end of the day, VCs are not really counting on the fact that the deals you share will pan out, and they know that what you really want is a job opportunity. So pick the right moment, and ask.
***Be tactful here*** You don’t want to come off as transactional or pushy.
Personally, I used my 1st calls to ask for advice on how to approach the recruiting process. If that call went well, I would then set up a 2nd call ~three months later and wait until the end of that 2nd call to ask if the firm would be hiring.
Should I work during the school year?
Yes.
I mean, you don’t have to…but most people you’re competing with will be.
And it’s hard to beat access to live deals and a “.com” email address for networking/sourcing.
How did you manage lack of structure at your internships?
If you do not have a venture background, navigating the what, when, and why of your day-to-day can be pretty daunting. First, I recommend scheduling time with your Senior Associates and Principals ASAP. These intro calls can serve to level-set expectations, request inclusion in sourcing calls and company pitches, and find out if the deal team needs diligence support on any existing deals. These early calls can work to break the ice (especially if your internship is remote), build trust, and establish structure by putting the ball in your co-workers’ court to send you assignments.
If there is not enough pressing work to fill your day, work on building your database of deals, reach out to companies you like to start developing your sourcing skills, and reach out to funds you like to continue building your network. As I alluded to above, you will have a much higher hit rate using your “.com” email as opposed to your “.edu” email. Make sure you are reading as much as possible — VC twitter for lingo and gossip, blogs for insights and trends (Sarah Tavel’s blog has some incredible frameworks), newsletters for investment news (e.g., StrictlyVC), and books (e.g., Venture Deals) for learning the mechanics.
How did you align internship work with recruiting efforts?
This is something I gave a lot of thought to as my summer internship wound down and I began to think about full-time opportunities.
First, I think the most important work I did over the summer to set me up for recruiting was working on live deals. Nothing prepares you for recruiting like building out a competitive landscape and preparing a memo (especially the sections around thesis, risks, and market opportunity).
Second, I used my deal experience to build out theses I later published as articles (you can find those articles on this blog). I did this to deepen my understanding of a few industries I found interesting as well as to keep the information fresh in my mind as I headed into the fall. Everything in tech moves so fast — if you’re not actively staying on top of specific markets, you’re falling behind.
Third, I always kept an eye towards sourcing as a means of building relationships with VCs in my target market: Los Angeles. This was a great way not only to source deals for Morpheus but also to build a network of local investors and make sure I was getting out in front of potential recruiting opportunities.
Fourth, I made sure to establish an open and honest dialogue with my boss. This requires trust, so read your specific situation. In my case, I told my boss I was interested in a full-time role at Morpheus. He told me that Morpheus wouldn’t have a clear picture of whether or not their budget would allow for a new employee until April/May. Given these conflicting facts, we decided it made the most sense to test the recruiting waters. He helped me get in front of LA investors to expand my network, he offered interview help, and he made sure my time at Morpheus would provide me the skills and talking points I would need in future interviews. I realize I was fortunate to be in that situation, but honest communication was key.
If we don't get a traditional VC internship this summer, how can we be sure we set ourselves up for success for next year? What should alternatives look like?
Unfortunately, the best strategy is to not give yourself a way out. As soon as you have a safety net, the natural inclination will be to take your foot off the gas and relax. Some of my friends at Booth didn’t get their VC internships until May. I’ve found that this level of risk tolerance correlates well with the ability to stick it out and land a full-time role.
If you really find yourself in a tough spot and can’t seem to find anything, I know of a few Boothies that took part-time summer roles at startups and offered to work at venture funds for “free” (technically, for course credit because working for free is illegal). This provides a low-risk hire for the venture fund and demonstrates a tenacity and commitment that funds like to see. There is basically zero downside for the fund, and you get some highly sought-after VC experience.
If that doesn’t work, you need to join a fund for your fall and winter quarters. I cannot overstate the importance of true VC experience for recruiting success. You don’t just need deal reps, you need full-time VCs vouching for you and making sure your resume gets flagged.
Do I really need to build a thesis? What does building a thesis even mean?
Yes and no. This was a frustrating part of my process, because Booth really hammered home the point that I had to build a very formal thesis with beautiful slides and a laundry list of sections that my deck should cover. This advice conflicted directly with my experience in VC, wherein macro theses were often established at the fund level (e.g., “we invest in seed-stage vertical B2B SaaS”), and micro theses would be built around specific deals. This is not true for all funds (some are very thesis-driven) but it seemed to represent the norm. As such, I felt that making an unsolicited offer to walk my interviewer through my thesis deck would be weird. In the wise words of my Negotiations professor Thomas Talhelm: “don’t be weird.”
That said, building a thesis does give you interesting things to talk about during your interviews. So while the decision to build a deck vs. a doc vs. a Roam database is up to you, I recommend you at least have a specific market you know a lot about and can discuss intelligently at length. When you get the questions: “what are you excited about right now” or “tell me about a couple of startups I’ve never heard of” you need to be able to knock them out of the park. That’s what a thesis will do for you.
Minimum criteria: you should know how big the market is, how fast it’s growing, who the incumbents are, why it’s ripe for disruption or innovation, what the competitive landscape looks like, what the exit landscape looks like, and ***most importantly*** what startups you consider interesting for investment (and why). Often, you will be challenged by your interviewer and asked to defend your choices, so make sure this is buttoned up.
I prepared 3-4 theses before I started interviewing. As mentioned, couple of these theses turned into a series of articles I published. A couple more just turned into a large GDoc with my high-level thoughts on why I liked the space and detailed notes on several companies I wanted to chase down. And then I sat down with as many of those companies as I could.
One final note: you should be genuinely interested in the theses you develop. If you are not, not only will you not enjoy the process, but your lack of enthusiasm will also show in your interviews. Conversely, if you love the space you’re researching, you’ll ask more questions, you’ll push for more details, you’ll give your thesis more thought, and your enthusiasm in your interview will be infectious.
Should I work at one fund as long as I can, or take on internships at a few different funds?
This should be judged on a case-by-case basis. It depends on the value you’re deriving from the situation you find yourself in.
In my first year at Booth, I spent November-March with BMW iVentures and March-January with Morpheus, including a full-time internship during the summer. Towards the end of my summer internship, I gave this question of switching vs. staying a lot of thought. I spoke at length about it with my boss and with colleagues I trusted in the venture community. Ultimately, I felt that the value I would derive from spending an additional quarter at Morpheus was greater than the value I would derive from switching. My thoughts were:
I was working on live deals, which was incredibly valuable for my CV and helped me build theses;
I was building a long-term track record with the Morpheus team, which would in turn help them give detailed feedback during future reference calls; and
I was enjoying my time at Morpheus, so sticking around maximized the chances of a full-time opportunity materializing.
That said, I have some classmates at Booth that went the other direction. They landed several short-term internships at brand-name venture funds. By the end of their MBA, they had 3-4 fantastic names on their resume and a much broader network than I did. For them, this path made sense and generated more value than 1-2 long-term gigs.
The downside to staying long-term with 1-2 funds: you may face diminishing marginal returns in terms of value, while your time commitment remains the same. It’s a heavy load working 30+ hours/week while pursuing a full-time MBA. If you’re not deriving enough value from your current role, and there is no full-time opportunity, and the time commitment is taking away from your ability to network, build a thesis, and prep for interviews — it might be time to roll off.
The downside to staying short-term at 3-4 funds: your network will be broader, but may be more shallow. You will need to work hard to prove value fast at each fund. Otherwise, when you ask your co-workers to vouch for you or serve as references in future interview processes, they will be unable to provide detailed examples of your abilities as an investor.
Can I focus on recruiting for one city or will that hamstring my search?
I would recommend expanding out from a single city, unless that city is SF. You can have a primary city that comprises most of your recruiting efforts, but you should dedicate some time to alternate geos. At the very least, you should be applying to jobs in multiple geos.
VC recruiting is a numbers game — most funds will not be hiring when you are graduating. Hiring is typically a product of:
Fundraising: when funds grow their AUM, they will often increase their team size, which tends to happen every 2-4 years; and
Churn: when a member of the investment team at your target seniority level leaves for another opportunity (less common).
This limits your search to: funds that are big enough to take on a post-MBA salary that also happen to be fundraising when you’re recruiting or that just happened to lose a Senior Associate. You can see how limiting yourself to one geo can really limit your search.
But it’s not impossible. I spent ~75% of my efforts recruiting for LA. I made limited efforts networking in bigger markets like SF and NYC. When I asked people for advice on this decision, most advised me against it…but I really, really wanted to be in LA. So I went for it.
This had a distinct advantage: it allowed me to be targeted in my search and pushed me to really canvas the LA market and build as many relationships as possible. I was able to be focused in a process that can easily become overwhelming.
However, I wasn’t 100% LA. I did interview for roles in other cities, including Boston, NYC, and Oakland. I also applied to a few funds in SF and had conversations with funds in Chicago and Miami. This helped me get interview reps in and boosted my odds of landing something full-time. Ultimately, I ended up in LA with B Capital so I could have, in theory, focused only on that geo. However, after dozens of conversations with LA funds, I also knew there were very few funds that would be hiring a Senior Associate this year. Limiting myself would have reduced my choices to only a handful of funds (maybe) running processes. My odds of success in any one of these processes would be in the single digits. Not where you want to be.
What do interviews look like?
The best interviews will look a lot like your best networking conversations (i.e., a conversation between peers). Go into your interview believing you are a VC. If you take the mindset of an “MBA hoping to break into VC” you will be putting yourself behind the full-time Associates and Senior Associates competing with you for the job.
Have confidence that you are smart enough — the fact that you landed an interview proves this. Take solace in the fact that you already did the prep, you developed your theses, and you found killer deals to talk about. Instead of being nervous about what your interviewer might ask, be excited to share what you know!
In terms of the actual questions you may get, be prepared to answer:
How would you analyze or diligence [X] company or [Y] market?
How would you research a technology you know nothing about?
How do you approach sourcing?
How strong is your network in [X] market?
What are you interested in or excited about right now?
Why venture capital and not private equity or entrepreneurship?
Tell me about a company I’ve never heard of.
Pro tip: have some work product up on your screen that demonstrates your abilities. If your interview is via Zoom, don’t be afraid to share your screen and show your interviewer what you’ve done. Showing is much more powerful than telling. In one of my first interviews, I totally botched the question: how would you analyze [X] market (it was embarrassing tbh). So, in future interviews, I simply shared my screen and walked through a recent market analysis I’d done. ***Don’t share any output from your existing fund (unless given explicit permission by your partners).***
Keep in mind: venture teams are typically very small and tight-knit. As such, beyond proving your hustle, analytical mettle, and interest in startups, you need to demonstrate that you are someone who will be pleasant to work with. I know it’s hard in an interview setting, but relax, smile, and try to form a real connection. Remember that you are also interviewing the fund to make sure it’s a good fit for you. If you successfully adopt this mindset, it should take the pressure off and allow you to chase the right opportunity, not just any opportunity.
How should I dress for a VC interview?
Again, you want to be seen as a peer, so:
Take note of how the partners dressed at the fund you interned for; and
Take a look at the website of the fund that will be interviewing you — VCs in certain geos have a distinct “PE vibe”. Some of these funds will have very formal team pictures with suit & tie.
Bottom line: match the vibe of the fund you’re interviewing at. There’s nothing worse than showing up in a t-shirt if your interviewer shows up in a suit. But showing up in a suit when your interviewer is in a t-shirt is a close 2nd.
For my interviews, I opted for an oxford shirt, sometimes with a sweater (not a Patagonia — that felt too casual). You want to look polished, but not stuffy. My interviews were over Zoom, so I didn’t have to think about pants or shoes. If I did, I would have opted for chinos or dark jeans with “dressy” sneakers or loafers (depending on the fund). Try not to overthink it (which is exactly what I did for my first few interviews).
One last thing…
When you do land that job offer, thank all the people that helped you land it! It is truly a team effort that stretches out over months, and you’ll be shocked at the number of people that will lend you a hand along the way. Let them know where you landed and how much you appreciated their help. Then…pay it forward when MBAs inevitably start pinging you for advice.