3 ms·

Join as an intern, if you are an undergrad from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, etc. That is a path for those who are not well connected.

gowld 6y ago
What if you aren't well connected enough to be at those schools?
- trcollinson 6y ago
  To be a partner at a VC you have to have money and connections (though with enough money, connections is a pretty easy problem to solve). To be an intern/employee for a VC you need to have basically graduated from one of the big business schools: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Kellogg, Wharton, Booth... there are others but not many. If you go to one of these schools it's relatively easy to get the connections you need. If you want to be an intern/employee and you can't get to one of these schools or don't want to, you need to specialize in something that VCs want. That specialty is usually something data driven. Data Analytics is a really big deal for VCs. If you can do that at an above Masters Level they may look at you without a Masters Degree, business degree, or degree in anything at all. Though it will still be a bit of an uphill battle. And honestly, you probably won't get paid as well as if you took those data analytics skills to some other company. Unfortunately, if you want to do something other than Data Analytics for a VC, you're kind of up a creek. Those big business schools are cranking out people and they have good connections. They will take the job before you get a chance.
- raincom 6y ago
  You can get into a second rate VC, if you don't go to the top tier Ivies or Stanford, for instance. What is the end goal? Some job at any VC? Or Associate at a top tier VC? Same thing with PE. There are top-tier PEs, mid-tier PE firms. For top tier PEs like KKR, Blackstone, academic pedigree is the only way for those who are not well-connected.

3 ms·

Join as an intern, if you are an undergrad from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, etc. That is a path for those who are not well connected.

by raincom 6y ago

gowld 6y ago
What if you aren't well connected enough to be at those schools?
- trcollinson 6y ago
  To be a partner at a VC you have to have money and connections (though with enough money, connections is a pretty easy problem to solve). To be an intern/employee for a VC you need to have basically graduated from one of the big business schools: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Kellogg, Wharton, Booth... there are others but not many. If you go to one of these schools it's relatively easy to get the connections you need. If you want to be an intern/employee and you can't get to one of these schools or don't want to, you need to specialize in something that VCs want. That specialty is usually something data driven. Data Analytics is a really big deal for VCs. If you can do that at an above Masters Level they may look at you without a Masters Degree, business degree, or degree in anything at all. Though it will still be a bit of an uphill battle. And honestly, you probably won't get paid as well as if you took those data analytics skills to some other company. Unfortunately, if you want to do something other than Data Analytics for a VC, you're kind of up a creek. Those big business schools are cranking out people and they have good connections. They will take the job before you get a chance.
- raincom 6y ago
  You can get into a second rate VC, if you don't go to the top tier Ivies or Stanford, for instance. What is the end goal? Some job at any VC? Or Associate at a top tier VC? Same thing with PE. There are top-tier PEs, mid-tier PE firms. For top tier PEs like KKR, Blackstone, academic pedigree is the only way for those who are not well-connected.