Pivoting into VC
Beginning the Journey
In my opinion, the first job out of college is not the beginning of your career — it’s a weigh station on the path to figuring out what you really want to do. You’re really just looking for something that pays relatively well and can provide some baseline professional skillset to be leveraged later on. In most cases, undergrads don’t have the faintest idea of what really interests them. Everything you think you want to do is based on a superficial understanding of the actual role, and everything that is available sort of sucks, so you grin and bear it until you’ve racked up enough experience to refine exactly what it is that you’re looking for in a career. That doesn’t necessarily define everyone, of course, but aptly describes my retrospective opinion on the undergrad job hunt.
After a few years in such a role, I decided I was ready to actually start my career, but recognized that what I wanted to do, venture capital, would require a bit more experience than I was able to bring to the table. So, I began business school and am currently an MBA candidate trying to break into the enigmatic world of venture capital.
There is no ‘right path’ into venture capital. Successful venture capitalists come from all different backgrounds and walks of life, creating an ultra-diverse group of individuals. Some are entrepreneurs with experience building a company from the ground up. Others are former product managers at some of the world’s foremost tech companies like Google, Netflix, etc. and understand the technical aspects of the job fluently. Still others are born operators or research analysts with deep domain expertise in their preferred sector. Finally, there are those that are just natural hustlers (in the positive sense of the word) willing to put in whatever’s necessary to secure a spot at the table. All of these different people coalesce in venture capital to create a unique ecosystem of differing opinions and experiences that help shape the future of business through early-stage private investment.
As a prospective VC, I probably fit into the hustler category. I do have quite a bit of financial services experiences and am comfortable with data analysis and presentation, but the way that I can most effectively compete with the rest of field, I think, is by networking with literally anyone that will take my call and diving headfirst into the industry, consuming as much media as possible on the topic of venture capital (bonus points if I can refine a sector interest and become knowledgeable on the space). I’m not much of a blogger, but think that by writing down my thoughts and chronicling my job-search process here, I’ll be forced to refine my thinking and critically assess my goals as there could be someone out there reading it.
So begins my journey to actually start my career in an area I’m passionate about— venture capital.
