Anyone out there think I would make a great venture capitalist?
I’ve been going back and forth on the whole job search: Is Venture Capital a place where I want to be for my next gig? Is the breath and depth that my network will expand worth not getting real world sales experience? Frankly, can I hack the responsibilities of such a job?
The origins of venture capital
I had my first interview last Friday with a small firm based in Boston. I’d be thrilled to take a job in beantown – not quite as thrilled as staying here in Atlanta (I played tennis today), but there are a whole lot of worse places – especially for someone who wants to be an entrepreneur. The interview went well, the partner I spoke with was very nice, clearly very knowledgeable, and seemed interested enough in what I had to say. (I heard the occasional keyboard tapping, but we’ve all been there when giving a phone interview).
While the firm has a bit more technical focus (not in deals, but in analysts) than I might like, I was kind of excited about the opportunity to review companies and ideas for a living. Let’s be honest, I’ve been doing it for the past 26 years and more frequently in the last 18 months. I’ve heard a lot of ideas I thought were flat out bad, ones that I thought were incredible, and ones I wanted to do more diligence on. I’ve never had the time to do that follow-up work because I was pretty busy with my own thing, but I was getting excited about the opportunity to spend 40++++ hours a week actually studying potential targets.
Funny thing happened on the way to the forum however. I actually asked some detailed questions about the role and the responsibilities associated with being an analyst at a Venture Capital firm. Turns out the analysts really just study industries, trends, model numbers, and run one off analysis for partners. Hrmm. I was having dreams of searching out potential companies, reviewing pitches, and probably most importantly, providing post investment support and advice. When asked directly about the last one, I was told “Actually you won’t be doing that. If we need you to support an investment, it will be through one of the partners.” Ouch! I can’t interact with the startups? My experience as a consultant and then as an actual CEO of a startup don’t count for anything? Trust me, I didn’t work 100 hour weeks just to build my resume.
All of our experiences are learning opportunities. Friday I learned that if I am going to consider working for a venture firm, I better be prepared to find one that is going to let me operate like a partner. Or at least let me split time between being an analyst and an associate (or whatever the title is). I told the company I interviewed with that I wasn’t interested in continuing in the process – I didn’t want to be accused of wasting anyone’s time, lest my own.
Funny thing happened on the way to the forum. I’ve been telling everyone that I’m not yet bit by the entrepreneur bug, only that I enjoy early stage companies. The more I explore, the more I think my dream job might be CEO of a startup. Maybe its not a bug you get bit by at all, maybe it’s the simple fact that once you’ve done it, there is nothing else in the world you want to do.
In: Entrepreneurship · Tagged with: Job Search, Venture Capital
