Finance & Investment: Exploring a Career in Venture Capital

This discussion post explores the attractiveness of a career in venture capital, considering the roles and responsibilities within VC firms. The author identifies several appealing aspects, including the opportunity to raise money, build a strong network, access high-quality deal flow, and develop relations...Read More

Running Head: FINANCE & INVESTMENT
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FINANCE & INVESTMENT
(Student Details: )
3/23/2020

FINANCE & INVESTMENT 1
Finance and Investment
Module 5 Unit 2 contained learning related to the ‘Internal structure of venture capital
firms’. This module made me learn about the roles and responsibilities of the individuals
working in the VC industry. Thus, while considering what I have learned about venture
capital firms (hereinafter referred to as VCF), I have found the most and least attractive about
a career in venture capital, as follows:
Most Attractive
 A career in a VCF is a highly respected, responsible, and rewarding experience.
 A career as a Venture Capitalist allows one to raise money (Hoey, 2020).
 A career as a Venture Capitalist provides you a solid network of Limited Partners.
 A career as a Venture Capitalist offers individual strong access to high-quality deal
flow (Hoey, 2020).
 A career as a Venture Capitalist allows a person to have relationships with seasoned,
all-star serial entrepreneurs of the field.
 Lastly, and most importantly, Career as a Venture Capitalist gives you a reputation in
both the investor and founder communities (Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan, & Strebulaev,
2020).
Least Attractive
 Switching a career or job from one VCF to another VCF is highly difficult as there are
only a few good VCFs in any business ecosystem (Hoey, 2020).
 Start-up experience is required for working as a Venture Capitalist in a modern VCF
(Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan, & Strebulaev, 2020).
 It takes networking, business acumen plus founding a start-up (or two) in order to be
seriously considered.
 Even if you have the desired skill set, it's not easy to become a VC.

FINANCE & INVESTMENT 2
References
Gompers, P., Gornall, W., Kaplan, S., & Strebulaev, I. (2020). How do venture capitalists
make decisions? Journal of Financial Economics, 135(1), 169-190.
Hoey, K. (2020). Interested in a Career in Venture? 6 VCs Tell You How. Retrieved from
Inc.: https://www.inc.com/kelly-hoey/interested-in-a-career-in-venture-six-venture-
capitalists-tell-you-how.html