The VC Field Guide

11Notes for Current VCs

VC CAREER PATHS

What helped me the most in all three aspects—the numbers, the questions that we answer in the PowerPoint, and in the sales part––was building a perspective or expertise in a space. My one piece of advice for anyone going into venture capital is, the sooner you find a specialization that you want to spend time in, the more expert you become in a space, the more successful you will be. With deep knowledge of an area, it will be easier to create a great career path in a venture capital firm. By focusing and specializing in a space, two things happen: first, you become skilled at understanding and asking the right questions of the entrepreneurs that you meet; and, second, you are able to demonstrate to the entrepreneurs, “Hey, you don't have to teach me your space. I already understand your space and talking with me isn't going to be a waste of your time, but a great brainstorming opportunity. Let's build a relationship.” And if you can build that relationship with entrepreneurs, then you can convince your firm to invest in a company and it becomes much more of a two‐way street.

Without that specialization, you're stuck making phone calls or emailing everyone under the sun. I've always struggled with emails. Is it all about the email? Do I just email everyone or do I customize an email? What do I write in the email? Do I write about all the successful previous investments that we've done? Do I talk about how much money our fund is investing? ...