The VC Field Guide

15Long‐Term Planning: Venture Capital Cycles, Optionality, Starting a VC firm

One of the changes that I've seen in venture capital is who is coming into the VC industry, who is joining. Not too long ago, the tried‐and‐true path to venture capital was someone who was a former founder or entrepreneur, typically a former CEO of a startup. Many of the people coming into venture in the past were people in their forties with direct entrepreneurial experience, but today we are seeing more and more people come in to venture without that startup background, and so my advice in this chapter is for the people considering venture as a career path who may be outsiders, like I was when I first started. Maybe you're thinking about a venture capital career but you don't know what to expect and if you want to be in venture, how do you do that if you don't have the CEO or startup pedigree?

When I talk to people early in their career, in high school, college, or just starting out, what I typically recommend that they do is to consider actually joining a startup and working for a startup. Since a lot of former founders or entrepreneurs become VCs, having that experience in a startup can be very helpful, especially if it's a successful startup. If a startup is successful, that gives you the option to join yet another startup or potentially transition into venture capital. And then all the skills that you build at the startup will also be helpful if you decide to go join a big company. There are ...