[問題]請問要進VC/PE應該怎麼準備?

[Allenr]

Wow, thanks for the valuable information.
It seems that VC/PE is not a realistic first post-mba job. I mean,
- H/S/W plus prior relevant experience: reasonable (as Venture pointed), but not easy to have a perfect resume like that.
- Successful entrepreneurial experience: thanks to the example that Mark shared, but I guess Hurst Lin is a super rare case. It's not something that can be part of our career planning.
- Good network or family background: well...

Is there anyone who actually got a post-mba job as an associate in VC/PE or got a summer intern opportunity given the difficulties? Thanks for the sharing.

I got 1 VC offer and several closed list interviews for the summer intership, and I decided to turn all them down for the following reasons:

1. Unlike other industries, a VC summer intern usually WON'T lead you to a full-time offer.

2. Without industrial expertise or sufficient IB experience, one could bring very limited value to a VC fund, and thus unlikely to be paid very well, let alone getting promotion soon.

3. For these summer VC offers, due diligence is all the firms expecting from MBA interns, and I do not think I can learn much from that.

[samson85]

Sharing one comment from a PE partner:

"Do not make PE or VC as the start of your career, they should be the final stage of you career development. If you go into VC firm as a young kid, all you can do is modeling and due dillegence which bring very little value to the firm."

[Charles Pan]

well, vc/pe experience before or right after mba is not a bad thing. it's just not for everyone. ib/mc associates also bring little value to the firm. you think tsmc chose goldman sachs as its underwrite because YOU WORK THERE?

for asian/taiwan vc/pe firms, a top mba degree helps some more than it does in the u.s. to secure an associate position in you want. firstly, this is a demand-supply thing. top mba grads are relatively rare here, and a firm without the prestige of carlyle or kpcb would be more happy to hire h/s/w folks. your managing partner would be happy to claim "i have h/s/w mbas working for me". good for marketing, fundraising and dignity.

secondly, the requirement for industry experience won't be as tough as it is in the u.s. as silicon valley vcs invest in disruptive technologies in really early stage, they need to be good fortune tellers to appreciate a vision and be value-adding industry veterans to help entrepreneurs realize the vision. to give you an idea, sequoia's successes include google, yahoo, apple, cisco, etc. it's not just because of luck. leading u.s. pes are also in a different league playing billion-dallor deals. the execution skill set requirement is also challenging. i'm not touching this further, but, as i said, h/s/w grads have better chances here right after graduation.

as typical asian vc/pe firms don't invest that early and that much, it's less scary to put young mba grads on the deals. the mba analytical work actually helps senior partners to make their calls.

how about taiwan? there're just too few real vc/pe firms locally and h/s/w in most cases is a waste here. just my perspective.

conclusion: vc/pe is an amazing career for the right persons. you may hit homeruns, but no quick money here as it can take years for any investment to return. it's also very stressful when your portfolio company gets in trouble (michael gao must know this well). if this really is your post-mba aspiration, go for it and try practically target pe firms (where mba skills bring more present value to the table) instead of early stage vcs and shoot for decent asian regional firms rather than silicon valley/taiwan ones. your dream comes true easier that way.

[agk99]

hi all,

i'd like to focus only on leading US/golbal firms in this post and address asia/taiwan sometime later. CONCLUSION: h/s/w mba degrees alone are far less than enough to get into a top US firm, but they do help a bit. for US students, it's already very very tough; for taiwan students, it's basically mission impossible (pe is relatively easier though).

Hi Venture

I don't know why you said PE is easier than VC. Based on my clients base, PE always join us with at least 10M USD, while VC will go around 1M.

I didn't say VC is easier than PE just because the investment power. In fact, according to recent big deals, we only heard that PE join more deals than they did before. but VC in Greater China lost its position and stage in the past one year. That's why I think PE and VC are mission impossible as you mentioned, but PE is relatively more difficult than VC.

[Charles Pan]

not sure why you jump out. you're a pe advocate?

such a debate makes little sense, but let me clarify my points here:

1. i'm focusing on leading us vc (kpcb & sequoia level) and top pe firms (carlyle & warburg pincus level) as the question goes, not greater china ones.
2. i'm talking about getting a job at these firms right after mba.
3. we may have discrepency in vc/pe definition. at least in the us, they are more different in terms of investment target/approach. difference investment size between vc/pe is more as a result of it than a driver.

feel free to disagree with me cause you have your own experience. differenet perspectives should theoretically make this thread better. my argument is based on my IB/VC/PE work experience in TW/HK/US and my personal experience in helping mba students getting into these fields, but nothing stays forever.

[adif]

Dear venture,

Thanks for ur precious insight, appreciated.