[問題]請問要進VC/PE應該怎麼準備?

[sf_wang]

我一直很想要進top VC或是private equity, 也聽所有的人說要進去這個行業就是要拿到H/S/W mba

可是今年申請的結果看起來不太可能拿到m7的admission了, 想請問應該怎麼辦呢? 再等一年reapply再賭一次, 還是可以做些另外的準備, 或是根本要放棄進這個行業這個想法?

有沒有人跟我一樣超想進VC/PE呢...

[jason]

我一直很想要進top VC或是private equity, 也聽所有的人說要進去這個行業就是要拿到H/S/W mba

可是今年申請的結果看起來不太可能拿到m7的admission了, 想請問應該怎麼辦呢? 再等一年reapply再賭一次, 還是可以做些另外的準備, 或是根本要放棄進這個行業這個想法?

有沒有人跟我一樣超想進VC/PE呢...

站上有位Venture and MichaelKuo
向他們請教看看囉!

[MarkHsu]

I assume we are not talking about a local PE/VC

This industry is pedigree driven...

H/S/W helps

but I think it's also important to have Banking experience, especially if you want to do buyouts (PE). No banking experience or other PE experience, no love.

VC:
I think in the VC world, it's very hard to go from an Associate to the GP.

If you want to be a heavy-hitter in the industry...best bet is to make it big yourself...as an executive manager or entrepreneur and then jump

This gives a rare insight on an Asian GP for a major SV VC firm
http://www.dcmvc.com/press_release/Beij ... eFINAL.pdf

[fujen64]

Thanks for Mark's sharing and honest opinions.

VC firms also looking for MBA students who have very deep industry knowledge such as software, biotech or solar energy and working in these industries for some years.
Lots of VC firms locate in Silicon Valley so the schools near Silicon Valley would get benefits form the convenient of location.

Many VC firms come to campus to recruit MBA students to help them to evaluate investment opportunities on startups. If you don’t have past working experience relating to finance, deep industry experience also helps you lots to get in VC since they believe MBA program will give you the solid training of finance knowledge.

Try to position yourself and convince what contributions you can bring to the team. For example, you can show them you have researched renewable energy industries in Asia or have many years applications development experience in the Internet arena.

I am also looking for the jobs in VC and have no finance experience before. It’s great that we can exchange our thoughts here.

Jimmy

[Allenr]

我一直很想要進top VC或是private equity, 也聽所有的人說要進去這個行業就是要拿到H/S/W mba

可是今年申請的結果看起來不太可能拿到m7的admission了, 想請問應該怎麼辦呢? 再等一年reapply再賭一次, 還是可以做些另外的準備, 或是根本要放棄進這個行業這個想法?

有沒有人跟我一樣超想進VC/PE呢...

I also put VC as my long-term career aspiration, and I spent decent amount of time preparing myself during my first year here in Ross. It is TRUE that having a H/S/W MBA will give you an edge to enter the industry. For those who don't belong to any of these three schools, I have some thoughts to share:

1. Do whatever you can to know several people in the industry and keep GOOD contact with them. Even though you WON'T join the indsutry soon after graduation.

2. Do take ADVANCE Finance and Accounting classes in school.

3. Do take ADVANCE Operation classes in school, ie. Supply Chain management

4. Do take ADVANCE Negotiation & Presentation classes in school.

5. MUST take basic entrepreneurial classes to understand the mentality of entrepreneurs.

6. After graduation, you have three choices:
A. Get a IB job
B. Get a GM or operation job in Fortune 500 companies
C. Start your own company

If you take A., 5-yrs later you are in a good shape jumping into VC as an senior associate or even principal.

If you take B, 10~ 20 yrs later you MAY have chance join a VC fund as a general partner, assuming you can bring in BOTH capital and industrial expertise.

If you take C, the path to join VC is not as assured as A and B, but the good news is you may be a highly-sought-after candidate for any VC fund, as long as you become a succesful entrepreneur.


Those are just me 2 cents. As the co-president of Entrepreneur and VC club at Ross, I strongly encourage a VC-wanna-be to consider Ross when applying for B-schools.

[michaelkuo]

I knew some people from this company
http://www.austinventures.com/team/

Actually, if you would like to join tier-one VCs in US, M7 should be the must. And MBA+EE is the best candidate.

Local VCs in Asia, the same as US. But the standard is not very competitive. Anyway, it's hard to become a partner in local VCs.
Try to raise your own fund if you would like to be a partner in Asia.

[Adam Cheng]

Even though at Wharton, get in PE/VC is still very very tough. For example, the first meeting of PE club here, there are more than 200 people showed up. Few than 50 people can get in and most of them have had previous experience in PE/VC. (Generally, we have more than 50 people can get in Goldman Sachs and Mckinsey, respectively. So you could know how hard it is.) The following types of people will have good advantage:

1. You worked for PE/VC/Hedge fund before. (There are pretty good amount of people with these backgroud in H/W/S)
2. You were banker before and better from leverage finance or financial sponsor group.
3. You are an entrepreneur or have deep knowledge about specific industry.

One last thing, "network" is also very important. You have to work very hard to reach out b/c most of the PE/VC firms they don't really recruit on campus. And if you want to focus on it, you have to give up consulting and IB offers b/c they usually open the vacancies very late.

[agk99]

想進全球知名的VC 或PE
我想還是有點經驗後，加上頂級的MBA
或許有點幫助
VC還好
PE就更難了

[shine_allen]

那麼難,我自己開一家算了,感覺都簡單一點,補充第四種方法

[Adam Cheng]

畢竟400K~500K/year的$$大家都想要啊！！
better hours + 之後可能有的carry...也難怪bankers都搶著想跳進去！

想進全球知名的VC 或PE
我想還是有點經驗後，加上頂級的MBA
或許有點幫助
VC還好
PE就更難了

[dreamer]

那麼難,我自己開一家算了,感覺都簡單一點,補充第四種方法

好想法

我朋友某家面試官就是本土VC的

家產很雄厚

[Charles Pan]

hi all,

before sharing my perspective, let me ask this: why do you want to do vc/pe and how much do you know about them besides the $$? to be frank, they require pretty different skill sets and mentalities.

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).

as adam highlighted, vc/pe don't usually do mba campus recruiting mainly because (1) they're small firms in terms of staff number. when they need someone, it won't necessarily be in mba recruiting season and campus recruiting doesn't justify the cost (when you only hire 1 or 2), and (2) they (especially vc) don't need fresh mba graduates at all unless the candidate possesses either (i) prior vc/pe experience (ib/mc experience ok but less useful), (ii) entrepreneurial track record, or (iii) really special family background (son/daughter of bill gates, hu jin-tao, etc.). otherwise, the best and fastest way is to get someone through referral or from competitors.

considering the factors above, you can now imagine how h/s/w mbas come into play in vc/pe recruiting game. h/s/w provide (1) evidence of intellectual horsepower and (2) connection, which is important while formal recruiting doesn't exist. vc/pe is a small, closed community to some extent dominated mainly by h/s grads (w less prominent in vc but holds significane in pe). why? h/s both tops in terms of education, but h has a huge alumni base which entering vc/pe early and s has great access to silicon valley. w is catching up. if you're a managing partner at a top US VC firm and with the prestigious h/s mba, wouldn't you want to hire some promising young talents from your own school (also the best school)? so, h/s/w outcompete other mba in building this informal network to get into vc/pe offices. however, this is not how you get into vc/pe industry. you still need the "right" (definition varies firm by firm, adding another barrier for vc-wannabe mbas) combination of cabibility, mentality, experience and network to fit into a specific firm at the right time. that's why you can see from career placement reports that only a very small percentage of mba enter vc/pe directly out of school (even in h/s/w). go check the profiles of people in leading US firms. while many of them hold h/s/w mbas, most of them enter the vc industry after accomplishing many other things.

why is it more difficult for taiwanese? vc/pe is a local thing. what you know matters, and who you know at least equally matters (if not more). taiwan is not an ideal investment target for us vcs, and thus our experience is in disadvantage.

summary: h/s/w mba + ib/mc experience may place you in a ok position for leading pe firms such as carlyle and warburg pincus, but it takes much more to join a top vc firm such as kleiner perkins and sequoia. mba helps, but you need vc/industry experience and, sadly and more importantly, LUCK.

let me stop here. questions are welcome.

[Calvin]

Thanks for all u guys' sharing.
I've really learned a lots from this thread.

Strongly recommend those who wanna join VC/PE industry have to take a look at this.

[march18]

this thread of PE/VC is great....thanks guys

even i not the expert in this area....
as an Asian...
personally, i thought we might have slight edges to join those PE/VC funds in Asia. And i guess a successful PE would become a diversified-investment conglomerate that can operate incubator, venture capital, private equity, leveraged buyouts, hedge fund, mezzanine financing and proprietary trading...............

[sf_wang]

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.