| Topic Name: |
Getting a VC job after Undergrad |
| Message Name: |
nurturing an industry career for vc - part I |
| Date Posted: |
05/06/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
I think your advice is not only sound, but realistic as well. I am about to graduate at an undergrad business school and have taken an offer as a Financial Analyst at Lucent's Global Leadership Program. Here, I am rotated in various divisions of the financial community at Lucent, inclusing M&A, internal audit, business development, treasury, accounting, etc. What are your thoughts about entering into the VC worl, specifically VC/s who focus on telecom and wireless, after my tenure at Lucent?
thank you.. |
| Message: |
The first point i'd make is that you are the master of your own career....advice that I or any other person gives can help illuminate different perspectives or paths taken, but you must be independently comfortable with the choices you make.
Only a part of why I point this out is that I absolutely don't want to be the cause for disappointment -- in the same way that we would point out to an entrepreneur that it is she, not us, who makes the lonely choice and commitment to run a business.
The other reason I point this out is that when you interview with top VC's, you will find that they are very interested in the turning points of your career: why you decided to attend school X, why you picked job Y. They will pick apart your decision, challenge it, and try to understand how it leads logically into a career in venture capital.
That said, I would divide your experience at Lucent (or any other company) into two areas:
1. Function
Learn as much as you can about technology. VC's will see that you are a financial analyst and will immediately probe your understanding of technologies. You want to be able to say that you joined an operating company because you wanted to understand technologies in depth rather than, say, the shallow understanding that an investment banker acquires by reading investment reports.
In addition to the physical workings of the technology, learn what it takes to make a technology successful, and common reasons for failure. How does a product create value for its users? What crucial roles do marketing, sales, product management play? What qualities and skills are important to hiring people for these positions? How would you build a better business for this product? Begin distilling patterns for success and failure, themes such as hiring the best people, having strong leadership, or understanding your customers.
Seek leadership positions if you can. Preferably with innovative products, small elite teams, or new business plans. That should defend you against the argument that you've been with a big company and therefore don't understand startups. You want to walk into a VC and claim that you have sat on both sides of the deal table: as both an investor (here's where that M&A exposure comes in) and an entrepreneur.
Learn how to handle people. VC is a relationship business, you may have the best intellectual capabilities, but if people don't like you, you're not going to close any deals. Learn to be likeable, humble, and learn how to sell. Find the best possible people to work with and learn what makes them go. Learn how to be a great judge of people, management and recruiting experience really helps here. Be able to recognize great leaders, or great potential.
Make sure you adopt a perspective on the business that is not Lucent-centric, you will be challenged on your abilities to look at other companies. Keep track of emerging businesses.
(continued)
|
|
