My journey from chartered accountant to VC Partner
I joined Pi Labs as Finance Manager back in 2019 — four incredible years later, I was thrilled to announce my promotion to Partner last month. This felt like a very proud career moment for me, and I have been humbled by the support I have received from my network and our close-knit team.
I have since been asked to share my story and shed some light on my journey from chartered accountant to the wonderful world of VC, in the hopes that it might inspire and help others who are curious about getting a job in this sector, and to hopefully showcase that there are many routes into the space.
Starting out in accountancy
I started my career knowing I wanted to be a part of the corporate world. I just wasn’t initially sure where that should take me but after coming across a news article stating that circa. 85% of FTSE 100 companies have a chartered accountant on their board, chartered accountancy seemed like a good path for me. The article didn’t highlight the incredibly intense examinations and training that come with this path however, but I was well up for the challenge, and soon found myself studying accounting and financial management at the University of Sheffield.
I spent my university summers trying to learn and get as much experience as I could, taking part in various internships, namely one with PwC where I was given the opportunity to shadow the firm’s partner and head of business recovery. For an individual with such high-profile clientele, this was an amazing learning opportunity for me: in the morning, I would be sitting in a board meeting discussing a multimillion-dollar restructuring, and in the afternoon, I would be speaking with a US high net worth individual discussing tax efficient investments in the UK. That internship taught me many valuable lessons, but one that stuck with me forever was the importance of communication and collaboration.
This internship solidified my ambition for a career in accountancy, and I returned to university to graduate and then start my first permanent role as finance associate at a firm specialising in financial information services. This role was a perfect example of getting thrown in at the deep end, something which I think (if done right) can be a great learning opportunity and something which I will expand on when I speak about my early days at Pi Labs!
Broadening my experience
In 2014 I joined top-12 accountancy firm MacIntyre Hudson’s 3-year graduate scheme which offered me both on-and off-the-job training, as well as progression toward the Association of Chartered Accountants (ACA) qualification. The firm boasted a training mentality and an incredible support network to help individuals flourish, and I learned how such a culture, along with a can do, will do attitude, would be pivotal to success, whatever the organisation. I had great exposure to the firm’s partners and real estate and construction clients, and needless to say, — my work with these organisations, and the wider experience I gained, would be instrumental in the way I went about my work creating the first in-house accountancy function at Pi Labs.
Two years after qualifying as a chartered accountant, and having decided that my ambition was no longer to become a partner within a large accountancy practice, after five years of service, I began looking for my next challenge… Having been intrigued by the worlds of venture capital and private equity for some time, along with my experience and interest working with clients in the real estate and construction space, when I came across a job posting on LinkedIn for a finance manager role at Pi Labs, I decided to apply.
Starting out with Pi Labs
The interview process was unexpectedly lengthy (we have since streamlined it!). As a team of five at the time, I literally met everybody over my four separate interviews! I had plans to travel to Japan with my now-wife, Courtney, and was in a Japanese Ryokan when I received the news that Pi Labs were offering me the position. What a buzz. This was an opportunity to join an ambitious team and be part of a growing, fun, fast-paced and dynamic company who were early on in our mission at that time of backing the innovators digitising the world’s largest asset class, real estate. I couldn’t wait to get started.
Life at Pi Labs
Given the size of the team when I joined and the flat structure that existed, I had the opportunity to work autonomously and take complete ownership and responsibility for my function almost from the get-go. Looking back, I can see that this sense of responsibility and ownership early on was instrumental in allowing me to thrive and learn on my feet in those early days. Today, we try to instil that same management style, allowing staff members to put their own mark on the work that they do.
A few highlights from my early days included taking the then outsourced finance function and bringing it in house, adding operations and compliance to my remit, finding myself sitting on the Pi Labs board presenting the company financial overview, and being recognised in Accountancy Age’s Top 35 Under 35 for my achievements at Pi Labs. After just six months at the company, I was promoted internally to Head of Finance to reflect my expanded role.
In 2020, I then had the opportunity to play a key role in reaching the first close of our third fund. This first close was a total financing of over $20 million, which would ultimately grow to $90 million post-pandemic. The fundraise, and ultimately working closely with our investors, provided incredible learning and collaboration opportunities. It was of course super exciting, and ultimately instilled a big sense of achievement knowing that we are raising capital to support such an incredible ecosystem of founders and start-ups.
It has been fascinating to reflect on how much Pi Labs has grown these past four years. When my role was created in 2019, it increased Pi Labs’ headcount to six. By the end of 2022, we expect our headcount to be closer to 20. We were managing around $10 million of capital when I joined in 2019. Now, Pi Labs manages over $90 million! Our continued growth is far from stalling, and I remain focussed and committed to the exciting new projects at Pi Labs in the short, medium and long term. I’m a big believer of the motto “Be Great, But Be Grateful”, and I have to highlight that this of course, could not have been possible without the amazing people in my network and the wider Pi Labs ecosystem— Faisal and the Pi Labs team, our venture partners, advisors, portfolio companies, investors and beyond.
Working in VC
Many perceive venture capital to be a closed-door sector. It is notoriously difficult to get into, and there is much work to be done in order to open up access to the sector. We at Pi Labs have taken steps to remove entry barriers throughout our hiring and investing processes, with initiatives such as university outreach, debiased hiring processes and events for underrepresented groups in the industry.
I hope this article helps shed some more light on my journey, and what it’s like to work in VC and at Pi Labs in particular. I hope it also helps dispel the notion that you must have a specific CV to make it into this space. At Pi Labs we believe a variety of different skills, strengths, and experiences make for a stronger team, so I’d encourage you to apply to any future roles even if you don’t think you 100% meet the qualifications.
- Michael
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