So you have the VC role, now what?

Congratulations — you secured the job! This section discusses what you should expect, how to make the most of your new role, and how to put your best foot forward

What are your responsibilities?

While this may vary from firm to firm and day to day, your responsibilities will probably revolve around three central themes that are all intertwined: sourcing, market and company research, and meetings with important stakeholders, such as founders, subject matter experts in the space, or your mentor or other investors at the firm.

Sourcing

First, let’s talk about sourcing. When you’re spending time sourcing, it usually means that you’re doing research on which companies may be worth an investment. However, this research may manifest in many different ways, ranging from Googling specific companies or verticals that you’re interested in or responsible for and taking meetings with your firm’s network to see if anyone has insights into companies that you might not have otherwise found to scouring news sites and newsletters to determine which startups may be interesting and more. Usually, when you’re sourcing, the sky’s the limit to cast a wide net of potential options and you’re using your creativity to find companies that others may not have found yet. Alternatively, at certain firms, you might be tasked with building an investment from scratch by sourcing novel technologies, ideas, and theses emerging from universities or think tanks. Over time, you would have built up a list of companies that you want to reach out to and a little bit of why you think that company is worth further investment. Check out our section on sourcing for more specific resources and suggestions.

Market and Company Research

Now, this leads us to market and company research. After making your list of companies that you’ve sourced, now it’s time to narrow down the list and prioritize who you want to reach out to. This means that you’re going to be doing a lot of research into that company’s market, figuring out what opportunities and challenges there are, determining if there is a large enough opportunity, and just to learn as much as possible about the space so that in the future, you can ask the right questions. Sometimes this may even include meeting with subject matter experts in the space to learn more about their take on those companies. Not only are you researching the market, but you’re also going to be researching the company and trying to dig up any information that will help you figure out if you should meet with them, and if so, what you should learn more about and what you like about the company. This information can range from information about the team, previous investments, new product announcements, blogs about their vision for the company, and so on. This is all in preparation for a potential meeting with the company. Our section on “Understanding the Market” shares must-read resources for specific industries, as well as general resources to stay up to date with tech trends and news.

Outreach

Next, once you have decided that you want to chat with this company, you usually find some way to reach out, like a cold email or a warm intro someone at the firm can make. During this call, you’re usually prepping beforehand to make sure you have that list of questions from your market and company research to learn more about the company to see if it has potential. The company will usually pitch to you their vision and whether they’re raising and for how much. Don’t forget to also make sure to sell your firm, so the company knows what they’d be getting into if it ends up working out as an investment. Here, you’re developing a relationship with the company and the founders and using that information to decide if you want to take this further.

Given that you are an analyst or intern, it might be advantageous to not disclose your entire background. Sometimes founders feel slighted if they are not speaking directly with a partner, director, or vice president. If you are met with the question about your background or what your role is, you could catalogue your recent experiences/internships without mentioning time frame and just mention that you are an “investor” at the firm directly supporting the leadership.

After this call, if the company is promising, more information, such as detailed financials and their pitch deck, is provided. Then, depending on the firm, if you think this is an interesting opportunity, you may have more meetings with the company to make sure you have enough information to sell your firm on it. If it is, you may take this to your mentor or a partner meeting to pitch it internally and see if the firm wants to potentially meet with the company or do further diligence before a term sheet may be made. Check out our section on outreach, which includes writing cold emails and reaching out to people via LinkedIn.

Every day is usually a combination of those three key themes! However, don’t forget to network around your firm, talk to the other investors, meet with your manager, meet the portfolio companies, etc.

What’s the day to day like?

When I get to the office around 9:00am, I start off my day with emails. Many major VC firms have several offices and/or venture partners around the world so you may be receiving emails around the clock.

Another important thing is to always be up-to-date with the latest startup or VC news. At your internship, you will most likely be surrounded by these conversations. I usually go to TechCrunch or read VC newsletters I’m subscribed to (some ideas: The Daily Pitch from Pitchbook, Crunchbase Daily, for consumer space updates: Forerunner’s Newsletter). I try to read a variety of contents from my VC’s portfolio company news and M&A/IPO updates to general industry updates. Check out the section on “Understanding the market” for more resources.

Unstructured Schedule

• Rarely do young people in tech, finance, or consulting have the ability to choose their schedule. But as an intern at a VC, you’re typically in charge of your schedule!
• Generally, the firm or specific groups will do a Monday morning/afternoon meeting where the investment team covers new, existing, and expired investments. Be prepared for these meetings (even if you are not presenting) and be proactive about following up with team members after. They will appreciate your enthusiasm and spirit.
• Try to build in time for deep reflection and thought. It is easy as an investor to be caught up in emails and calls but time away from that might help you be more effective at your primary responsibilities
• Depending on geographic location, you might also end up spending considerable time at your portfolio companies. Be prepared to travel often, communicate on the fly, and maintain flexibility. No day is the same.
• Recommended Tools: calendly, x.ai

VC internships are quite varied! Depending on the size and the timeline, there are several roles and experiences you can be a part of:

Sourcing

• It’s often expected for you to source companies, do first-round diligence. This can include:
• Cold-calling the founder
• Better understanding the problem space and industry by:
• Putting together market maps
• Competitive Analysis
• Modeling/Projections
• The level of analysis and specificity depends on the firm. I would definitely recommend having an honest conversation with your manager/mentor to confirm expectations.
• University technology licensing offices
• Check out our section on sourcing for more specific resources and suggestions

Tools I’d recommend:

• Airtable
• Mix max
• Hunter.io
• Rocketreach
• Grammarly
• Affinity
• LinkedIn Premium
• Crunchbase Premium
• PitchBook

Operations/Strategy Team

Portfolio company support

• Put together portfolio company analysis one-pagers for media and LPs
• Plan networking events and gift series for portfolio companies
• Update VC website and company descriptions to reflect latest milestones or pivots
• Track new press coverage of portfolio companies + share internally within the VC

Marketing/branding for the VC

• Now is a great time to develop a content strategy for your firm. Check out Jessica Li’s Medium post. She’s an associate at Soma Capital and has done a fantastic job of interviewing founders and VCs to build her own personal brand while promoting Soma Capital as well
• Manage the VC’s LinkedIn account
• Run LinkedIn sponsored content advertising campaigns to drive brand awareness for your VC

Supporting the Partners as they Raise from LPs

• Putting together their data room
• Running portfolio statistics e.g. TVPI, IRR, etc.
• Creating the pitch deck

1:1s with your manager

Due to the unstructured nature of VC, I would recommend sitting down with your manager and having honest expectations at the beginning. Some questions to ask include:

• What would make this a successful internship?
• What is their management style and “love language”/preferred method of communication?
• Ask to sit in on as many meetings as possible/What sort of meetings are you able to sit in on?

As with any other internships, make sure to ask your manager to sit down with you for a midpoint check-in halfway through your internship. This midpoint review is especially crucial for a VC internship where interns are given more initiative in their work (less structure, but more agency!). The conversation could cover everything from your strengths and areas of improvement that your manager has observed to what you want to get more out of in the remaining internship period. It should be a reciprocal discussion! Things that may seem obvious to you may not be immediately apparent to your coworkers. Communication is key to ensuring that your internship is a positive, rewarding experience for both you and the firm. Your manager(s) want you to learn and get as much out of the internship as possible so don’t be afraid to give honest feedback on your experience so far.

Since many VC internships are unstructured, push to schedule in a formal presentation at the end of your experience. Whether that be during the investment team weekly meeting or another time, it is important to put together your work (e.g. tell the full story about an investment, due diligence, etc.) and present it to your firm to not only validate your learnings but also underscore your value add. Doing so might increase the chances of a return offer.

Going Above And Beyond

It wouldn’t hurt to have a couple of side projects that could be helpful for you to build your own brand alongside your firm’s. Here are some cool ideas that I would have tried to start if I was in your place. Feel free to use these for inspiration, just give PSV a shoutout if they end up panning out ;)

Start a blog about something important to you, such as affinity group in space (e.g. Women in AI)

Start a talent community for young professionals of a certain affinity group or interest.

Pen pieces on a specific tech trend (e.g. Market Map of Social Impact Startups)

Start a newsletter or podcast featuring founders + new hires in your portfolio companies

Share employment and internship opportunities at your portfolio companies. This can be a:

• Listing. (Eg: Bessemer Venture Partners does a really good job of listing opportunities that are searchable by: [Hiring] Companies, Industries, Locations, Functions)
• Fellowship (e.g. KPCB Fellows Program)
• Newsletter (E.g. Contrary Startup Search)

Think about what can be forward-facing so you can share your experiences with the broader tech community.

Other Resources

• What are unconventional ways to get an entry-level job at a VC firm?
• FunderClub’s primer on convertible notes: Convertible Notes
• A good summary of what KPIs matter for early-stage SaaS companies: A KPI dashboard for early-stage SaaS startups — new and improved!
• Brad Feld’s excellent discussion of term sheets: Term Sheet Series Wrap Up
• Version One’s excellent summary of what KPIs matter for a marketplace business: Marketplace KPI Dashboard
• What’s it like to be an associate at a venture capital firm?

This piece was co-authored by Ayushi Sinha, Jen L., Grace Lee, Kelvin Yu, and Rohan Shah