How does one get into Venture Capital from Tech
I have been an Engineer and I have worked at startups and fortune 100 companies. I have been an engineering leader and I'm interested in working for a venture capital firm as an Entepreneur in Residence or possibly partnering at a venture fund. How does one get into VC from a tech background. I don't have millions of dollars in founding capital so I can't just start my own. Does anyone have any tips?
you succeed as an entrepreneur first :)
MBA from Stanford?
Seems like you haven't worked in enough startups if you're asking this question. 😬 Answer is easy: networking. Best way to network in the VC community is to raise money and do the road show. If they don't know your name, then you're probably not getting an EIR role.
Start as a mentor at your local incubator / accelerator. Setup your angel list profile. Meet with a hundred startups. Network, network, network. When deals start finding you, then you're ready to pursue full time. Assuming you want to get paid, you're competing with dozens of people who are free, many of whom have checkbooks, some really big checkbooks. Many of them also have successful exits. You have to put in the work to make the short list.
Start a VC fund.
Ivy league MBA or JD? Work them circles.
M7 + Tuck, Fuqua, Yale SOM and Haas MBAs are the way to go. Ivy League (or equivalent) JDs as well.
VC is a networking business. You need to put yourself out there and grow your circle of influence. Don’t mean to be negative but if you can’t do that then you can’t hack the VC game. Most PMs/Engineers think their technical knowledge will help them in VC but that can be outsourced these days so its not of much value for a VC to have. At the end of the day VC is a sales job.
From what I've heard it's networking and experience as a VC, and most VCs don't set out to become VCs when they become VCs.