How To Use This Site

Confession:  In my real life, I'm an investor in technologies and services that solve talent market inefficiencies and match great people to great jobs. It's work I love, in a VC and growth equity sector that I find both challenging and rewarding. But I think it's not acknowledged often enough that this sector has some pretty significant talent inefficiencies of its own: hiring processes are opaque, "VC veteran" blogs are confusing, and the whole recruiting process can feel like you've stumbled into someone else's networking cocktail hour without an invite.

Since I have an unbreakable addiction to career pathing, I developed this site to help shine some light into the "black box" of VC, and share some of the best resources and tips I've seen work for myself and others in the field. Although the site is primarily geared towards those considering early-tenured careers in venture capital, growth equity, and to a lesser degree private equity, the content may also be useful to the following individuals, in no particular order:

• Entrepreneurs who want to learn more about the young VC's jamming their phone lines (if you're in crypto) or ghosting their email intros (if you're in a less sexy sector)
• Consultants, philanthropists, and others who work with investors on deals, events, and that mysterious twenty-first century tribal ritual known as "thought leadership"
• Friends of investors who can't understand their cap table-related jokes (which admittedly may also not be that funny)
• My mom, who still believes that I work at "a very small bank"

As no website is complete without a disclaimer, I'll say upfront that as regards younger-tenured positions, the VC/GE industry is very small, and jobs are hard to find. I encourage all applicants to be flexible in identifying jobs and industries that "fit" their needs (and I say this as someone whose career path has been a total surprise 90% of the time). There are a ton of exciting, high-energy, high-impact jobs outside the world of U.S. venture capital -- but if you still want to take a peek under the hood, here's what you'll find…

CONTENTS OF THIS SITE:

• THE JOB:  Answers questions like, "What does the job look like, and who likes it?"
• GETTING THE JOB:  Focuses on top entry paths into the industry, as well interview and hiring process tips.
• RECRUITERS/JOB BOARDS:  List of recruiters, platforms, industry sites, and other "aggregators" that can help you find open jobs. Since my work focuses heavily on education and workforce development, you'll see a lot of these segments. If you know of any other good sources, please send my way!
• LISTSERVS/EVENTS:  Things you'll read and events you'll attend that may help you bump into the right contacts. Again, extra education and workforce tips, but I'll try to organize so that you can skim, or not, based on interest.

How I'd recommend using this site: Take a skim roughly in order to learn what you're signing up for and who you should be talking to, and then narrow in on a few paths to your targeted sectors, technologies, and cultures. Then read my above disclaimer again, and remember that despite all the performative #hustle out there, recruiting processes across most industries are often inherently flawed in various ways; and luck (or as some would have it, fate) plays a bigger role in our career paths than most would like to admit. In short: you will almost certainly hear a lot of "no's" out there in the Wild West of finance. You're still great.

- C



Source: Actual photo of the Wild West of Finance courtesy of Prawny on Pixabay