How to get a job in venture capital

Technically speaking, venture capital is a subset of private equity: like big private equity (PE) firms, venture capital firms invested in companies that aren't publicly traded on a stock exchange. But working for a VC firm is a wildly different experience to a career in the likes of Blackstone or Carlyle. This week was the LSE Alternate Investments Conference (AIC) where professionals from various private markets industries educate students on their respective fields. Multiple VC professionals told students about the work you'll do in venture capital and the traits you'll need to possess to thrive in it.

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What is venture capital?

Venture capital firms traditionally invest in early-stage companies, taking a minor ownership stake alongside various other investors. Traditional PE firms, by contrast, tend to invest in more mature companies, and take majority stakes in their portfolio companies. PE firms tend to have more specialisation, at least on a fund-by-fund basis, while VCs are more generalist.

The biggest difference between VCs and PE firms, though, is the level of support they claim to provide for founders. Luke Pappas, partner at New Enterprise Associates, said at the AIC that VC is all about "look[ing] for the secret sauce in the founding team" and having "conviction that this team is going to be the one to change things." That conviction is necessary because "all the companies we're interested in are inherently unprofitable for the first few years."

VCs have a reputation for inflating the valuations of their portfolio companies. Pappas said "many of my hedge fund friends and private equity friends will ping me and tell me that we're not very rational in our pricing." He said that many of the best investments in VC are blink-and-you'll-miss-it, however, and that accepting an inflated valuation is necessary; "if this company ultimately becomes a $10bn company in the long run, it won't matter much."

Fundraising in VC isn't what it used to be, however. A report from accounting infrastructure firm Carta estimated that there was a total of $110bn in startup investments through its platform last year, down from a high of $220.3bn in 2021. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that fundraising for US VC firms in 2025 was the lowest it had been for six years. Funds have a lot less margin for error, which is putting increased pressure on VC professionals.

What do you do in venture capital?

"VC's are not glamorous," said Antler partner Hannah Leach at the AIC. "It's honestly a lot of admin." You'll be sitting in numerous meetings for your portfolio companies and researching new ones. Leach said "you need to be adept at sending a cold email" if you want to win new business.

Your job is to see through the noise in the startup world. Pappas said that "every day, I open up my news app and see 15 different products that people say are changing the world." Leach said that VC is all about doing your homework and "go[ing] into conversations well-informed regardless of asset class."  

Cherry Ventures principal Nadja Reischel said that you have to look for "founders who are super obsessed with the product," as that obsession will carry them through the next ten years of working in their startup. You'll also need to gauge their learning speed and commercial instinct; "you want people who are talking to not 20 but 2,000 potential customers," Reischel said.

All of this typically translates to long hours. Leach said that "work-life balance doesn't quite exist in VC... you need to want to get up at 7am and work through to midnight." Reischel said that "venture is pretty much 24/7" and suggested that she hasn't taken a Sunday off since she joined her firm.

What skills and experience are VC firms looking for?

To succeed in VC, you need to be a people person, but there's more to it than that.

Pappas said that you're a good fit for VC if your "brain likes to context switch a lot of times," as you'll be working across a wide range of products and teams. Leach said you also "need to be good at psychology." We recently held an AMA with Shayan Roy Chowdhury, MD of VC education platform, the Newton Venture Program; he said that the most important skills are "critical thinking, ability to think big, relationship building, time management, and clarity of communication."

As with their founders, VC firms also want their employees to be passionate. Pappas said that, if you're not, "there's going to be 1,000 people who are genuinely interested and they will outperform you." Leach said that demonstrating your passion is particularly hard as a graduate, but suggested building a "shadow portfolio of companies you think will do very well" to stand out.

Having a financial background isn't always necessary. Speaking at the AIC in 2024, LocalGlobe partner Mish Mashkautsan said "template paths" like banking or consulting are "uninspiring" as routes into VC. Instead, he said "the best thing you can do is take a bet on yourself." Chowdhury said in our AMA that many people join VCs after working in a startup in a role like a founder's associate or chief of staff. One ex-banker in VC previously told us that big name brands are much more important for getting a VC job in Europe than they are in America. 

What jobs are available in VC?

Unlike PE, most venture capital firms do not have robust intern or graduate recruitment programs. There are exceptions, like Bessemer Ventures' analyst program, but, you'll likely have to monitor the recruiting pages of the firms you're interested in. 

There aren't that many VC jobs available, even at the top firms. Andreessen Horowitz, for example, is one of the largest firms but only has 23 current openings. Y Combinator, another major VC, has just five openings. Sequoia Capital has no current openings. Roles in VC are extremely oversubscribed, so you'll need to rely on connections where possible. If you're a right fit for the people-centric world of VC, that shouldn't be hard.

How much do VC jobs pay?

A recent salary survey from Venture5 found that analysts in VC earn $80k on average. You'll earn $130k-150k as an associate, ~$200k as a mid-level professional, then over $300k on average if you can make partner.

A key appeal of working in PE (and thus VC) is the opportunity to earn carried interest, which is a percentage of the profits should a portfolio company have a large enough exit. Only 24% of analysts reported that they earned carry, however.

As a partner, pay depends on how large your fund is. The survey found that partners at VC funds with more than $500bn in AUM earned $585k in total compensation. When AUM was $250-500bn, average compensation was $402k.

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