What It’s Really Like to Break Into Venture Capital

‘All of us have to win for any of us to win’

The press frequently highlights partners, the highest-level managers at American venture capital funds, but we rarely hear about the people they work alongside — the employees who, more often than not, do the grunt work to make deals happen. These analysts, associates, senior associates, principals, entrepreneurs-in-residence, talent scouts, and platform operators usually do not receive “carry,” which means they do not directly financially benefit when a portfolio company gets acquired or IPOs.

What’s more, very few funds directly promote associates, senior associates, and principals to partner. Anyone familiar with the VC recruiting process has heard the line “this isn’t a partner-track position” more times than they can count. Associate roles are generally understood to be two-year positions.

Given carry and partnerships are the primary financial drivers for people inspired to get into VC, you wouldn’t be crazy to question why nonpartner VCs do what they do, how they advance, and what their day-to-day actually looks like. I certainly held these questions when I made the jump from working in journalism to working in VC and early stage startups.