Never Tell Me The Odds

People often ask me, "How can I get a job in venture capital?"

There are a plethora of different paths to landing a gig in VC, but there are really only four well-traveled roads:

• Inherit, earn or steal a Scrooge McDuck sized fortune and invest as you please. Note: For most people that fit into this category, this will mostly be a last resort designed to cure boredom after freestyling through your vault of gold has lost all appeal.
• Rise through the ranks at a high flying startup (Paypal early 2000s, Google circa 2004 - 2008 or Facebook more recently) and get poached by a VC for your domain expertise in a "hot" investing area.
• Found a startup that has a successful exit and leverage the money you made your investors into a role as a Venture Partner or an investment professional.
• Network like crazy, pound the pavement and beat the odds of successfully navigating through an asteroid field (which C-3PO will tell you are 3720 to 1).

I was incredibly lucky to have navigated path #4 and doubly blessed that I landed with the amazing team at Emergence Capital. Here is the four step method I used to improve my chances:

1. Leverage your existing relationships and network - University alumni, work affiliations, or clubs/organizations. Introductions are by far the most successful path to getting a meeting with a busy person. Always check LinkedIn for the best connection to the person you want to meet.
2. Create something of value and tailor it specifically for the person you want to meet; for VCs, this means finding new, interesting investment ideas and explaining your thesis as to why you think that startup is a good investment. You can find interesting companies by parsing through CrunchBase, AngelList or VentureSource (check with your University for access if you are a student). Another great source is to talk to startups - I have often found that CEOs are 6 months ahead of VCs in terms of the knowledge in their specific ecosystem. 
3. Email/Call/Beg your way into 15 - 30 minute phone calls with VCs. Use your connection (from #1) and tailor your value add (#2) to their specific area of focus (which you can determine based on their website and past investments).
4. Rinse and repeat as needed. Don't get frustrated or depressed when people say no, reschedule or simply ignore you. It's a numbers game and you have to maximize your funnel.

I developed 4 different Investment Idea Presentations and I tailored the companies in each presentation for the person I pitched. I probably had a 50/50 ratio of getting a meeting and I ultimately talked to at least 30 different investors. Out of those 30+ individuals, I came across only 4 firms interested in hiring an investment professional and I was fortunate enough to land with my top pick.

Han Solo said, "Never tell me the odds." Well, I just told you the odds and hopefully gave you the edge to overcome them. Good luck!