Where to from here?

This past week I traveled up to San Francisco for a series of interviews at venture capital firms. They all went quite well. An alumnus of my high school, Luke, completely took me under his wing and made all these great introductions for me — I owe him one. However, there was one caveat to the great weekend. All the people I got to meet had the same advice: don't start out in venture capital. They made some great points that you are limited in your investment abilities and analyst abilities when you don't truly know how the guts of a company work. For this, they suggested I work at a startup for a few years. Additionally, there are a lot of hard skills that can be gained from working in banking, consulting, or private equity. So, venture capital is still my destination, but where to from here?

I believe I may have missed the train for consulting. I could pursue banking or private equity, but those are tough sectors to break into with no previous experience and little time left. Startup work sounds great to me — it's what got me hooked on venture capital in the first place — however, it'll be tough to position myself high up enough in a company to where I will be exposed to the information I need to learn quickly.

However, there's another option here: start a startup.

Sounds a little crazy? That's because it is. Anyone who starts a company is out of their mind, but that's the best part about it. My minor is digital entrepreneurship, and, per the coursework, I've been working on a startup idea of mine for about two years. We're actually about to have a working model up and running here in LA soon. It's really exciting, and besides working in venture capital it is definitely the route that excites me the most.

There is definitely some digging left to do. I'll need to explore opportunities through my network and even apply to the master's entrepreneurship program. The program would be a great resource for me if I were to completely dive into this.

You could say that this revelation is a bit of bad news, but as any good entrepreneur would say, I've got a problem to solve and that excites me.

Comments

  1. Campbell MattixFebruary 24, 2018 at 12:26 PM

    Hi Carter! I have been going through very similar events and feelings, and it's such a struggle! But having a strong network is such an amazing tool. It sounds like you are making great progress-
    while going to school- and will be set up for success by the time you graduate. Good luck with everything!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Raghav KumarFebruary 24, 2018 at 1:22 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Raghav KumarFebruary 24, 2018 at 1:22 PM

    Hey Carter! Loved the blog post. Taking the leap may seem scary at first, but working at/launching your own startup may become the most exhilarating and engaging job in the world. I don't think you can go wrong with the decision you make at this stage. You will learn from each experience and become better at what you do. All the best :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amirteymour MoazamiFebruary 24, 2018 at 9:16 PM

    Hi Carter:

    It is tough to break into venture-capital. Traditionally, people transition into private equity & venture capital after obtaining operational experience at a start-up or technology corporation or they go through the investment banking route. Personally, I recommend you to pursue what you are passionate about and make sure you can work with highly intelligent people who can mentor you in the right direction to accomplish your goals in the long-run. I would love to learn more about what start-up idea you have and what pain point you'd be solving in a given market that your tackling.

    Best of luck on your future endeavours.

    ReplyDelete
  5. GenevieveFebruary 25, 2018 at 10:22 AM

    Hi Carter,

    Wow! Starting your own start up! Sounds really cool! Good luck with everything!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sarah ShawFebruary 26, 2018 at 12:16 AM

    Hi Carter! Sounds like a very enlightening weekend in San Francisco. While I cannot even begin to imagine making the final decision in my career path outside of college being a freshman, it sounds like you have a lot of really great options lined up for you. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Shirline ChaudharyFebruary 26, 2018 at 10:59 AM

    Hey Carter! That's so cool that you're deciding to apply to the master's entrepreneurship program. That will definitely get you far. Good luck with everything!

    ReplyDelete

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