How to Get a Venture Capital Internship

Learn how to get a venture capital internship in 9 steps.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Spend time understanding what is venture capital and if it is right for you.
   
   Check out "VC For a Fifth Grader" and the rest of Venture Made Transparent for starters. (http://www.markpeterdavis.com/getventure/2009/01/venture-capital-for-a-fifth-grader.html)

2. Figure out what type of VCs interests you most.
   
   What stage/series of investments do you find most appealing? (Seed, Early, Growth…)
   What sectors are you curios about most? (Life Science, Social Media, Clean Tech …)

3. Find out what VCs are in your area.
   
   A good place to begin looking is a filtered search on Crunchbase (http://www.crunchbase.com/search/advanced/financial-organizations/2415)

4. Target a handful of firms that appeal to you and learn what makes them different.
   Familiarize yourself with their portfolio companies. If a VC has more than 20 portfolio companies don’t worry about all of them just the ones that have been recently funded or are in the press lately.
   Understand their unique value propositions. (Are they part of a venture network, What are the backgrounds of the team members, How much money have they raised…)
   Read their blog(s)

5. Try to attend some of the same events that they are attending.
   
   A search on Google for “VC name +sponsor” will usually provide good leads. Remember a good VC wants to attract new business so they want to be found.

6. Make contact either by email but preferably at an event.
   
   Reach out to an associate or analyst at the firm. While the partners make the decisions, VC interns work directly with the most junior members of the venture teams so they have the most to gain by you being hired.

7. Demonstrate your knowledge of their firm and passion for the sector in your conversation/email
   
   Understand that there is a fine line between showing you did your research and looking like pompous idiot. Don’t cross that line. Just show that you want to learn more and are ready to work hard to do it.

8. Don’t do it for the money.
   
   There is a good chance you will not get paid and if you do you probably won't make more the a McDonald's employee. Do it for the experience, to make connections and to get your foot in the door.

9. Expect to be rejected.
   
   For every five firms you reach out to you will probably hear back from one. So repeat the process as many times as to get it right.

[Rains506]

on 7/17/2009 Well written. Finding an internship for a good venture capital firm can be tough. Finding a good internship in general can be tough if you want to avoid those coffee fetching, envelope licking ones! I'd recommend researching reviews on different companies and their internship programs. One site that is good with this is www.UltimateIntern.com. This site provides comprehensive internship reviews posted by actual interns. So, you'll see how they got the job, the best and worst part of it, daily tasks, and tips and advice for potential interns. Good Luck!