Help on VC firm interview tips

Trying to define the "traditional" route to a venture capital career is a bit like achieving fame; each celebrity's path is unique. Many VCs have industry experience, combined with a MBA from a top business school. However, there are many venture capitalists that did not follow this route. If you are looking to land a venture capital job, consider the following insider's tips to bolster your chances.

If you have the requisite background, preparing yourself for common questions will help you shine in your venture capital job interview. Many of the questions you can expect during a VC job interview are general in nature, but others are unique to the venture capital industry. Let's explore nine important industry-specific questions and how you should answer them.

Since 2002, Job Search Digest has helped Private Equity investment professionals be more effective in their private equity job search. If your Venture capital resume was good enough to land you an interview, these questions should be helpful in landing the offer.

VC firms are inundated with requests for interviews and informational interviews. The time of venture capitalists is precious. If a VC firm lets it be known they have a single summer internship available, they can expect 300 resumes from people at the top 10 business schools.

A lot of the work at a venture capital firm involves gathering information about companies and industries. Show off your research abilities—at a minimum, know the VC world’s terrain like the back of your hand, and nail the characteristics that distinguish the firm with which you are talking. You should also have a compelling story about why you want to work there.

When I arrived at Tuck, I didn't even know what a balance sheet was. I'd been an undergrad chemistry major with no emphasis on business whatsoever. I realized that venture capitalists are part bankers, part consultants, and part entrepreneurs. Plus, unlike full-time bankers or full-time consultants, venture capitalists have a long-term equity perspective, and they have to live with the advice they give portfolio companies and with the transactions they help structure.

Gore appears utterly comfortable with this drill, but in fact he's engaging in some on-the-job training. The recovering politician, environmental activist, and Nobel laureate is adding another title to his résumé: venture capitalist. After "a conversation that's gone on for a year and a half," according to Gore, he has decided to join his old pal John Doerr as an active, hands-on partner at Kleiner Perkins, Silicon Valley's preeminent venture firm.

The Cleantech sector, whether under the banner of cleantech, or clean energy, or greentech, or energy tech, has seen a significant number of venture capital fund managers raising new investment funds to invest in clean technology startups in recent months. To give you the inside story, Cleantech Blog is interviewing several of the leading investors who have recently closed new venture capital funds focusing on cleantech.