8 steps of a VC interview process (2026 updated)

Hi! I’m glad you’re here. You’ve made it to issue #113 of VC Demystified🪄.

I wrote about the VC interview process in 2024. It got a lot of traction and I still get questions about it.

Two years later, the steps are mostly the same. The expectations at each one have gotten higher.

Every firm runs their process differently. Some will have all 8 steps. Some will skip a few or combine them. What's consistent is that if you prepare for all of these, you'll be ready for most processes you encounter. Most interview processes run 1 to 4 months.

**Ask: If you’re actively in VC recruiting right now, please reply and tell me what your processes have been like.

You submit your resume and potentially answer a few initial questions.

A lot of firms now use AI screening tools to filter applications before a human ever looks at them, so your resume needs to be clean, keyword-relevant, and specific. If they like what they see, you'll get a screening call. It will be high level and focused on your background, why VC, and why this firm.

Tip: Apply early. Many processes are rolling and being first matters more than it used to.

Fit and baseline knowledge.

They want to know who you are, whether you can articulate why you want to be in VC, and whether you've done your homework on the firm (more detailed than the first call screen in step 1).

Today, the homework bar is higher than it was two years ago. Firms expect you to know their portfolio, their thesis, and their recent investments and have a genuine point of view on why their strategy makes sense. AI tools have made this much easier.

The questioning gets more substantive.

You'll meet more senior people and the conversation shifts to how you think. Expect a mock investment pitch, behavioral questions, and if you have prior investing experience, a deep dive on specific deals you've worked on.

Technical skills and investment judgment.

The traditional case study is still common, but firms are adapting it to require more genuine human input. One firm I heard about recently added a page asking candidates to make the case for why they are the best hire for this specific role. Not why they want it, but why they are the right person for it. It forces real self-reflection that's hard to outsource to AI.

Expect more of the evaluation to happen in real-time conversation rather than on a submitted deliverable alone (again, because of AI).

Steps 5-8 below: