Hi! I’m glad you’re here. You’ve made it to issue #59 of VC Demystified🪄.

My name’s Nicole - I’m a Principal at an early stage venture fund, and I know firsthand that VC can often be a black box. Breaking into the industry may feel daunting and resources can seem scarce and inaccessible. I wanted to put together a newsletter to give others the playbook I wish I had when I first started.

^{My personal mission is to open as many doors as possible for other people and this newsletter is just one avenue to do that. As always, I will continue to post VC insights daily for free across my socials.}

Private markets are having a moment, thanks to companies like StartEngine.

The leading alternative investing platform is helping everyday investors like you access deals once reserved for VCs and insiders, including exposure to private market titans like OpenAI, Databricks, and Perplexity.¹

How’s it going? In Q1 2025, StartEngine pulled off $30M in revenue, its biggest quarter ever (based on unaudited financials).²

But StartEngine isn’t just a middleman. The company earns 20% carried interest on select pre-IPO offerings, unlocking value for shareholders when these deals succeed.³

How can you tap into this diversification play? By investing in StartEngine.

StartEngine has crowdfunded $85M+ to date, and you can join 45K+ shareholders before the company’s current round closes on June 26.

Invest in StartEngine

_{Reg A+ via StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. No BD/intermediary involved. Investment is speculative, illiquid & high risk. See OC and Risks on page.}

Breaking into venture is hard enough.

But by the time a job posting goes live, you're often already behind.

Why? Because VCs like to hire people they already know. By the time the JD hits LinkedIn, they’ve likely already received warm intros, coffee chat follow-ups, and name drops from people they trust.

So how do you beat the crowd?

You get in before the process even starts.

Here’s a tactical playbook for how to preempt VC interview processes and get ahead, especially when you don’t have connections.

The best time to get on a VC’s radar is right before they start hiring, usually when they’ve closed or are close to closing a new fund.

Most firms raise a new fund every 2-4 years. The hiring tends to happen:

How to Find This Info:

If it’s been 2+ years since their last fundraise and they’ve been deploying actively, it’s a good bet they’ll be hiring soon (even if nothing’s posted).

Now that you’ve got your target firms, don’t wait for a job posting to start reaching out.

Here’s what to do:

The goal: show them how you think before you ask about jobs.