Hi! I’m glad you’re here. You’ve made it to issue #37 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.

Happy New Year! If your goal this year is to break into VC or raise VC funding, you got this! As always, if you have any topics that you would like to learn more about, please shoot me a note. I’d love to hear from you.

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 across my socials for those of you who prefer those channels.

Being a junior investor in venture capital is super exciting.

But what’s the day-to-day actually like? While it can vary depending on the firm’s size, stage, industry focus, and more, here’s a breakdown of what junior investors typically get up to.

A big part of the job is hunting down promising startups and figuring out if they’re a good fit. This means:

This is a big reason why you’re always on calls and at events as a VC.

Note some roles don’t require sourcing at all, while others are mostly sourcing focused. Be sure to ask during your interview process.

You’ll spend a lot of time digging into markets to figure out what’s happening and where the opportunities are. This includes:

This is a big reason why VCs are online often. Platforms like LinkedIn, X, and Reddit, among others, are great ways to keep tabs on the latest news/trends in real time.

Note some VC firms are thesis-driven or thematic, which means they only invest in companies that fall within an industry they have deep market research and understanding in. If you work at a firm like that, then your role will be very research heavy.

When a startup looks promising, junior investors help figure out if it’s the real deal. This involves:

This is where the technical skills come in. You perform various different analyses to evaluate the startup you’re considering for investment. Analyses include revenue builds, market sizing, cohort analyses, public comps, and VC exit models.

Note diligence is typically lighter the earlier you play (i.e. preseed diligence is lighter/faster than Series A diligence). Also diligence is usually lighter if the firm doesn’t lead or co-lead rounds. Be sure to ask these questions.