Think like a VC before you are one. The essential information to include in your VC case study

Hi! I’m glad you’re here. You’ve made it to issue #2 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.

In the first week, 1.4k+ of you subscribed to receive this newsletter weekly. I feel lucky to be supported by amazing people like 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.

Today’s deep dive: How to pitch the 3 types of VC case studies and win over your interviewer

How to pitch the 3 types of VC case studies and win over your interviewer

If you’ve been interviewing for VC roles, you likely know that nearly every process has a case study and if you haven’t started interviewing, you’ll soon learn this. The VC case study typically happens towards the later stages of the interview process (3+ rounds in). A VC case study is a simulation of what you’d be doing on the job. It’s a test to see how you evaluate startups & how you think about industries/trends.

Cases vary widely by firm & by interviewer, but usually they are delivered in 3 ways:

1. Asked to prepare something ahead of time to present (most common)

2. Asked on the spot during the interview

3. Something in between where you’re given the prompt & asked to complete in X amount of hours

You should present these cases in a PowerPoint or in a Word document format. You will likely also use excel, pasting analyses or charts into your PowerPoint or Word document.

*Tip: If you are not explicitly told what format to use, choose the format that the firm uses for their investment committee memos. This will show the firm that you are well equipped to operate the way they do internally starting on day 1.

VC case studies usually fall within one of these 3 structures (sometimes one case can incorporate multiple of these asks):

1. Pitch an investment

2. Evaluate an industry

3. Perform a market sizing

All 3 of these structures are testing the same thing - how you think and how you sell. They are not necessarily looking for the “right” answer.

I’m going to take you through these 3 structures and provide you with a checklist of crucial points to include in each to prove that you are operating like a VC before you are one.

Let’s get into it!

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