VC Platform: 6 critical roles at VC firms that are NOT investing roles

Hi! I’m glad you’re here. You’ve made it to issue #14 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.

We’ve crossed 3,200 subscribers!! Grateful for each and every one of you who choose to receive this in your inbox every Sunday. As always if you have any topic suggestions or feedback, I’d love to hear from you.

Today’s deep dive: How to join a VC firm without being an investor. 6 VC platform roles to know

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.

How to join a VC firm without being an investor. 6 VC platform roles to know

When people think of VC, the image that often comes to mind is of an investor making decisions on which startups to invest in. However, the reality is that not all roles at VC firms are directly related to investing. There are several critical roles that fall under what is known as Platform.

Platform is defined as the support and services a VC firm offers to founders post-investment or activities performed to help with VC firm building. As competition among VCs intensifies, the value-add beyond capital has become increasingly significant.

The concept of platform roles has been around for decades, but only started gaining traction in 2009 after the Great Recession. a16z was a big pioneer in pushing platform roles, looking to model their VC firm after a specialized agency.

Now 52% of VC firms have platform headcount, compared to 24% in 2009.

Some drivers that caused the rise of Platform:

• Capital is a commodity & founders are looking for investors that can help beyond capital

• As portfolios scale, investors have less bandwidth to support portfolio companies

• Investors specialize in sourcing and funding, not post-investment support so they seek experts in specific categories to add more value

So how vital are these platform roles actually?

The answer: Critical

According to a VC Platform report, funds with platform teams outperformed funds without platform teams by 1,100 basis points in Net IRR and 0.5x in TVPI over the most recent decade.

So what are some examples of platform positions you can apply for? Roles vary by title but typically fall within 6 specialties that range from talent acquisition to event planning. I’ll take you through all 6 in detail.

Let’s get into it!

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