There are always some students who send me messages asking me, how about going to PE/VC after graduation?
Some people may think that this industry makes more money and choose to come to this industry, but newbies who have just entered the industry need to endure hardships and put in a lot of effort, and slowly build their connections, resources, cases and methodologies in this circle, and finally make money.
PE/VC is to make money by adding value to the enterprise.
As an investment manager, we are to find excellent and even outstanding companies and entrepreneurs, invest money in the company to obtain corporate equity, become friends of time, and wait for the company to grow and add value. In the future, we will share its fruits.
At first glance, this is a very good job. As soon as you leave society, you deal with the best people in society, with a high growth experience and a high starting point.
But if you think about it carefully, it is really difficult to do this job well, because a seemingly simple investment decision requires a deep understanding of people, enterprises, businesses and society. This is the soul of the PE/VC industry.
On many platforms and seniors in the circle, the suggestions given by them are not recommended for fresh graduates to go to PE/VC, or it is recommended that fresh graduates go to investment banking/industry research first for a few years before going to PE/VC.
Let’s take a look at how many people don’t recommend fresh graduates to go to PE/VC? Are fresh graduates really not suitable for PEVC?
. It’s not because PE is a good match for the father, VC is a good match for the eyes and the industry
PE is a good match for the father, VC is a good match for the eyes and the industry, and these resources are generally not available for fresh graduates.
For fresh graduates, I personally do not recommend going to PEVC institutions too early at the beginning.
This is too resource-intensive, and the project pace is relatively fast.
It is difficult for fresh graduates to have time to make independent judgments and cultivate their own independent judgment skills. The ability to make independent judgment is the first hurdle to become a qualified investor.
PE/VC is an industry where luck plays a big role, and the best time has passed.
PE/VC investment project is successful or failed, and luck is very important. Many times investors invest without seeing it clearly, betting on a probability.
The current PE/VC returns to the essence of investment, and considers the understanding of the target business format and enterprise management, and predicts the development trend of business. (Financial friends, fast forward your career growth. Friends who want to find financial internships, job searches/jobs to the financial industry can add VX: feifan00999)
PE/VC is to understand the present and penetrate the future industry, and it is difficult to form real judgment in this industry as soon as you graduate.
If you want to have a profound and advanced vision, you must have an industry-wide in-depth and solid experience and a complete knowledge structure.
. Many people who have been in this industry as soon as they graduated are used to being a party member, are used to seeing businesses that cost tens of millions or hundreds of millions, and have also read many myths of withdrawing countless times. So they often feel that they are also very powerful, but in fact, most of them are impetuous and have weak judgment.
The buyer's natural positioning will make a new worker confused about his self-positioning, and often discuss transactions of tens of millions of dollars. He is a young entrepreneur with a good reputation and has no industry experience but is trying to give advice on the development of an industry. These are all easy to make people confused.
PE/VC industry is a resource-driven industry.
Finance is essentially a resource-driven industry, especially in the PE/VC industry.
There is no certain judgment standard for a good or bad investment. It is often only after a few years that it will be clear whether it is right or wrong. Even when the good or bad project is feedbacked, you are no longer in the original institution.
If you want to do a big business, you will not be able to over-invest the investment project with a large investment of tens of billions of dollars. This is because the larger the investment amount, the higher the security required.
After all, once a loss occurs, the leader will bear a great responsibility, and the other is that the company may "return to before liberation" due to this big order, so it is basically impossible for the company to pass the meeting.
Since they are not a top investment institution, the development of various business departments has not yet been fully mature or just mature, and they still do not have a training system for fresh graduates.
Yes, the most important thing for fresh graduates is growth. No matter which industry you are in, it is generally recommended to go to mature large factories and train your initial career. (Financial friends, fast forward your career growth. Friends who want to find financial internships, job searches/changes to the financial industry can add VX: feifan00999)
Unless you have enough confidence and the potential targets you discover is that others have misunderstood and you have discovered its value, but the difficulty and chance of this matter are too high.
So many people don’t recommend that young people enter the PE/VC industry from the beginning. If they are really interested in this industry, it may be better to accumulate some workplace experience, professional skills, social experience, industry awareness in other industries (such as the Internet, or investment banking/consultation) and then consider changing careers.
After all, PE/VC can be said to be the branch with the broadest requirements for professional background in the financial industry.
I think the first thing fresh graduates need to do is to make solid basic abilities such as industry research, company due diligence, financial modeling, and capital market operation rules, and cultivate the ability to think independently and do projects independently. (Financial friends, fast forward your career growth. Friends who want to find financial internships, job searches/jobs to the financial industry can add VX: feifan00999)
. If fresh graduates do not absolutely go to PE/VC, it is definitely not good.
1. In this way, does fresh graduates have no chance to enter PE/VC?
For fresh graduates, if you bring your own resources at home and generally don’t want to be too tired, you can directly be the LP of the buyer’s institution, check out the projects, and exercise yourself.
The first challenge for graduates to enter the PEVC industry is self-management. Unlike financial institutions such as investment banks and consulting companies, PEVC institutions do not have too many standardized processes, have clear business indicators, have high freedom and flexibility, and have high requirements for the self-management ability of novices.
In addition to the accumulation of skills and experience, for fresh graduates who have just graduated, the way of thinking formed by years of campus life will be impacted after entering the workplace.
Some newly graduated students are prone to "black or white" when facing work and blindly pursue the correct answers. Such student thinking may bring certain troubles to investment work. (Financial friends, fast forward your career growth. Friends who want to find financial internships, job searches/job changes to the financial industry can add VX: feifan00999)
Because the market has been undergoing phased and dynamic changes, different industries also have high periods, stable periods, and low periods. Some novice investors think that I have understood this track and have given up without much value.
In fact, if the technical structure, market demand, and customers themselves in this field change, it is very likely to trigger a new round of growth in the industry. Never make a final judgment, stay curious, and be able to quickly update your inherent concepts and methodologies. This is a place where newcomers are prone to step on the thunder, and it is also an important ability that an excellent investor needs.
If you have the opportunity to go to VC/PE at the level of Sequoia, Hillhouse , then of course it is worth going. Whether it is salary, company platform, or future development, VC/PE at this level is definitely not worse than employment in other financial directions. (Financial friend, fast forward your career growth.Friends who want to find financial internships, job hunting/redirect to the financial industry can add VX: feifan00999)
2. Why are fresh graduates not easy to enter the primary market of top PE/VC
mainly because there are very few recruitment places. I remember my friend’s institution, and told me that their institution has never recruited fresh graduates.
This is because the primary market institutions of PE/VC are relatively complex than those of the secondary market. For example, if they do equity investment, they are facing not particularly standardized enterprises and mergers and acquisitions, which are all very complex structures.
is difficult for fresh graduates with weak experience. In addition, when facing early-stage companies, they need to judge the industry and products more accurately, and practical experience is very necessary.
For example, if you want to do PE, you can find more internships in investment banks or consulting, and improve your valuation, financial analysis, legal affairs and other abilities during the internship. (Financial friends, fast forward your career growth. Friends who want to find financial internships, job searches/changes to the financial industry can add VX: feifan00999)
PE cares more about personal work ability.
Because PE invests in companies with mature businesses and large market size, it tests personal professionalism. The internships of investment banks and consulting companies have been deeply trained in this area and can develop excellent industry research, finance, valuation and legal skills.
So PE/VC likes people with several years of work experience, which are roughly divided into several categories: audit finance background, famous vertical industry companies or consulting companies, and investment banking background.
has high uncertainty, a large proportion of people's role, and a long return on investment cycle. These characteristics seem to be nothing for those who have already gained a foothold in the industry, but for fresh graduates, this means:
has high uncertainty, a relatively high proportion of luck, and a lack of a stable input and output feedback mechanism;
has a large proportion of people's role, Matthew effect has strong, and it is difficult for newcomers to accumulate from 0, and the boss who takes you into the industry almost directly determines your career development trajectory.
In summary, I think it is definitely not good for fresh graduates to go to PE/VC if they absolutely go to.
3. Although PE/VC institutions rarely recruit interns directly, they can be retained for internships!
PE/VC Even if there are fewer recruitment than other financial institutions, many institutions will still recruit new people through internship retention.
Tell me about the background of my friends who go to PEVC.
For example, the second generation of production and second generation of wealthy generations, the accumulation of their parents has made them naturally carry industry and capital resources, and have a natural understanding of doing business and enterprises. Through this industry, we can further amplify the resource advantages.
Many of my PEVC friends are doing business at home, and even have listed companies or planned listed companies at home;
There are also big bosses from the industry, and they have a solid accumulation in the industry (industry technology/brand/strategic investment departments, etc.).
I have a big brother in the corporate strategic investment department who is familiar with a certain industry and investment and financing, and then doing PE will be natural; and for example, when doing consumer investment, it is also very popular from Procter & Gamble , etc., which resonates with consumer companies;
Secondly, it is from a financial institution, most of them accumulate in the four majors, investment banks, etc. for a period of time before going, or it is a natural thing.
There are many four major people and investment bankers around me who are slowly transforming into PEVC, knowing better finance and thorough adjustment, and transforming investments quickly. (Financial friends, fast forward your career growth. Friends who want to find financial internships, job searches/jobs to the financial industry can add VX: feifan00999)
PE/VC After really breaking down the work in detail, there are still many basic work that are relatively simple and repetitive, such as basic research work, data retrieval, data sorting, etc.
, will be able to do these tasks to fresh graduates, and it is a waste to let mature staff spend their time and experience on a lot of basic work.(Of course, some institutions solve the problem through interns, but do not recruit formal employees, haha)
So, if you find that interns are particularly reliable, you can retain them, which is also a common talent training path for everyone. It is even said that some institutions prefer this "self-cultivation" model.
