How to get a job in Venture Capital

The most common question I got after I joined a VC firm was “how do I get a job in venture capital?” Here is an almost certainly disappointing attempt at an answer.

Update; These days I am working as an independent founder coach. Think of me as an executive coach before the founders have grown their companies big enough to really warrant the ‘executive’ coaching. See haje.me for more information — I’m always happy to chat!

About six months ago I started a new job as Director of Portfolio at Bolt. I’m not gonna lie — it’s the most challenging, most interesting, and most fun job I’ve ever had. I’ve been pretty vocal about my happiness on various social media, and I was surprised about quite how many people reached out to ask me how I got a job in VC, and how they, too, could go down the same path.

It turns out a warm introduction and a weirder-than-hell resume was my way in.

A bit of background.

Bolt is an unusual VC firm: We invest at the intersection of hardware and software, and we have a 7-man strong engineering team. Which makes sense. If you think about it, investing, in general, is a high-risk activity…