I learned venture capital existed 4 years into my investment banking career.
Not because I wasn’t smart enough to find it earlier.
Because no one told me it was an option.
I was a first-generation college student. The pipeline I knew was: banking → PE or corp dev. Full stop.
Meanwhile, 12 schools produce 42% of all VCs per Crunchbase.
The information isn’t just gatekept. The entire career path is.
That changes when you find the right people and the right resources.
Here’s what I wish someone had told me in banking:
- VC rewards curiosity more than credentials
- Your analytical skills transfer directly; you just need to reframe them
- The network isn’t as locked as it looks from the outside
- You don’t need to know a GP to get a meeting with one
- Information is the only real barrier and it’s fixable
I went from “I didn’t know VC existed” to Principal in 3 years after breaking in.
The gap between you and this industry is smaller than you think.
You just have to know where to look.
♻ Repost if you know a first-gen professional who belongs in this industry