What Does a Venture Capitalist Really Do?
One of the most lucrative career options for people is venture capitalism. Venture capitalists are the big market movers, your institutional investors.
Venture capitalists, like the one profiled here, provide funds to young, promising start-up companies and, in return, they expect a share in the companies’ profits. There is often a lot of upside potential for venture capitalists as they tend to own a significant portion of the company after buying their shares.
So what does a typical day for a venture capitalist actually look like?
The beginning of the day:
Most venture capitalists will start their day by taking in all the news and events that happened while they were asleep. They will get their news from reputable publications that provide information relating to their current and potential future investments.
A good example of a business publication is Fortune Magazine. They offer a wide variety of content, with a focus on general business and investing/finance. Reading a copy of a business magazine can be a perfect way to start your day as a venture capitalist.
Following this, many venture capitalists have meetings and phone calls that give them more insight regarding what companies to research, how the market is moving, and other investments in their portfolios.
Lots of venture capitalist firms will have a group of people research a specific area and present their findings to a meeting of investors. In many instances, outside contacts that work in the same field can sit in on a meeting to provide even further insight and information regarding various areas of interest for that firm.
The middle of the day:
Throughout the day, venture capitalists will be in close communication with the companies they have acquired stock in as part of their portfolio. Typically, venture capitalist firms will have people dedicated to communicating with the various companies that the firm is invested in.
These meetings between the venture capitalists and the companies they’re funding often happen over lunch, though the pandemic has turned many of these meetings virtual. However and whenever these meetings take place, the venture capitalist is continually evaluating their investment to make sure the startup is progressing as it should be.
Notes from these meetings are shared with the firm’s key players, and play a major role in the decision to stay invested or not.
The end of the day:
There isn’t necessarily a specific time that the working day ends for venture capitalists. For high level jobs such as these, your working life and your personal life are very intertwined; in fact, for some people there is no separation. Many venture capitalists will have dinner meetings with the various companies they have invested in, and will work late into the night analyzing what they have found out at their meetings.
Venture capitalists also meet with potential companies that they are interested in investing in. These often contain a ‘pitch’ from someone from the company, and many notes are taken during the meeting to be looked into later.