These are 45 real interview questions you can use to prepare yourself π
01. Why do you want to work in Venture Capital? 02. Where do you see yourself in five years? 03. Why not become an entrepreneur? 04. Why VC as opposed to an operational role with a startup or launch your own company? 05. Why not go into private equity?
06. What makes you qualified for the role? What evidence can you provide to support that? 07. How do you expect your day in the role to be like? 08. According to our investment thesis, do you have a startup in mind that we should look at? Why?
09. What did you take into consideration when you chose this firm? 10. How many cans of Coca Cola are drunk in London each day (or any other market sizing questions)? 11. Where have you succeeded and struggled? What did you learn from those experiences?
12. Why did you choose your past roles? 13. What were you responsible for in your last job? 14. How will you contribute to the firm? 15. What are you really good at professionally?
16. What are you not good at or not interested in? 17. Tell me about your most challenging professional experience. 18. What is venture capital? 19. What are the top three VC firms in the industry? Who are our competitors? 20. How are the IPO markets at the moment?
21. What are some recent developments in the VC industry? 22. What is the difference between Private Equity and VC? 23. What are your favorite VC news sites? 24. What differentiates a good VC from a great VC?
25. How is a venture capital firmβs success measured? What KPIs are used? When is each most useful? 26. Which sector do you follow? 27. Which companies do you follow? Should we invest in them? 28. Which of our investments do you like most and why?
29. Which recent deal do you like most? 30. Choose one startup that you admire. Why? 31. How do you assess an early-stage startup VS a later-stage startup? 32. How do you calculate the CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)? 33. What can you say about the ratio LTV/CAC?
34. Can you tell me what Customer Lifetime Value is? 35. What is the difference between pre money and post money? 36. How would you value a company in general? 37. Please walk me through the three financial statements
38. What is a tech company in the public markets that is grossly undervalued/overvalued? Why? 39. What is churn rate?
β’ 40. How would you find/source new startups?
β’ 41. What are the trade-offs of a fixed price equity financing vs. convertible or SAFE notes?
42. What is more important between growth and profitability? 43. Which one is generally the most relevant for a startup, EV/EBITDA or EV/Revenue?
44. What are the different business models / monetization strategies of startups? 45. What three terms other than valuation would you want to negotiate with a founder? These can be economic terms or control terms.
If you want to learn more about breaking into venture make sure to check out #Venture - The VC Starter Handbook
150+ real investor questions to practice for your next pitch
A collection π
1/ How and when did you get started? 2/ Where did you and your co-founders meet? 3/ How is the company structured? 4/ Are there any advisors or a board? 5/ Where is the company registered?
6/ Can u tell me something about the captable? 7/ Can you give me the contact to 2-3 partners you have worked with? 8/ Why is now the right time to start the company? 9/ How are you making money? 10/ What is your marketing strategy?