Paige Doherty, founder of Behind Genius Ventures, broke into VC through cold calling and Twitter after working as an engineer. She explains the three ways firms hire: job postings (which get hundreds of applications), referrals, and outbound outreach from partners. Firms typically hire after closing a fund.
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I'm about to graduate and I want to break into venture. How do I do it? This is a text I received this weekend from one of my students from my venture capital class. Hi, I'm Paige Doherty and I founded Behind Genius Ventures in 2021. Previously, I worked as an engineer at startup WorkOS, and prior to that I studied computer science, mechanical engineering at San Diego State. Didn't have any connections coming into venture, got here through cold calling. Cold emailing and building a Twitter following. Important to understand how venture firms hire. Number 1, open positions. This is how we hired. We got 500 applications for an analyst and hired one. Referrals, number 2. And number 3 is outbound. The partner reaches out to you after seeing your work online or writing or at a club or whatever. In my opinion, you have the highest chance of being hired if someone reaches out to you outbound and it's like really interested in your work or writing or thoughts on companies. 2, when they hire, most often hire after closing a fund, so you can check TechCrunch for announcements and then reach out to those funds directly. And I'll
