My Developing Career in Venture Capital
The Who, Why, and What.
Let’s start with a quick background of who I am and why my opinions matter or bear relevance - at least to me. I’m Brett Korsunsky, a junior studying business and computer science at the University of Michigan who’s developed–and continues developing–a deep interest in startups, entrepreneurship, and venture capital.
Why VC?
My fascination with early-stage venture capital and, now, growth equity, was born from a deep attraction to entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship permeated my life from a young age and was the basis of dinner table conversations growing up, so I naturally gravitated towards it as I progressed through high school (the most inspiring dinner conversations were always about founders who hustled for years and years and ultimately broke through to watch their company grow). With time, the overarching concept of venture capital made sense to me: investors provide money to startups and hope they evolve into the next Google or Facebook (a perfect world, right?).
Fast forward to the University of Michigan. With half of a college degree and active participation in on-campus clubs, internships, and countless hours of personal exploration, I have solidified my desire to (someday) become a great investor. But really, why am I interested in venture capital? This answer comes in two parts:
First, venture capital allows me to prove my excellence and earn my position according to tangible results. I do not want to merely provide advice or recommendations for others but rather, I seek to synthesize decisions that build conviction and directly impact the livelihood of LPs, my firm, and myself. A career in venture capital brings about pressure, autonomy, and responsibility, all of which I crave in a career. Similarly, many great investors were once competitive athletes, which is to few’s surprise; my experience playing competitive ice hockey for 14 years instilled a tenacious “hunger to win” mentality and the values of hustle, grit, and drive, attributes of many of the most successful investors–attributes I aim to embody every day, especially in the outbound sourcing model that is so crucial to venture capital.
Second, venture capital allows me to have involvement with the startup–to be a counsel to the operator. While so much of the investor role consists of sourcing and diligencing companies, the post-investment process is often equally important. In the spirit of entrepreneurship, I want to maintain operational involvement by providing resources, problem-solving as needed, making introductions to follow-on investors, and more to continue adding value to companies I so deeply believe in.
From Here On…
So, as I think about what I want to accomplish in my contributions to this blog, my overwhelming proposition includes formalizing my thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions beyond just that–somewhat scattered thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions of various markets, industries, sectors, and stages that I find interesting as my research into venture capital deepens; this blog will serve as a medium to write down my thoughts, hopefully articulately, with the ability to modify or deepen my thoughts as I continue stumbling upon rabbit holes. I want to follow my intellectual curiosity wherever it may take me and ignite a spark in younger students who are at the outset of their VC exploration to do the same. In pursuit of that main goal, however, I concurrently aim to:
Demystify–at least in part–the VC recruiting landscape for undergraduate students who pursue this relatively less common–or less traditional–recruiting path within finance,
Spend hours falling through rabbit holes to build conviction in my ideas, and
Encourage younger, like-minded students to continue building a community and network of aspiring investors
Demystification
Through my exploration, research, and job recruiting, one specific impediment has become apparent: the (perhaps cultural) leap of faith required to pursue a career as an investor directly out of undergraduate studies; while there may be many reasons, I believe that the lack of structure and process associated with buy-side recruiting discourages students from even trying, which is what I hope to change with this blog.
Demystification from actual investors, such as Nicole Detommaso of Harlem Capital and Justine and Olivia Moore of a16z, has been essential for me–and will continue to be essential for students younger than me–but the student perspective is, in my experience, just recently gaining popularity. For students who adamantly want to pursue the buy side directly, resources are too few; some firms open applications in November of sophomore year while others open applications in February of junior year and some firms don’t even recruit beyond a select number of schools (more on that another time). Accessible resources for students are essential, including historic timelines, networking opportunities, and interview guides–the same resources and more that are available to students pursuing investment banking internships and full-time jobs–so that students can confidently endeavor into buy-side recruiting, and through experience, this blog can be a hub of knowledge.
Down the Rabbit Hole
What may start as a tweet, LinkedIn post, or podcast episode will pique my interest to a point where I, without even thinking, want to spend countless hours learning as much as possible about that topic and its market growth, industry leaders/incumbents, new entrants, specialist funds, trends, and other relevant information. At some subsequent point, I aim to feel informed enough to start developing thoughts (which I can formalize on this blog!) and ultimately develop conviction in everything as broad as my process of developing new ideas to everything as narrow as prospective startups who are well-positioned in said market.
The Role of Community
Beyond making money for the fund (which comes with research, thesis development, conviction, etc.), a network is, in my opinion, the single most important differentiating factor for investors, especially aspiring investors. The access, reach, and respect that I strive for all support the development of a network that can help source deals, provide startups with unique resources, and, ultimately, help grow companies.
Now, I want to be able to provide knowledge to those younger than me by sharing resources here and fostering a collaborative community on campus and wherever my career takes me in the future. The same reasons I want to surround myself with like-minded students on campus are the same reasons I am so excited to collaborate on this blog; I, like many, am a product of my environment, so writing with people who will push me to reinforce my ideas through research and exploration enables me to progress upward in my venture capital aspirations, the same way I aim to reciprocate in this community and others too. Now as a student and in the future as an investor, being available for other students and founders, respectively, is more valuable than one might think, which is why I intend to give more than I take.
What’s to Come?
While the future of this blog, specifically my posts, will be dynamic, I aim to focus on my rabbit hole deep dives, demystifying VC, and enriching VC/entrepreneurship-focused communities around me. Collectively, you can expect posts on:
Breaking into VC from a student’s perspective (interview, skills, network)
The college startup ecosystem / up-and-coming startups in college
Tips for students based on our interviews with prominent investors
Startup of the month
VC of the month
Industry of the month
Want to learn more? Have suggestions, questions, or feedback? Reach out to me!