Hey guys, has anyone heard or know much about Point Judith Capital? I am having a talk with them regarding a potential junior role. I have never worked in the VC industry and am wondering how I would go about preparing for this interview - both the technical and otherwise aspects for the position. I really appreciate any inputs to help my preparation. Thanks for the insights.
since VCs are risk takers, i’d recommend parachuting in to the interview, and mentioning your love for high stakes gambling and extreme sports at any chance you get. ok…i’ve got nothing for ya, but good luck.
haha, points taken Jeff.
Not knowing what kind of position you are interviewing for, makes it bit harder to give advice, but here are some basic pointers. I checked their webpage and it seems that they are an early-stage VC fund. That being said, I believe that you would be dealing with fairly basic calcultions. No complex math needed, but you should be able to demonstrate good knowledge of DCF-methods, etc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To prepare, if you are not already familiar with, you should gather some basic info about the following subjects: - Familiarize yourself with the venture capital method http://www.e-articles.info/e/a/title/The-Venture-Capital-Method/ - Read other background info on vc valuation (e.g. multiples approach, what level discount factors are used [very high] ) - Familiarize yourself with the real options approach and find out how this is used in valuation and decision making in different stages of the investment - Different stages of VC funding (seed, growth, mezzanine, etc.) - VC Syndication, what it means? - Take a good look at their portfolio and try to figure out why they invested in these specific companies and what would be the potential exits for these investments - Familiarize yourself with Point Judith´s focus areas (communication, health care, IT) - What are hottest sub-sectors in these focus areas? e.g. rfid?, VoIP? - Familiarize yourself with common challenges related to tech start-ups (e.g. in the beginning high neg. cf due to R&D and then once finished, you should launch a product and you have no $s) Dealing with early-stage start-ups, there is little financial data available and the ways to quantitatively evaluate these companies are fairly limited. Thus, a lot of importance is placed on future cash flows. VC investment proposals usually have some market growth projections from research agencies like Forrester Research. The aspiring portfolio firms often base their own estimates according to these projections and how much market share and profits they expect to gain. It´s the VC firms’ job to determine how reliable and risky these projections are. Thus, you should be able to demonstrate good information search skills as well as good analytical insight, not only quantitative but also qualitative. + Read as much as you can about the company and the people who work there. This way you can show, that it would be easy for you to acquire background info about prospective portfolio companies as well. Hope this helps… Good luck!
Get a good idea about developing business plans, doing due dilligence. Its the initial phases of any venture. Also venture capital is a lot about management, analysis is only part of the initial business plan; due diligence process. You must be able to identify new\other market oppurtunities for the venture. I’m working also in a junior role at a very new venture capital firm. I evaluate business plans, do financial projections and have started with some due dilligence and business plans. With the due dilligence and business plans I’m struggling, as I’m expected to do most of the research myself, without getting any outside help (paying for market research). Good luck…
Hey guys, thanks for the advice. Debtnocrat, really appreciate you taking the time reading about the company and insights on VC valuation. CFAFC, I really hope you are not paying for market research out of your own pocket. Also ditto for the insights.