Mic’s Newsletter (Early VC) - 5th Edition

Hi all! Hope everyone’s had a great start to the week 😊 

A huge thank you to everyone who’s referred friends to the newsletter and for all the great feedback. We’ll be announcing the gift card winner later this week!

💹 Here’s what we have for today:

• Westly Group Applications Still Open 🤗 

• New Roles This Week 🙌 

• How I Take Pitch Notes: My Template 📓 

• Introducing our First Interview Guest... Sammie Hasen, Investor @ TechNexus! 🎉 

• Ask Sammie a Question 💭 

• Refer a Friend 🙂 

(As always, you can check out our job board here for a full list of VC job postings.)

The Westly Group Associate/Senior Associate Applications Are Still Open!

New Roles This Week 🙌 

Internships 🤓 

• 2024 MBA VC Summer Fellow @ 53 Stations (Chicago, IL) - Apply Here by Mar. 1st

• VC Platform Internship @ H/L Ventures (New York, NY) - Apply Here

• MBA Internship - Diligence Team @ H/L Ventures (New York/Remote) - Apply Here

Analyst Roles 😍 

• Ventures Analyst @ Plug & Play (Multiple Locations) - Apply Here

• VC Deep Tech Analyst @ Elaia Partners (Paris, France) - Apply Here

• Visiting Analyst @ KOMPAS VC (Berlin, Germany) - Apply Here 

• Analyst @ January Capital (Singapore) - Apply Here 

Associate/Senior Associate 😄 

• Ventures Associate @ Plug & Play (Multiple Locations) - Apply Here

• Associate/Sr. Associate @ Biospring (New York, NY - Hybrid) - Apply Here

• Investment Associate @ Audacious Ventures (San Francisco, CA) - Apply Here 

• Senior Associate @ Elevate’s Impact Capital Fund (Chicago, IL) - Apply Here

• Venture Partner @ Xel Capital (US) - Apply Here

Operational Roles 🤠 

• Chief of Staff @ Female Founders Fund (New York, NY) - Apply Here 

• Finance Manager @ B Capital (Los Angeles, CA) - Apply Here

• Operations Analyst @ Azolla Ventures (Boston, MA) - Apply Here

• Finance Associate @ Giant Ventures (London, UK - Hybrid) - Apply Here

• Executive Assistant @ Giant Ventures (London, UK - Hybrid) - Apply Here

• Event Planner @ Alchemist Accelerator (San Francisco, CA) - Apply Here

Roles Still Open From Last Week 🏃‍♀️ 

• Associate - Core Fund (Series A-C) @ The Westly Group (San Francisco, CA) - Apply Here

• Senior Associate - Seed Fund @ The Westly Group (Menlo Park, CA) - Apply Here

• Climate & Smart City - Summer 2024 VC Research Analyst Internship @ Eurazeo (Paris, France) - Apply Here by Feb. 25th

• Corporate Venture Capital Internship @ HP Tech Ventures (Remote) - Apply Here by Feb. 23rd

• Summer Associate Intern @ Race Capital (Silicon Valley, CA) - Apply Here by Feb. 29th

• Investment Analyst @ Clocktower (Santa Monica, CA) - Apply Here

• Investment Associate/Senior Associate @ Clocktower (Santa Monica, CA) - Apply Here

• Technical Associate @ Catapult Ventures (Los Altos, CA) - Email [email protected] to apply - rolling basis

• Associate (Seed) @ Giant Ventures (London, UK - Hybrid) - Apply Here

• Associate (Early Growth) @ Giant Ventures (London, UK - Hybrid) - Apply Here

❗️ Note that many VC roles are posted without application deadlines and filled on a rolling basis - if you see one you like, I’d recommend applying within a week, or as soon as possible!

How I Take Pitch Notes: My Template 📓 

This week, I wanted to share my meeting notes template that I use when hearing pitches. I’ve found it extremely helpful to templatize the note-taking process, especially given that as an early-career VC, it’s not unusual to meet with 10+ new startups every week 😄 

Below are the key areas I typically like to ask about during a pitch:

• Company Summary: What is the company’s general mission and technology/product? At a high level, what are they building and why?

• Problem: What is the problem being solved? Who is feeling the pain points the company is looking to address?

• Product: What are the product specs? Describe the product roadmap. Is the product a ‘painkiller’ or ‘vitamin’?

• Market: Do you have insights into market size? What are key trends in the space? Is the market growing? How quickly?

• Team: What are the backgrounds of the founding team members? What unique insights will help them win? Have they experienced the specific pains they’re solving and what is their personal connection to their mission?

• Competition: Who are the main competitors in the space? If crowded, how will this company differentiate? If empty, why is no one building the same thing?

• Differentiation: What is the company’s moat? (E.g. what is their ‘special sauce’ that will allow them to win even as more competition enters the space and others try to copy them?)

• Business Model: How is the company making money? What is its pricing structure?

• Traction: What traction does the company have thus far? (This will vary widely depending on the company’s stage and industry.)

• GTM: What is the company’s GTM strategy? What are its core distribution channels? Who are its key/ideal partners? Customers?

• Financials: Overview of general financials including revenue/ARR, monthly burn, COGS, gross margins, etc. (Note: this is more relevant for Series A and later - pre-seed/seed companies typically have fewer numbers to work with.)

• Fundraising Details (Current Round & Previous Funding): What is the company’s fundraising history? Who are their existing investors? How much have they raised to date? What are the terms of the current round?

❗️Note that some of these sections may be sparse or blank depending on the stage of company you’re meeting with (E.g. as mentioned above, financials will be less dense for pre-seed/seed companies.)

This week - our first guest interview with Sammie Hasen! 👏 

I’m thrilled to share that our first interview guest will be Sammie Hasen, investor at TechNexus! 🥳 At TechNexus, Sammie invests across sectors including mobility, supply chain, marketplaces, climate, and more. Prior to her role in VC, Sammie spent time working in product management at Goldman Sachs and as the founder of Medsur, a company she started while still in college.

See the poll below to submit a question for Sammie, or to suggest a future guest you want to see on the series!

A background on the interview series: I’ll be hosting guests to talk through career learnings & their experiences breaking into roles such as VC, product, startups, and beyond 🤩 I’ll be sharing written highlights from these interviews via this newsletter, and will also upload the full conversations to YouTube 🙂 

We have upcoming guests from the Westly Group, Accenture, and more! 🙌 

Guest Q&A Submission 💭 

Refer a Friend👭 

Enjoying the newsletter? Click the button below to refer a friend 🙂 

Say Hi! 👋 

And that’s all for this week! You can find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and X. As always, feel free to reach out to [email protected] with any questions and/or feedback. I’d love to hear from you!🙂 

-Mic