It’s graduation month and the time for distinguished guests to offer advice to grads on finding jobs in venture capital, investment banking, and other business-related sectors.
Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Lou Volpe addressed the graduates of Boston University’s School of Management recently. Volpe has helped launch technology start-ups in the Boston area, including ArrowPoint Communications, GeoTel Communications, and Parametric Technology. He is now a managing partner at Kodiak Venture Partners.
His advice: “When choosing your career moves, always optimize working for great people in great companies. They will challenge you, develop you, help you in becoming great business leaders.” In other words, seek out great mentors. And be ready to listen carefully and absorb everything they say.
Meanwhile, Bing Gordon, a partner with the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, offered his advice to up-and-coming business leaders in a new book entitled, “The Corner Office” (Times Books)
Among the nuggets he shared from the book in a recent interview with the New York Times online:
1) “It’s better to work with people who you would pay to be able to work with. So if you’re working with someone in an area that fascinates you, with people you can add value to and have good conversations with, who are capable and really motivated and you would pay to hang out with them, I’m pretty confident good things would happen.”
2) Test yourself early on and keep testing yourself. Gordon mentions the importance of team sports as an early proving ground. You can’t win all the time, even with superstars on your team. Plus, no matter how good you are, there’s always someone better. Sports provide a good reality check and motivator.
3) People want leaders who give them confidence, above all. “In a start-up company or in a creative process, there’s turmoil. Every day feels like you’re looking into the maw of a black hole, and you want somebody around who’s confident, who you think is competent, who can kind of create a floor and say: “Don’t worry. It’s not going to get worse than this.” A leader’s number one job is creating confidence. But that’s not something taught in business school, Gordon said.
What advice would you give to someone just about to leave business school and thinking of entering venture capital? Add you comments below.
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