Marketing is critically important in the venture capital world, yet it plays a different role depending on whether you’re working at the venture capital firm or the start-up companies in which they invest.
Smaller VC firms may hire outside consultants or marketing firms, while a larger, more established VC firm may have the resources to hire an in-house marketing professional.
For the venture capital firm, marketing involves a number of activities to attract high net worth individuals and institutional investors to the firm. These activities can include developing the firm’s website, PR activities such as arranging media interviews for the principals, articles, creating presentations about the firm, and producing investor relations materials such as quarterly reports, alerts and brochures. Today, particularly in the high tech venture capital world, VC marketers must also have expertise in the use of social media such as blogs, Linked-In, Twitter and other tools to broaden the firm’s exposure on these increasingly popular channels.
On the other side of the venture capital equation, the start-up portfolio companies, marketing is a life or death proposition.
A well-planned PR campaign can attract interest from venture capital firms and make the difference as to whether the start-up receives VC funding or not. With limited funds, start-ups will often hire outside marketing consultants to help with these efforts.
Once funded, marketing can determine whether the start-up makes it to the next round of financing. Marketing is so important, well-known venture capitalist and commentator Guy Kawasaki ranks it as among the two most important traits for a venture capitalist. Along with engineering (because it helps you understand the complex technologies that are often targeted in venture capital), Kawaski says a venture capitalist needs a sales background. Once you have a great product, you have to tell the world about it in the most effective way. It’s a key driver for the success of most start-up companies.
For these companies, marketing efforts will hinge on the type of product or service being sold, and more closely resemble the marketing for other companies. High tech companies will want to set up sophisticated lead generation systems to funnel prospects to their sales reps. A consumer product company may use mass marketing (TV, radio, print advertising, Internet) and set up a distribution network.
If you have a strong marketing background and an interest in finance or the entrepreneurial culture, you may want to explore jobs within the venture capital industry as way of bringing together your diverse skills and capabilities.
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