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Venture capital vs hedge fund

I'm a recent graduate and have offers for internships in both a small VC fund and a small hedge fund, both of which are designed to then lead to a job.

I'm a little worried about going in with no past experience (most people have done IB before they enter these professions)

Does anyone know anything about entering either profession without prior experience at junior level?, I'm mostly concerned that I would struggle to ever make a senior level (partner) without banking xp.

The hedge fund is just starting up and is a quant CTA ( i have an engineering background) and the VC is a early stage tech investor.

Also anyone know how the pay might be over next 5 years in each.

Thanks!
Usually in an internship you start by entering a class room and learn pretty much everything you need to know for the job. So I wouldn't worry about your lack of experience. I also wouldn't worry about making senior level as that is something that will come to you over time.

In terms of salaries after 5 years I would assume the Quant role in the hedge fund would be much higher than the one in the VC. I'm sorry I cannot provide figures as I am not 100% sure on the last statement I have made. Your best option is to go on websites like glassdoor and see what people in those positions make.

Hope this has been useful.
Original post by jenn1ngs1
I'm a recent graduate and have offers for internships in both a small VC fund and a small hedge fund, both of which are designed to then lead to a job.

I'm a little worried about going in with no past experience (most people have done IB before they enter these professions)

Does anyone know anything about entering either profession without prior experience at junior level?, I'm mostly concerned that I would struggle to ever make a senior level (partner) without banking xp.

The hedge fund is just starting up and is a quant CTA ( i have an engineering background) and the VC is a early stage tech investor.

Also anyone know how the pay might be over next 5 years in each.

Thanks!


Not much advice to give apart from you'll most likely not have much in the way of structured training at either place given their size - it'll be entirely down to how fast you can hit the ground running.

People who usually enter the Quant HF world as an undergraduate (well people I know at least) generally come from the likes of Oxbridge/Imperial/MIT/Harvard etc.. and were near the top of their class plus had internships before in either technology or within another quant firm. So in their case, they were just really smart - and firms were willing to pay them to capitalise on their intelligence.

I doubt you'd need any banking experience (especially not for a quant hedge fund ahaha), to rise up the ranks at a small time place. It'd be down to how well you develop whilst at either firm and how the founders feel about your performance. There have been cases of people with maybe, 4-5 years of experience at a small shop getting a spot in the partnership because they made money.

I would say choose the one role and space you find more interesting as VC and QHF are completely opposite worlds. One is focused on nascent private companies and the other on markets/quantitative strategy.

Money wise.. These aren't large established firms with data from prior employees, you could make anywhere from not much to a lot depending on the success of the firm over the next couple of years.

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