Invest other people's money in young startups, knowing most will fail and a rare few pay for everything.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Associate
$170,000
Analyst
$90,000
Partner
$440,000
Total cash, salary plus bonus. J. Thelander's survey of firms managing $250 million to $499 million puts associates at $133,750 to $211,250 and partners at $386,500 to $487,500. Analysts earn about $80,000 base. Partners also share in fund profits, which can be worth far more or nothing.
$65,000 to $150,000
Base salary for analysts and associates
Venture5's 2025 survey of 700+ people put median base salary at $80,000 for analysts and $130,000 for associates. Analyst pay fell about 20% as firms hire fewer juniors. The government's broad financial and investment analyst group, which includes many other jobs, shows a median of $102,740.
Usually 20% of a fund's profits
Shared among the partners, paid years later, if ever
Carried interest (the firm's share of profits once investors get their money back) is how partners get rich. A fund lasts about 10 years, so payouts come late. If the fund does badly, there is no carry. Juniors rarely get any.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a four year degree at in-state public rates, then a first job that pays you, such as banking, consulting or working at a startup. The high end adds a two year master of business administration at a top private school, which many venture firms hire from. There is no licence or exam to buy. The real cost is time: almost nobody is hired into venture capital without years of other work first.
The expensive master's degree is a common door in, not a requirement. Many partners got in by building or running a startup instead, which costs nothing in tuition.
Small teams
The average firm has about 14 staff and 5 senior investors, so you work close to the people deciding.
A front row seat on new companies
You meet hundreds of founders a year and see where technology is going early.
Pay that is mostly delayed
Big money comes from carry, a decade after a fund starts, and only if it does well.
Little job security
Firms that cannot raise their next fund shrink or close, and juniors go first.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Venture is almost never a first job. People arrive from somewhere else.
High school
Grade 12
Math, economics and writing. Build something: a club, an app, a small business.
Bachelor's degree
4 years
Any field works. Engineering, computer science, economics and the sciences are common.
A first career
2 to 5 years
Investment banking, consulting, a software or science job, or working at a startup. This is what you will be hired for.
Get into venture
1 to 3 years of trying
As an associate after banking or consulting, after a master of business administration, or as an operator or former founder.
Climb, or leave
8 to 12 years
Associate to principal to partner takes about 8 to 12 years, and most associates leave before partner.
Founder
You started a company, ideally one that grew or sold. Founders understand what other founders need.
Operator
You ran product, engineering, sales or growth at a startup and know one industry deeply.
Banking or consulting
Two or three years of financial analysis, then a junior associate job at a larger firm.
Master of business administration
Some firms recruit from top business schools, often for people with a technical first career.
Mathematics
You will model how a company grows and what a stake might be worth.
Computer science
Much venture money goes to software. Knowing how it is built helps you judge it.
Economics
Markets, competition and pricing are the questions behind every investment.
English
Investment memos and emails to founders are a big part of the job.
You do not need a personal licence to work at a venture fund. The firm itself deals with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), usually as an exempt reporting adviser, and only raises money from wealthy or institutional investors. If you later join a firm that sells securities to the public, that job needs FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) exams, but most venture jobs never do.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Deep knowledge of one sector
Health, climate, software tools, defence. Firms want someone who can judge one area well.
A network of founders
Most deals come through people you know, not cold emails.
Public writing
A newsletter or blog with clear thinking about a market shows you can find and judge ideas.
A track record
Angel checks, scout deals or a startup you helped grow.
Scout programs
Some firms let outsiders refer startups and share a small cut. A way to show judgement.
Fellowships
Programs for students and early career people to work part time at a fund.
Spreadsheet modeling
Ownership tables, dilution and fund returns.
Comfort selling
Good founders choose their investors. You have to win the deal.
Social media makes venture look like picking winners and posting about it. In practice the job is mostly meetings, research and saying no. Paid courses that promise a venture job are a business of their own; firms hire for experience and networks, not certificates. And running a fund is no shortcut to wealth: most funds return about what the stock market would have, or less.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Mornings are pitches: 30 minute calls with founders, one after another. You take notes and look for the one worth a second meeting. Afternoons go to research on a market, calls with customers of a startup you are checking, and writing a memo for Monday's partner meeting. Evenings are events and dinners where deals start. A survey of venture investors found a 55 hour week, with 22 hours on finding deals and 18 helping companies already backed.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
In a survey of 889 venture investors, the average firm screened about 200 companies in a year and invested in about 4 of them.
The Kauffman Foundation studied about 100 venture funds it had backed over 20 years. 62 of them did not beat the public stock market after fees.
The same survey found venture investors rate the founding team as more important than the product or the technology when they choose a company.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Money and finance first, then the rest of the field. See all business and money careers.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.