Event Recap: General Catalyst Partners

Last Thursday, we invited Jon Teo from General Catalyst Partners to provide a general overview of the Venture Capital industry, speak about his past investments and experiences, and provide insight about how to enter to the industry. The event was a pure Q&A sessions, and Jon fielded all questions extremely well. One of the more interesting points of discussion was the ideal skillset for entering the VC industry and whether our traditional business school education places us at a substantial disadvantage. There are many who claim that engineers (such as Jon) are much better suited to work in Venture Capital due to the fact the industry gravitates toward companies who innovate primarily on a technological level; therefore, individuals with in depth knowledge of programming and web-based products are better suited to pass judgement on such firms. In addition, valuation and corporate finance skills found in banking, P/E, and the hedge fund industries isn't to core competency of an analyst. That being said, Jon expressed that business school students are not necessarily at a disadvantage. The main requisite for VC is creativity, an attribute not constrained to any specific type of education.