Anyone with an interest in entrepreneurship needs to be familiar with the venture capital landscape, including both the pros and the cons of taking on VC investment. According to the National Venture Capital Association’s annual yearbook, VC-backed companies comprised 42% of all U.S. IPOs from 1974 to 2014 - and in 2019, they accounted for 43% of all U.S. IPOs, with a total valuation of $223 billion. Thus, while VC isn’t an essential path to take for entrepreneurial financing, it is an option that cannot be ignored.
Alternately, if you want to work at a VC firm yourself, you can pursue a career as a financial analyst. Like other financial institutions, VC firms employ analysts to evaluate companies and help make investment recommendations, and these analysts typically develop expertise in a specific industry or geographic region. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, financial analysts working in securities and other financial investments made a median wage of $101,410 in May 2018, making this a high-paying start to a career in venture capital.