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Over the past few years, countless blogs have been written on the topic of “breaking into venture capital”. While these perspectives are undoubtedly helpful data points to those aspiring to join investor ranks, perhaps the more interesting question is, how can venture capital firms expand accessibility into this traditionally insular industry? To that end, we’re excited to share the playbook for one of our most successful tools for expanding the VC pipeline: our internship program. Hopefully this overview is helpful not just to aspiring VC investors wondering what an internship can be like, but also to other firms considering launching their own programs and wondering where to start.
At Laconia, we’ve had an internship program from day one. The goals of the program are increasing our investment team’s bandwidth, broadening Laconia’s network within the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and launching the careers of the next generation of operators and investors. By all measures, it’s working: our interns consistently support key parts of our investment process, from drafting investment memos for prospective deals to building waterfalls for portfolio companies. and even successfully sourcing new deals. They provide critical support on operations and marketing, enabling us to remain laser-focused on supporting our portfolio founders. With a diverse group that’s 50% women, 14% Black/Latinx, and 80%+ underrepresented* In some way, we couldn’t be more excited for the future face of our industry as our former colleagues find their full-time roles as VC investors, startup operators, and founders.
Let’s dig into the details …
Program structure
We typically have 2-3 interns at a time year-round, part-time during the fall and spring academic semesters, and full-time in the summer. Depending on their schedule/ availability, they usually stay on anywhere from 3 to 8 months.
Prior to their start, we run a structured onboarding process that allows us to align on goals/objectives as well as ensure that they are up to speed on early stage venture capital and Laconia’s specific investment approach.
Over the course of the program, our interns become a core part of our team and effectively operate like investment associates. They join all pitch meetings, due diligence sessions, and internal discussions, receiving full transparency into our investment process. They also provide operational support on things like deal pipeline management, diligence, collateral creation, and marketing initiatives. Many of them take the lead on rebuilding certain internal processes of ours, ultimately streamlining our workflows and making us a more effective team. We are also careful to curate projects that align with their personal areas of interest, thus optimizing their learning opportunities.
This past summer was the first time we ran a fully remote internship program. In addition to optimizing our internal communications with platforms like Slack, Asana, and Zoom, we’ve become much more intentional about creating digital “face time” opportunities to compensate for the absence of casual in-office chats. Though we certainly miss the in-person interactions, we’re excited to prove that it’s possible to have an engaging, rewarding and productive experience even entirely virtually.
Hiring process
We run a public application process that leverages both inbound applications and outbound partnerships, predominantly with student-run clubs at universities. Our website has information on our internship program and an interest signup form for those who come across us in between hiring cycles.
Our application is simple: contact information, a resume, a writing sample, a sample deck/presentation, and “Why are you interested in working at Laconia?” We have found that this information is more than sufficient to shortlist candidates who would thrive in this role. Once we review all submissions, we typically conduct two rounds of interviews with finalists before extending offers.
We explicitly do NOT do the following:
Rolling applications: We tried accepting applications on a rolling basis in response to ongoing interest in our roles; however, this setup made it incredibly difficult to stay on a hiring schedule and provide timely responses to candidates. Switching to an input form for those who would like to be notified once applications open up again has enabled us to continue capturing this interest while better managing expectations.
Free labor: We have never leveraged our application process in this way and never will. We don’t believe that candidates need to spend dozens of hours putting together extensive investment memos, lists of prospective Laconia portfolio companies, etc. in order to demonstrate their eligibility for a junior-level VC role, nor should their enthusiasm be exploited.
Unpaid internships: We firmly believe that unpaid roles (much like unpaid labor) lock out candidates who cannot afford to work for free, making it impossible to hire the best talent and further exacerbating industry-wide inequity. Paying interns also strengthens the mutual commitment between Laconia and our interns, garnering a more productive engagement.
For any firms interested in spinning up their own programs, please feel free to reach out to any of us directly -- we are happy to share our playbooks and process documents. After all, the worst part of this program is that we are unable to scale it beyond a handful of unbelievable interns per year.
For anyone interested in potentially working with us, we are opening applications for our spring and summer positions this Friday! You can view the full job description here and sign up here to be notified.
As always, please reach out with any thoughts, questions, and feedback. We’re excited to keep pushing the venture industry closer to its full potential.
*Underrepresented includes female/non-binary, LBGTQ+, and/or non-white