Who Won The World’s Top VC Competition? The Answer May Surprise You

Nick Giometti and Kate Preston agree that there are many barriers to entering the venture capital space, including a lack of awareness and education for venture capital career paths.

“I think without having worked at a startup before, I would have never considered venture as a job,” says Preston. “I just didn’t really know that I could do that, or what the process was to get in. For a lot of people, not knowing early enough in their career that a venture capital job is a potential possibility keeps them from entering the space. I think there’s definitely some work to be done in terms of making people aware that this is a career possibility in the first place.”

Giometti echoes Preston’s thoughts, adding that breaking down barriers of entry relies on education. “UNC really needs to be applauded for in terms of how much they’ve created a pathway to education for this,” he says.

For Giometti, he hopes to help people enter into venture capital throughout his career. One of the ways he plans on doing so is by returning to VCIC as a judge. “I hope that through things like VCIC, better education channels and experiential learning opportunities, people will realize ‘hey, I like this. I’m good at this. I think I have a real way in,’” says Giometti. “I hope when I move into the industry long term to help break down barriers and get some new people in there who offer different perspectives. This will make us all better investors.”

VENTURE CAPITAL AT KELLOGG

Giometti and Preston are grateful that Kellogg has provided them with education for a career in venture capital. Not only is there an Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital Club in which Giometti is currently the president with Preston set to take over next year, there are experiential classes like the Venture Capital Lab, Private Equity Lab, Global Entrepreneurial Finance and even the San Francisco Immersion Program that allows students to work with a VC fund or growth stage startup. “There’s an awesome suite of courses at Kellogg,” says Giometti. “The experiential learning classes walk you through venture capital, the founder journey, and there are even support groups that help people break into the industry.”

For Preston, Kellogg’s entrepreneurship and venture capital curriculum is what drew her to the school. “For me, a really big differentiator at Kellogg is the choice of pathways. There are a couple of different pathways with a series of curated classes. These are thoughtfully put together by the faculty to help you in the entrepreneurship, private equity, and the growth and scaling spaces,” she says.

WOMEN IN VENTURE CAPITAL

According to Preston, the Kellogg faculty goes above and beyond to support women breaking into the venture capital field.

“The professors promote diversity because finance needs help in that regard,” says Preston. “I think the Kellogg faculty thinks deliberately about how they can bring in more diversity by encouraging women to actually pursue roles in finance. They help support women by connecting us with opportunities.”

Preston says that women students support each other, as well. “There’s a lot of active outreach amongst each other, and it’s a really supportive and collaborative community. We have created our own community of women in private equity through the Venture and Private Equity Launchpad. There, we talk about how we are exploring and going through the recruiting experience together. I’ve never once felt a competitive nature amongst the women here.”

VCIC TAKEAWAYS

For Preston, one of the main things she took away from the VCIC is the importance of building rapport with founders. “I think there is and always was an inherent tension in this role of wanting to expose all the potential risks for the business while also wanting to build a partnership for long term success. For me, it was a really interesting experience of trying to strike that right balance and get to the core of what we needed to address,” she says.

Another one of Preston’s takeaways from the VCIC was learning from the professors and second-year team members who had more industry experience during their preparatory period. “Being able to learn a ton from the different folks in the ecosystem of the competition was an amazing experience, and one that exemplified why I wanted to come to Kellogg in the first place. It was such a supportive environment, even with internal competition. People were really just there to help each other learn, be better, and work towards the same goal of being in venture capital for the long run,” she says.

For Giometti, he’s grateful for what he learned while receiving feedback during the VCIC process. “There are very few opportunities to receive feedback in life,” he says. “I think it’s hard to ask for it, too. The VCIC process is designed for every single step of the process to be open for feedback. For example, you have 40 minutes of Q&A with the founder, then you’re given immediate feedback from the judges. I think that is such an accelerator for your skills, because you’re being told instantaneously and have the ability to sharpen your skills for next year.”

HOPES FOR THE FUTURE

For Preston, her goals also include working in venture capital post graduation. “I like crazy learning curves and being part of something that’s exciting for me. I want to work in venture capital so that I can really move the needle in certain industries and technology.”

While Preston still has another year of her MBA, Giometti graduates this year and has just accepted an offer to join a venture capital firm. “I think more than anything, as I build a track record as an investor, I want to be someone that is known as helpful,” he says. “I want to get into venture because I want to find good companies and help them become great. My marker for success will be measured against how much I can make a lasting impact on the trajectory of a founder’s life,” says Giometti.

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