[Anonymous]

Any suggestions/advice on interviewing with a venture capital start-up. They have a great reputation in the community and I know a couple of people who work there. I’m excited by the opportunity but am not sure what I should be considering as far as what makes the business different from most other companies. (other than the foos ball table)

[musicamor]

Be careful if you desire long-term employment. Those types of firms have a very high “shut-down” rate and you could be out of a job pretty quickly. Also, if you're not akin to wearing a lot of different hats, this type of firm may not be the best for you. There are usually a lot of hours and a lot of “fire-drills.”

Texas CPA - licensed in 2012!!!

[jelly]

Some questions:

1) How much capital investment do they have in terms of time?

2) How many different investors are there, and what are their expectations? (Find out how much skin in the game the founder(s) invested)

3) What kinds of benchmarks are the investors looking for, i.e. progress report every 3 months, 6 weeks, etc?

4) What kind of sales force will be in place to sell the product/service, and who are some possible partners in the industry the startup is hoping to target?

5) What kinds of legal, regulatory, logistical, manufacturing challenges does the startup foresee at the federal, state, local environmental/taxation/trade level, and what is being done about it?

Couldn't pass again!

[lpribac]

Bluegirl, I currently work for a vc-funded biomedical device startup. Musicamor nailed it about wearing different hats. But I love that and it fit my eclectic work experience (accounting, hr, admin). My average work week is 42-45. There are times I work more–end of year, audit, new investor presentations. But I think I work far less than those in the big firms. If you have more questions I am happy to answer!

FAR-end of Aug
AUD-Oct
BEC-end of Nov
REG-January

[Anonymous]

It might be good to ask if you can get an equity position in the company. If the company gets bought out you might be out of a job but you'll hopefully get a nice buyout.

[Author]

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