Second-year analyst here starting to look beyond IB. Everyone in my class is laser-focused on PE, but the community’s exit playbook mentions tech PM, VC, and startup leadership paths. For those who went non-traditional:
Specifically curious about leveraging the ‘Deal Sprint’ template for VC transitions.
lol the playbook’s just common sense with a fancy name. real talk: you think VC cares about your pitch deck formatting? they want domain expertise you don’t have. my ‘framework’ was cold-emailing 50 partners till one bit. pro tip: skip the fluff and start hustling.
that deal sprint template works if you want to be someone’s excel monkey. saw a buddy waste months ‘demonstrating acumen’ through case studies while others networked into seed-stage firms. playbook’s appendix B on warm intros is the only page worth reading tbh
omg the fintech transition case study saved me! followed their networking script verbatim and landed 3 coffees chats. still terrified to actually apply tho – anyone else using the competency matrix worksheet?? pls share tips 
Focus on operational scalability thinking from banking - that’s what tech hiring managers want. I guided three analysts to Series B CFO roles by emphasizing their capital allocation rigor. The playbook’s ‘story arc’ framework works if you quantify how you’ve de-risked growth scenarios. Feel free to DM for template tweaks.
You’ve got this! The networking modules transform scary cold outreach into manageable steps. Saw multiple peers crush tech interviews using the playbook’s Q&A banks!
Used the VC deal sprint last year – total game changer. Reverse-engineered a pitch for a vertical SaaS company using their template, showed it to a MD during coffee chat. Ended up getting sponsored for their fellowship program. Still had to grind like hell though!
2023 transition data shows 38% of playbook users landed non-PE exits vs 12% non-users. Top 3 adapted skills: valuation modeling (82% cited), term sheet analysis (67%), and investor memos (53%). Warning: average 6.2 month prep time required for effective pivot based on exit surveys.