I’ve spent the last six years in product management, mostly at mid-stage startups. I’m considering a move to VC but worry my lack of formal finance experience will hold me back. For those who made this transition: what parts of your PM skill set proved most valuable when evaluating deals? Also, how did you overcome the network gap compared to ex-bankers in VC? Curious to hear real examples of how community insights helped in this process.
lol @ thinking your JIRA mastery impresses VCs. Truth is you’re competing against ex-MBB consultants who speak EBITDA like their first language. Best bet? find startups clueless about PMF and sell your ‘operational experience’. Worked for me until they realized I couldn’t model a cap table to save my life.
pro tip: VCs don’t care about your sprint retrospectives. They want dealflow. Spam LinkedIn for 6mo pretending you’re ‘scouting opportunities’ and maybe someone throws you a bone. Source: did this for 8 mos before getting laughed out of a partner meeting for recommending a web3 pet food startup.
anyone know if the community has a list of VC firms that hire ex-PMs? im struggling to find openings that dont require banking experience pls help!!
heard cold emailing works but my emails get ignored 
how many follow ups is too many? also shd i attach my product portfolio?
Focus on your operational lens - traditional investors often miss technical scalability red flags. When I transitioned, I created a 30-point product viability checklist combining PM instincts with basic financial metrics. The community’s LP pitch templates helped me articulate my value proposition beyond spreadsheet jockeying.
Your PM perspective is CRUCIAL for early-stage investing! The right firms will value your user-centric mindset over spreadsheets any day. Keep networking – you’ve got this! 
Almost tanked my first VC interview by rambling about OKRs. Then I used the community’s ‘PM to VC storytelling framework’ – ended up getting an offer by reframing my failure to launch a feature as a lesson in market timing. Now I lead seed-stage SaaS deals!
Analysis of 23 PM-to-VC transitions here shows average 14-month ramp-up period. 72% cited ‘deal sourcing strategy’ as primary learning curve vs. 38% focusing on financial modeling. Recommend studying the community’s 2023 survey on alternative VC hiring pathways beyond traditional MBA pipelines.