What Does an Associate at a Venture Capital Firm Do?

Maneesh Goyal, Senior Associate at Miramar Venture Partners, helped me prepare for the Mixergy Funding Forum by showing me the venture capital process from his perspective. Below are some of my notes from the call.

Maneesh Goyal

Maneesh Goyal

Miramar Venture Partners

Maneesh Goyal is the Senior Associate at Miramar Venture Partners, a leading early stage investor focusing on the information technology space.

A few lessons from this program

The apprentice. The associate role is like an apprenticeship. He’s learning the business by being involved in every part of it.

The feel. As an associate, he’s developing a feeling for the kind of entrepreneur who’s going to be successful. He describes it as determination without blinders.

Connections. He comes to Mixergy events to meet entrepreneurs, but his best connections come from trusted partners like other investors and lawyers.

Prepare. He sits in on first meetings with entrepreneurs and says we often don’t do basic prep. Many people who present don’t even know what Miramar specializes in. They’re just looking to pitch anyone with money.

Theories. Part of his job is to come up with theories on where markets are going and then keep an eye out for entrepreneurs who are pursuing ideas in those areas.

He gave me permission to record the call and put it online so you can listen in.

Who else should I interview to prepare for the Mixergy Funding Forum?

Who should we feature on Mixergy? Let us know who you think would make a great interviewee.

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