FAQs on Chats with Ary

FAQs on Careers in PE/VC/IB, Pursuing an MBA, Studying for CFA and more

Hi,

In January 2025, I left my last job as a VC and took a well-deserved two-month break before starting my MBA at ISB this April.

Given my free time, I posted a link on Twitter for folks to sign up for some free virtual coffee chat sessions to help in whatever ways I can to give back to society and the platform.

Here’s the FAQ basis those sessions + other conversations that I’ve had, I’m listing down the sections for ease of navigation

• Breaking into VC

• MBA related queries

• CFA related queries

• Other queries

Before I begin, a question that almost everyone asked was “What’s in this for you?” or “What made you do this?” - the answer was simple

When I began my journey into finance almost half a decade ago, I was lucky to find great people who answered, helped, and guided me for no gain of their own.

I promised myself. I’d do the same when I got into a position where I could

On that note, let’s begin

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Breaking into VC

1. Do I need an education pedigree to break in?

   1. It does help massively, especially when you’d like to break into tier-1 firms, without it you’re facing an upwards battle, so do lock-in

   2. You will have to be exceptional / stand-out in some other way if you don’t have it (Founder, Hustling very hard, Writing a lot, building an audience, etc.)

2. How do you break in without pedigree?

   1. Figure out a way to break into investment banking, Consulting (MBB), or Founder’s Office

   2. Build an audience online (newsletter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram)

   3. Build a network of VCs, Founders and other members of the ecosystem

   4. Build proof of work and publish it (Thesis, one-pagers on startup investment ideas)

   5. Read a lot of about 1-2 sectors and have a solid knowledge base on it

   6. The above also is important even if you’ve pedigree, since the competition is intense

3. What’s the investment process like in VC?

   1. Sourcing: Finding startups to invest in, via

      1. Own network (friends, WhatsApp groups etc.)

      2. Alumni networks

      3. Linkedin reach outs

      4. Speaking to other co-investors

      5. Building an audience online

      6. Database and other online research

      7. On-ground research

      8. Events

   2. Evaluation: Building a view on the startup, mainly revolving around the following areas:

      1. How good are the founders?

      2. How’s the space? - Size, competition in the space, etc

      3. What’s good about this particular startup?

      4. How’s the product vs. their peers?

      5. How have they scaled so far and how quickly they can scale from here?

      6. How are they approaching customers? Their feedback?

      7. How is the team overall?

      8. What are the risks of investing in this space and in this company?

      9. What are the deal terms? How is the startup capitalised?

      10. So on and so forth, till a comprehensive view is formed on the company

   3. Deal Negotiation and Execution

      1. Understanding deal terms being offered to all parties

      2. Negotiating rights for your investment if needed and setting the terms, this could include numbers such as valuation, stake assumed or stuff like instrument used, pre-emptive rights, board seats, etc.

      3. Due Diligence such as checking/auditing the books via an accounting firm (Financial Due Diligence), Legal Due Diligence (checking the company’s legal formalities), etc.

      4. Signing the shareholder’s agreement and the Share Subscription agreement and transferring the capital

   4. Portfolio Mgmt

      1. Regular check-ins on the product and financial performance, preparing reports on the same for the team + LPs

      2. On-going analysis of the industry to understand what can be done better

      3. Helping portfolio companies (Portcos) hire, help make better pitches, connect to other investors

      4. Eventually seeing the exit of the stake (buyout, secondary sale, IPO, etc.) and those formalities

4. Day-to-day responsibilities as an entry-level member?

   1. Sourcing - usually the main KPI

   2. Help build a thesis on a space via research, talking to people, gathering data

   3. Portfolio mgmt. by preparing monthly trackers and doing check-ins for portcos, helping portcos with functions such as hiring, preparing a pitch, connecting with new investors, and other ways that can add value

5. Skills required to break into VC

   1. Solid Communication (Verbal and Written)

   2. Ability to manage multiple stakeholders

   3. A lot of patience and enthusiasm

   4. People skills: Extrovert or at least very social overall since it is a “people” job

   5. Strong grasp of business fundamentals and basic finance

   6. In-Depth Research Skills

   7. Analytical mindset > ability to ask the right “why” and “how” questions - is trained over time by analysing more businesses and industries

6. Sources to read up on startups

   1. News

      1. Inc42

      2. Your Story

      3. VCC

      4. Ken

      5. The Morning Context

      6. ET Retail (Consumer)

      7. ET (for larger deals understanding)

   2. Other knowledge resources

      1. BVP Investment Memos

      2. Reports by VCs such as Blume, Kalaari, Elevation cap, etc.

      3. Reports by consulting firm on trends and industries

      4. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BGIZAq7VQ4DKBT3kOBWBriiG_FhNXIYbfhKJDREUqWY/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.rvlogpnvlnqb - a doc link created by my good friends - Tanmay (Ex-Superb Capital) and Sarthak (Huddle Ventures)

7. Other tips

   1. VC is a very “people” job and less “finance” so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re someone who dreads talking to folks

   2. Sourcing and Access are key to being a successful VC, solve for that and you’re 50%-70% there

   3. While VCs typically don’t work as long as other core finance roles, they are still usually available 24*7 contrary to popular belief and are always looking to meet new people, read and find latest deals, so it still requires an “always on” mindset if you’d like to be exceptional - your phone would be buzzing at all hours all week long.

MBA related queries

1. Skills vs. Degree

   1. Skills and Network are necessary - no debate

   2. That being said, what’s stopping someone from getting a degree while getting the two above too? and it’s not like the degree doesn’t help develop foundational knowledge + a network

2. Relevance in today’s world, does it still make sense?

   1. In an ideal world where someone could know the whole you, tags would matter less, we don’t live in an idea world and hence resort to heuristics and filters

   2. A good MBA does help with being recognised and given the benefit of the doubt at least in your first 1-2 jobs

3. How did you decide that it was time for you to go for an MBA?

   1. I had figured/zeroed down on what I wanted out of my career to a certain extent

   2. The path to growing further from where I was would be exponentially faster with an MBA given where I was in life

   3. A lack of one started to hinder me from accessing some good opportunities and / or put me in a weaker position

4. GMAT prep guide?

   1. I ended up using Target Test Prep and studying for ~2.5 Months before appearing for the exam, about 200-250 hours of prep (4-5 hours a day kinda prep) alongside working

   2. Did the mocks towards the end (4 mocks, spread over last 2-3 weeks) - where I then focused on figuring where I was going wrong and improved on those areas

5. What’s a good score to target?

   1. My score was a little lower however targeting a 685 in the GMAT focus edition usually ends up being a pretty good score and should be enough for top universities alongside a solid profile

6. How do you build a good profile?

   1. I did not actually focus on “building” a profile since for me, an MBA was a decision I took a little later in my career, it just happened, so take my advice with a pinch of salt in this case

   2. The two main things any MBA college in my experience would look at is a) why are you doing an MBA > your goals and how have you arrived at those and b) what do you bring to the table (past experience, personality, value-add, etc.) - so do think about this quite a bit to help you with your essays and overall profile

   3. Doing well at work definitely helps the most in my view when it comes to colleges that value workex, while some MBA colleges value academics more, so it’s better to align a college that chooses someone like you vs. trying to build a profile for a specific college (a counsellor can usually help here)

   4. Co-curricular activities and volunteering do help quite a bit however my volunteering workex was much lower, so there’s no one size fits all

   5. Don’t lie, it’s far better to work for a year and improve it genuinely based on feedback from a counsellor rather than lying, since it would either be grilled during the interview (and failing to hold up may end up casting doubt on the entire profile) or even if you later get in, during your placements it might come up - which could lead to a far more negative impact

CFA related queries

1. Best parts about doing CFA?

   1. Strong foundational understanding of finance

   2. Connects you with some amazing people

   3. Builds a lot of self discipline if you end up self-studying for it

   4. Quite an active community with plenty of events; massive networking opportunity

2. Is it worth doing in today’s world? Does it add value to CV?

   1. Definitely adds value for the relevant roles such as in public markets, IB and PE + the knowledge takes you a long way in those jobs

   2. At the same time, it’s not yet strong enough on a standalone basis vs. a tier-1 MBA or CA

3. Is it helpful in landing a job?

   1. Helpful, quite a bit - both in terms of showcasing your knowledge + the network

   2. At the same time, landing a job also is knowing your stuff (plenty of folks give exams but forget the concepts and mess up in interviews)

   3. Also, the competition is good roles is still intense, with plenty of CA + CFA and MBA + CFA folks, so be mindful of the same

4. Was it helpful in your day to day as a VC?

   1. Yes, since I led fintech investments, having a through understanding of different financial products and services helped have a deeper understanding of sectors like lending-tech, insure-tech and investment-tech

   2. Beyond that, having a strong foundational understanding of how finance connects with business + what drives valuations etc helped me pick up things faster and adjust my analysis for the stage while having a view of how these companies may be evaluated down the line which aided my analysis

   3. However, apart from this, VC (early stage, so before Pre-series A) gives lesser importance to professional finance degrees like CA / CFA as compared to degrees that come with a strong alumni network and have access to founders like an MBA from a top college or top engineering colleges like IITs given the mature of the job

5. How did you prep for it? Ideal time for each levels

   1. Self study with about 300 hours in each spread over 2-3 months with plenty of time also allotted to giving mocks and fixing where i went wrong

   2. Focus was on learning and understanding the material > which automatically helped in passing the exams + ensuring i could always answer questions asked in interviews

Other queries

1. How did starting-up change your life?

   1. Made me bolder as a person and actually increased my confidence despite it not working out

   2. Made me meet 10x more no. Of awesome people than I’d have otherwise which expanded my horizons

   3. Instilled a work-ethic and ownership towards my tasks that has helped me do well in my career and a lot more “practical” in life

2. Top 3 learnings from starting up?

   1. When in doubt, take action, action brings clarity and clarity leads you somewhere unlike planning perfection

   2. You have to go to your audience and sell; if that means you gotta make reels, you have to make reels, not write long form content; if you gotta sell on WhatsApp groups, don’t make a slack channel, so on and so forth

   3. Always double check anecdotal evidences; often full of biases > though sometimes they may offer an insight so always given them due thought

3. Recommendations for younger folks starting up?

   1. Work with someone first; learn how to execute > it’s cheaper to learn it on someone else’s dime & have more area to fail / have a strong support

4. How do you learn about new sectors?

   1. Read news

   2. Reports (including con calls of listed cos)

   3. Talk to people

   4. And of course, AI now to find more sources

5. How do you network better?

   1. Be genuinely interested in folks

   2. Don’t be a “network” person, aim to meet new people out of interest, and see if you actually wanna be friends with them

   3. Have your own value to provide & actually be doing something with your life too

   4. Don’t meet people just to get favours

6. What makes a good startup pitch?

   1. Why you?

   2. Why this market?

   3. Why is your product better?

   4. Where are you today?

   5. Where you’re planning to be? Long term and next 18-24 months?

   6. What do you need to get there?

   7. What do you want from me?

   8. As a VC, internally we’d be asking ourselves the same thing and trying to bridge your confidence, understanding and thought process with our conviction on you to come on the same page > do whatever you can to help bridge that

7. What’s the best investment asset class?

   1. Yourself; and then where your financial goals take you

8. Best advice you’ve gotten?

   1. You do what you want, let the world adjust

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Well, thanks for making it to the end! Hope this was a good read although quite different from the regular stuff I write.

Until next time, keep manifesting wealth.

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Disclaimer 1: All above views are purely for educational purposes and are not to be taken as investment advice. Investment or trades taken of any kind based on this are solely the person’s risk and I bear no liability. Please consult a financial advisor before making any investments. All investments are subject to market risks.

Disclaimer 2: The views presented above are mine and not of any organization(s) I work with / am employed at or anything else / anyone else I’m associated with.