I’m Justine Moore, author of Accelerated. ****I’ve gone through a few VC recruiting processes (I was most recently a consumer & SMB software investor at CRV), and ****created this guide to help other students and recent grads navigate it. Please reach out with any questions or feedback!

What are the different types of VC firms?

Stage

Early Stage

Early-stage typically refers to investments between pre-seed and Series B. These companies may or may not have a live product or revenue, but generally don’t yet have product-market fit.

Roles at early-stage firms often involve: (1) meeting with founders and sourcing investments; (2) due diligence; (3) supporting portfolio companies; and (4) thought leadership around spaces the firm is interested in.

Some firms invest across a range of stages (e.g. a16z invests from seed to growth), while others focus on one stage (e.g. First Round Capital is a seed-focused firm). To summarize the stages:

Pre-seed: Pre-seed startups are typically at the ideation phase, with one (or two) founders that pitch the strength of the idea and team. These companies often raise $100k - $2M.

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