Resource:How to secure a startup career with Venture for America
Contents
Overview
A startup career is not for everyone. However, if you are a multidisciplinary person who enjoys to collaborate with other people but has no problem flying solo on a project, you might want to consider working for or building a startup firm. This page will give you detailed instructions and advice on how to land a startup career with Venture for America, a fellowship program that place talented college graduate in startups in struggling cities. The information is separated into four sections. The first section - Determine your passion - emphasizes the importance of understanding what interest and motivate you before choosing your career path. The second section - Application to Venture for America - walks you through all the necessary steps for your application to the fellowship program. The third section - Utilizing Your Resources - offers advice on the application process. The last section - Future after Venture for America - paints a picture of your future once you graduate from Venture for America’s program.
Determining Your Passion
Passion comes from determination and firmness of purpose. Before you step out to initiate a project or an idea, ensure that your conscience is clear and that you are passionate about the cause you’re working on. Entering into the realm of the startup world requires you to be focused and determined, and thus it is deemed necessary that you put in great thought in whatever you choose to do, however you choose to do - given that you are passionate enough. How to find that passion is one of the greatest challenges anyone will face throughout their lifetime.
The best way to find that passion is to immerse yourself in something you find interesting. The only real way to determine as to whether or not you are truly passionate about something is if you immerse yourself in it. This process of immersion puts you through the motions and puts you in thedriver's seat of whatever it is you are trying to do. The answer as to determining if you are passionate about this to do will become quite clear to youafterward. Although you may find that there are many things that you thought you were passionate about but are not, you should also take great pride in knowing that you are one step closer to finding out what it is you truly do have a passion for.
Applying to Venture For America
Venture for America has a highly competitive application process. In order to become an esteemed fellow, one must complete a rigorous application. The process is split is into three parts: a written application, a phone interview, and an in-person meetup with competing applicants. The application is basic, merely consisting of three pages. The first page is personal information, such as your name, contact information, and details regarding your school or institution. The second page is broken down into three sections, a description of your accomplishments, two personal essays, and a description of your skills. These three sections should be used to convey why you would be a great fit for the Venture for America fellowship. The third page asks for demographic information regarding your age, gender, and student loan debt. Based on the written portion of the application, if the review committee sees you as fit to be a potential fellow, the applicant can then move onto the second round, the phone interview. The phone interview is typically held with an existent Venture for America fellow where you discuss your skills and qualifications for being a fellow. The interviewer is looking to see if you will fit in with the VFA environment and to ensure you have the skills needed to be in the competitive environment of a startup. If successful with the phone interview you move onto round three, the in-person meetup with all of the applicants. All applicants send a time together and go through a series of group activities, interviews, and simulations to determine which should become a fellow. The interviewers are not looking out for technical, they are observing to see if you have the appropriate communication, leadership, and teamwork skills needed to succeed at a startup company. The overall process is rigorous, however there are many ways you can get ahead with your application.
Utilizing Your Resources
It may sound very daunting and peculiar, but utilizing your resources is key to success while starting a startup career with Venture for America. While you may branch out looking for resources elsewhere, utilizing your resources at school and getting involved with the local startup community is critical and should be a preference regardless. Being a university innovation fellow can be helpful too, as you can use the fellows’ network to share ideas, discuss potential initiatives, and receive useful guidance. In order to maximize your chances of being successful, you should also look to friends and your other social groups for resources.
One common misconception that often deters many applicants is that they tend to think some past working experience related to the selected fields is required for the interview round. Applying for Venture for America is not like applying to a specific company of your choice, rather, Venture for America takes talented, passionate individuals based on their written application, interviews and connect them to different startups in different locations. Qualified applicants’ strengths and characteristics are extracted during this process and used to determine which company they will fit best in. So essentially, the admission process is more like making a good match than making a selection. Furthermore, a startup is an extremely social environment where everything changes rapidly; employers typically prefer likeable people who can work well with others and adapt quickly to changes than people who has the skills to do the job, because they will train you how to do the job once you get in anyway. So it is in your best interest to show interviewers that you’re a sociable, passionate, intelligent hard worker who has strong communication, presentation skills and can work well under pressure and changes. But with this being said, it is obviously much more beneficial if you had some related work experience, but it is certainly not the determining factor whether you’ll secure the position or not.
Future after Venture for America
Pursuing a career at a startup through Venture For America will be a sacrifice. The experience you will find at a startup will be very different than what you would find at a large company in the industry. Although working at a startup may sound alluring, it’s important to understand that there’s an immense amount of risk involved as well. Your role in the company will be have a direct impact on its success and longevity, but this will also come with more liability for your mistakes. You will have to take on roles that fall out of your expertise at times, and this will require you to be able to think on your feet in times of stress. Around 80 percent of new businesses don't make it past the first one and a half years, so your job will be less secure. Meeting deadlines will be imperative, as new companies need to stay profitable in order to stay afloat.
Although working at a startup through Venture For America may sound daunting at first, it will give you invaluable skills and lifelong connections that will benefit your career. The Venture For America family is full of highly motivated, intelligent and innovative people that want to make a difference in the world. Venture For America allows you to work on something that you're truly passionate about, and enables you to have a direct impact on the community.
Disclaimer: This information was attained from an interview with fellow Robin Bonatesta.
