What A Climate Venture Fellow At Early Stage VC Wishes They Knew Before Venture Capital
Despite the team-based nature of venture capital, Nick's experience reveals a significant amount of independent work, leading to potential feelings of isolation; the interviewee emphasizes the importance of proactively building a supportive community and network, both inside and outside of one's firm, to combat this "individually driven" aspect of the role and maintain well-being, especially with remote work becoming more prevalent.
Career Development, Networking, Stress Management, Industry Realities, Workplace Challenges
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Nick Rojas
Climate Venture Fellow
Early stage VC
UCLA
University of Michigan, Ross School of Business MBA, School for the Environment and Sustainability MS Sustainable Systems
Environmental & Related Sciences
Climate, Environment, Sustainability & Waste Management, Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing)
Climate, Environment and Sustainability
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member, LGBTQ, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. The role can be isolating, despite teamwork, demanding self-care and community building.
2. Networking and community building are crucial, especially in remote settings, to avoid loneliness and burnout.
3. Building an external support network, beyond the immediate team, is vital for navigating challenges and maintaining wellbeing.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone would have told you before you entered the industry?
One thing I've learned through coffee chats and talking with industry folks is that even though you're on a team and making investment decisions together, a lot of this work is individually driven and can feel lonely. You aren't hanging out and having a big social event when you're going through a hundred-page reports day in and day out.
You might be sitting through founder meetings, having to talk with them on your own for four or five hours straight for a few days or weeks in a row. It can feel isolating and you can feel alone at times.
Ensuring you take care of yourself and build community along the way can be really important, especially as more of our work goes remote. What I've heard a lot is that even if your firm members aren't in the same city, can you find other folks in VC in your city?
Perhaps you work together in a shared space or find community to meet up once a week. You could swap ideas, share battle stories, or whatever it may be. Just remember not to isolate yourself and maintain that human connection for your own well-being.
This is important to help you get through what might be some really tough times. I haven't felt this as much myself, having mostly done summer internship work and worked closely with my teams in the office. However, I am very aware of it as I look at full-time roles within VC. I'm focused on how to build a good ecosystem around me to support the work I do.