Breaking Into VC, Growth Equity & PE: A 5-Session Launchpad
Five one-on-one sessions covering the investment thinking, technical foundations, and interview preparation needed to break into VC, growth equity, or PE. The outline below gives us a starting structure. Throughout the sessions, we’ll work through financial concepts and modeling relevant to your target roles- from understanding financial statements and revenue drivers to evaluating valuation and investment returns- and apply them to the companies and markets we discuss. 1. Why investing? Shape your story, explain why you’re pursuing your chosen investing path, and walk through the recruiting process and how to approach it. 2. What portfolio company do you like (and dislike)? Assess the business model, financial profile, growth drivers, and key risks of each. Go beyond describing a company to explaining whether you’d invest. 3. What market interests you? Develop a thesis around a market you like: what makes it attractive, what the economics of its businesses look like, and where you’d look for opportunities. 4. Why this firm? Use research into a firm’s strategy and portfolio to connect your interests and experience to what they actually invest in. 5. Mock case interview. Work through a practice investment case and get direct feedback on your financial analysis, investment judgment, and delivery. We’ll tailor the order, technical depth, and emphasis to your background, target firms, and recruiting timeline. Each session builds on the last, with room to spend more time where you need it.
What's included
We’ll work through your answers and investment thinking together. I’ll ask follow-up questions, challenge weak points, and help you get specific- so you can explain your reasoning when an interviewer pushes beyond your prepared answer. I bring my experience in venture capital and growth equity, including at Summit Partners. The five sessions give us a structure, but we’ll adjust as we go based on where you’re starting and what’s coming up in your recruiting process.
- A clear recruiting story: why investing, why your chosen path, and what you bring.
- A market thesis you can explain and defend.
- Ability to form an investment perspective on a portfolio company you like and one you’d pass on.
- A completed mock case with actionable feedback on your reasoning and delivery and a clearer understanding of the recruiting process and where to focus your remaining prep.
Meet your expert
Charlie P.
I have 4+ years investing across Growth Equity, Venture Capital and Private Equity. I spent 3 years at Summit Partners, one of the world's largest and longest-standing Growth Equity firms, where I was recruited as a Technology Investor out of the firm's flagship $10B Growth Equity Fund XII. At Summit, I sourced and executed on several deals and was promoted early. I additionally spent a year in Venture Capital at Griffin Gaming Partners, where I evaluated earlier-stage gaming-related opportunities. I graduated from Harvard with an AB in Psychology and Economics. While at Harvard, I designed and taught a semester-long course to the largest undergraduate Venture Capital club (100+ undergraduates).