The following is an excerpt from the Top Ten MBA chapter of our insider's guide
1. Private Equity Newsletters
If you want to stay on top of basic startup developments and keep an eye out for interesting new companies to work for, you should sign up for some of the startup-focused newsletters.
One great newsletter that focuses on startups and private equity is peHUB (Private Equity Hub). It’s a daily email newsletter that talks about the different new companies out there. They write a lot about which companies have recently received financing. There’s a quick blurb about the company, their location, what they do, and which investors are backing them.
I monitored newsletters like that and researched different companies that seemed particularly interesting.
2. Looking Up Startups Through Investment Portfolios
You can also research notable startups by going to the websites of top tier venture capital firms and looking at what companies they have in their portfolios. I’d write down any companies that were relevant to my areas of interest and then added them to my list.
After doing your main startup research, you should then take a look at your list of companies, look back over their details and narrow your list down to at most 10 companies. Of those companies, you should probably focus on only 4 or 5 of them, so you’re not spreading yourself too thin.
In terms of actually getting an interview with these companies, you can email or call them directly by looking up their contact information. Some of them will even have application instructions set up and displayed on their website.
Maybe you’ll get the interview you want; maybe none of them will reply back. Either way, it’s up to you to keep the job search process going.
