Skip Besthoff '92 presented the third talk in the ongoing "Investment & Finance Series" (IFS) promoted by alumni Brian Chiappinelli '92 and John Merrill '92. Besthoff came to Hamilton on April 15 and conducted two sessions with students. He met informally with a group of five students at the Career Center, and discussed his career path and their career interests in this challenging market.
The main IFS presentation and PowerPoint lecture, "Careers in Venture Capital," took place in the Kennedy Auditorium in the Science Center. Besthoff began by "introducing" venture capital as a specific finance sector within the broader array of financial services - one of the goals of the IFS series. He explained the role of VC firms in both raising capital from investors, and then using that capital in "early phase startups"' with a goal of achieving a high rate of return over a designated investment time period.
He also noted how the industry has grown tremendously in recent years, and then contracted again since 2008 as investors pull their funds to the sidelines, and as the number of VC firms drops. He also spoke of some of the more successful VC investments in the technology sector - which is the marketplace his firm operates in - and shared his insights on how difficult it is to accurately predict which investments will be highly successful, and which will not succeed at all, especially when dealing in the 'early phase' of a company's existence.
Besthoff concluded his remarks by focusing on the career paths that lead into the venture capital business, and on steps that current students might take now or in the early stages of their career after graduation, should they be interested in going into this specific sector of financial services.
The main IFS presentation and PowerPoint lecture, "Careers in Venture Capital," took place in the Kennedy Auditorium in the Science Center. Besthoff began by "introducing" venture capital as a specific finance sector within the broader array of financial services - one of the goals of the IFS series. He explained the role of VC firms in both raising capital from investors, and then using that capital in "early phase startups"' with a goal of achieving a high rate of return over a designated investment time period.
He also noted how the industry has grown tremendously in recent years, and then contracted again since 2008 as investors pull their funds to the sidelines, and as the number of VC firms drops. He also spoke of some of the more successful VC investments in the technology sector - which is the marketplace his firm operates in - and shared his insights on how difficult it is to accurately predict which investments will be highly successful, and which will not succeed at all, especially when dealing in the 'early phase' of a company's existence.
Besthoff concluded his remarks by focusing on the career paths that lead into the venture capital business, and on steps that current students might take now or in the early stages of their career after graduation, should they be interested in going into this specific sector of financial services.
