Venture Capital interview preparation

Sourcing, unit economics, term sheets, cap tables, fund economics and the India venture market. Every question is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it — answers lead with the point, then the mechanism, then the limitation.

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Question bank

100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them

Questions
100
Traced to a firm
31
Firms
12
Updated
September 2026
Asked at
All firmsGeneral Atlantic9Insight Partners7Silver Lake6Vista Equity Partners4Bessemer Venture Partners3Accel2Advent International2Battery Ventures2Andreessen Horowitz1Coatue Management1Sequoia Capital1Warburg Pincus1
Topic
All topicsSourcing and deal flow5Market sizing and estimation8Founders and teams5Unit economics and cohorts11Term sheets12Cap table and dilution7Early-stage valuation7Portfolio construction6Board and governance4Down rounds and secondaries4Exits and liquidity4Fund economics5Sector theses and markets6India venture market6Fit and motivation10
Level
AnyCoreIntermediateHard
Type
AnyTechnicalFitCaseMarket viewBrainteaser
Showing 1–1 of 1 · filtered from 100Clear filters
  1. 004What companies are you excited about right now?Sourcing and deal flowIntermediatefirst roundBattery VenturesVenture Capital · Boston · 2019General AtlanticTechnology, Media and Telecom · New York · 2016

    Say this

    Have three ready, deliberately different, and lead with why each one matters rather than what it does. One private company in the firm's stage and sector, one public company where you have a real view, and one that is early and slightly contrarian.

    Then walk it

    1. For each, the same four-beat structure: the shift in the world that makes it possible, what the company does, the evidence it is working, and the one thing that would kill it.
    2. Keep it to ninety seconds each. The failure mode is a five-minute product description with no investment view attached.
    3. Make at least one of them a company the firm could plausibly invest in next quarter. That is the real test: whether you can see through their lens, not just yours.
    4. Have a number for each. Revenue run rate if it is public, headcount growth or download trend if it is private, and say where you got it so they know you are not guessing.
    5. The contrarian one earns the most credit and carries the most risk. Say what consensus believes and why you think consensus is wrong. If you cannot state the consensus view accurately, do not use the slot.
    6. Then be ready for the flip: the interviewer will ask why they should not invest. Having the bear case ready is what makes it look like judgement rather than enthusiasm.

    Where candidates lose it

    Naming the same three companies every candidate names, or naming something the firm already owns without knowing it. Read the portfolio page before you walk in. And never pitch a company in their portfolio as a new idea — it happens constantly and it ends the interview.

    Expect next

    • Why should we not invest in that one?
    • What would you need to believe for it to be a ten-bagger?
    • What do you think about our portfolio?

    Reported by candidates at Battery Ventures (Venture Capital, Boston, 2019); General Atlantic (Technology, Media and Telecom, New York, 2016). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

Firm tags come from public, anonymous candidate reports on Wall Street Oasis: strong signal, not sworn testimony. Firms are named as the places a question was reported, not as partners of Fin Maverick. Answers are written for this page to show how to think out loud; they are not scripts to recite.