Venture Capital interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

31

Firms

12

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

All firmsGeneral Atlantic9Insight Partners7Silver Lake6Vista Equity Partners4Bessemer Venture Partners3ACAccel2Advent International2Battery Ventures2Andreessen Horowitz1Coatue Management1Sequoia Capital1WPWarburg 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

1. 001How do you source companies?Sourcing and deal flowIntermediatephone / first roundGeneral AtlanticTechnology, Media and Telecom · New York · 2016General AtlanticGeneralist · Beijing · 2014

   Say this

   Thesis first, then a systematic channel to work that thesis, then relationships that make the outreach land. I would not describe sourcing as networking, because networking has no denominator. It is a funnel you can count.

   Then walk it

   1. Start with a thesis: a market shift you believe in, written as a sentence. 'Vertical SaaS for Indian pharma distribution' is a thesis. 'Interesting AI companies' is not.
   2. Then map the space exhaustively. Every company in the category, from Tracxn, Crunchbase, app-store rankings, GitHub stars, job postings, conference speaker lists. Twenty to fifty names, not five.
   3. Rank them on signals you can see from outside: hiring velocity, web traffic trend, review volume, who the angels were. The last one matters most early: a great seed round with three operator angels from the same category is a real signal.
   4. Then outbound. A specific, short email that shows you have used the product and understand the wedge. Response rates on a thesis-led email run several times higher than a generic one, and founders talk to each other about which VCs send lazy notes.
   5. Relationships are the compounding layer on top, not the substitute for it. The best repeat channel is founders you already backed, and second-time founders from companies in your thesis.
   6. And keep the denominator. I would track companies mapped, first meetings taken, second meetings, term sheets. If the conversion from first meeting to second is under a fifth, my filter is wrong, not my outreach.

   Where candidates lose it

   Answering 'I'd use my network and go to events'. That tells the interviewer nothing and describes what everybody already does. They want a repeatable process with a thesis at the front and a number at the back. Name real tools and one live thesis you are working.

   Expect next

   • Give me a thesis you are working right now and the ten companies in it.
   • How would you source in a sector where you have no network at all?
   • What is your reply rate on cold outbound, and what makes it better?

   Reported by candidates at General Atlantic (Technology, Media and Telecom, New York, 2016); General Atlantic (Generalist, Beijing, 2014). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 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.

3. 005If you were sourcing growth equity investment opportunities, which areas would you look for?Sourcing and deal flowIntermediatetechnicalGeneral AtlanticGeneralist · Beijing · 2014

   Say this

   Areas where the business model is already proven and what is left is a capital and execution problem, not a product-risk problem. That means recurring or repeat revenue, a unit economic already in the black, and a market growing faster than nominal GDP.

   Then walk it

   1. The growth equity filter is different from venture: I am not paying for the possibility that it works, I am paying for the certainty that it scales. So the screen is evidence-heavy — net retention, payback, cohort behaviour over at least eight quarters.
   2. Structural tailwind first. Something in the world changed and is still changing: payments digitisation, healthcare shifting to value-based contracts, industrial software replacing spreadsheets. I want the tailwind to run longer than my hold period.
   3. Then market structure. Fragmented markets with a clear consolidator, or category leaders in markets big enough that second place is still a good business. Duopolies with price wars are where growth capital goes to die.
   4. Then the capital-efficiency test: does more money actually buy more growth here? In sales-led B2B, yes, you can hire quota-carrying reps against a known payback. In a consumer business where CAC rises with scale, often no.
   5. Then the entry question, which is where growth deals are actually won or lost: is there a founder-led business that has never raised institutional money and needs a partner for a specific reason — an acquisition, a geography, a secondary for early employees.
   6. Concretely, if I were arguing one today: vertical software in regulated industries, where the incumbent is a twenty-year-old on-premise system, switching is painful but compliance forces it, and net retention sits above 115 percent.

   Where candidates lose it

   Listing hot sectors. The question is about the screen, not the fashion. Growth equity cares about proof, so any answer that does not mention retention, payback and whether capital converts into growth is a venture answer given in a growth seat.

   Expect next

   • How is that screen different from an early-stage one?
   • What would make you pass on a company growing 60 percent a year?
   • Where does a growth investor actually add value?

   Reported by candidates at General Atlantic (Generalist, Beijing, 2014). 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.