Why I Left My VC Role to Pursue an MBA/Pivot to a PM Role
It’s been exactly a month since I started my MBA at UCLA Anderson and left my investor role at Eminence Ventures (please DM for deals in software and fintech!). I often get asked why I left a prestigious job to “restart” and my plans post-MBA. Having been inspired by Zara Zhang and Monica Xie, I, too, wanted to share my views with a broader audience and connect with like-minded individuals. Today, I want to share my thoughts on the decision to leave my venture capital job in hopes of pivoting to product.
Two years ago, I left my LP job at UPMC to join Eminence Ventures, a Shanghai-based early-stage fund, to invest in early-stage Enterprise SaaS companies. Four companies and ~$15 million deployed later, I started to doubt whether I could genuinely add value to my portfolio companies for the following three reasons:
Lack of operational experience — As an investor my entire professional life, I have never worked at a startup or a software company. In early-stage investing, I believe that the work starts after you invest. And I quickly saw a knowledge gap when it comes to post-investment value-add. When my founders came to me for advice on GTM strategies, for example, I shared “theoretical best practices” but felt inadequate to give such advice. After all, what insights do I have on GTM strategies in the US without having done it myself? I was not qualified to provide such advice. Some peers have equated this to “feeling like a fraud.” I was feeling something to a similar effect.
Lack of industry network — This is highly correlated to point 1. Another aspect of helping portfolio companies is industry introductions to key decision-makers. Because I was a long-term investor and didn’t work a day in the software industry, my network was 99% investor-based. Sure, I knew people from tech firms from Alibaba and Bytedance, but the interactions have been top of the wave. In stark contrast to me, my boss and Eminence’s Founding Partner, Peter Cheng, kills it in this department. Given his 14 years of product management experience in Oracle, eBay, and Tencent, and his entrepreneurial endeavor of cofounding AdChina, which was sold to Alibaba, I have yet to come across a person he can’t connect our founders or me within the US or China. Having observed and benefited greatly from Peter’s magic, I believe his close ties come from being deeply rooted in the industry before forming his own fund. And I am inspired to follow in his footsteps.
Lack of understanding of the US software ecosystem — With the US being the de facto leader in the enterprise software market, I am excited to plug myself into the space. A product management or product marketing role at a high-growth company will allow on-the-ground training to fill my knowledge gap and benefit my long-term career path.
Leaving Eminence and Shanghai to become a student again was my most challenging decision in 2023. In moments of self-doubt and uncertainty, I keep going back to Charlie Munger’s quote, "The game is to keep learning.” Leaving a “glamorous” VC job might look like taking a step back, but I see it as a big step forward to more learning opportunities and greater success in the long term.