As mentioned in the article, biotech VCs are a bit different and will sometimes hire people with mostly technical backgrounds who can evaluate new technologies properly (as someone without a medical or advanced science degree isn’t well-equipped to do this). So an MBA is less necessary if you are targeting biotech VCs.

I can’t really tell you anything more than what was in this article and the other VC-related and networking coverage on this site. It’s just a matter of finding people on LinkedIn or asking around your professional networking, reaching out to VCs who invest in this area, following up, etc.

Certifications do not help. Read the VC recruiting article. Learn about tech and work at a startup and advance to more senior roles.

People often aim for pre-MBA roles because they might lead to other opportunities, such as manager/executive roles at startups. Some people might also take the experience and go into other tech-related finance roles. Not everyone wants to go to business school or a startup right after a job like IB or product management. The advantage of VC is that you can test the waters a bit and see if you actually like working with startups before joining one or paying for expensive business school tuition.

You mention they’ll go to Bschool or startups after, but assuming their background was impressive enough for the pre-MBA associate position, why won’t they just go straight for Bschool or startup?

You could potentially get into VC from any of those, but the MBB offer is probably best due to the brand name. PE consulting on turnarounds and search funds are less directly applicable because most startups don’t really need a turnaround, they need higher growth and more capital.

Thanks!