New data: VC pay from analyst to partner
Plus, building a healthcare unicorn in 3 years
It’s ironic that I’m writing this because when I tried to get a job in venture capital (VC) in business school, no one would hire me. At the time, no fund was interested in a dedicated digital health hire, especially one with so little experience. So I started Rock Health. I went from having zero VC experience to co-running a fund and learning everything along the way. Today, I’m a board partner at Giant Ventures.
VC is a great job. It’s interesting and intellectually stimulating work, good pay, and you spread your risk across multiple companies. But most importantly, working with and supporting founders feels meaningful. You develop connections with visionaries seeking to change the world, and you get to play a role, however small, in bringing that change to fruition.
I get a lot of questions about VC. How much do VCs make? What is a Board Partner? Are EIRs paid? How can I break into the industry?
I answer these questions, and more, on the blog this week.
More career advice:
The Heart of Healthcare celebrates 5 years!
This month, we celebrate five years of The Heart of Healthcare Podcast! Thank you to everyone who’s listened, shared, disagreed, or sent a kind note. You’ve helped this little podcast grow into something much bigger than we could have imagined.
Recent episodes:
💊 Can AI Build the First New Pharma Giant in Decades? | Formation Bio CEO Ben Liu — Apple, Spotify, YouTube
🦄 Building A Healthcare Unicorn In Three Years | Assort Health Founders Jeff Liu and Jon Wang — Apple, Spotify, YouTube
📣 Digital Health Download: July 2026 — Apple, Spotify, YouTube
‼️ Healthcare’s Oppenheimer Moment | Eric Larsen — Apple, Spotify, YouTube
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I had a similar experience, and your post resonates with me: My dream has always been to join the VC world. Now after 15 years as an operator, I still internally desire being on "the investor side" of the fence, but realize that the things I love doing (building, growing, seeing something come to reality) is very different when functioning as a partner at a VC fund compared to being an embedded operator.
I've been fortunate to be on both the VC and operator side, and so I'm not trying to share those insights (just like you did) with others to help companies succeed: https://theoperatingroomhc.substack.com/
Would seem like a great opportunity for us to partner together on things