I recently had a chat with someone who had just left a VC position to join an early stage startup as an operator.
I asked her why she made the move — after all, isn’t VC a great lifestyle job? Plus, she was killing it as a VC.
She said, “I felt like I was always giving out my knowledge. I wanted to bring new knowledge in. It’s like a bank account; I wanted some deposits too, not just withdrawals 🙂 If I accumulate more knowledge and experience, even if I go back to VC, it will make me a better VC.”
I guess we all need to replenish our knowledge and emotional bank accounts from time to time. Changing careers is one way to do this, but it’s not the only way. Reading books, learning new skills, and talking to people all count. The important thing is to be aware of our knowledge bank account and not just withdraw from the same account all the time, but also make deposits regularly.