Keith Rabois: Don't Be a VC, Build a StartUp or Cry Later
Keith Rabois, venture capital titan and Reddit-Yelp-Opendoor boardroom boss, dropped truth bombs on 'The Rise' podcast on a Thursday in 2025. He warned freshly minted grads that wanting to jump straight into VC is 'a bad idea,' because apparently, watching deals on TV isnāt real venture capital knowledge. Instead, the advice is grimly optimistic: either join or found startupsāpreferably with no exceptions if you're technical! Rabois predicts that diving straight into VC means by 30 you'll have 'maybe two shots at a startup,' so good luck catching that entrepreneurship express train. Delian Asparouhov echoes: no shortcuts, only junior generalist trench work in 'high-growth' startups for those wanting VC cred.
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Keith Rabois suggests you must 'build or join startups' before eyeing venture capital, because apparently your shiny diploma isn't enough to fake two decades of actual experience. VC isn't a snack, itās a 20-year dogged grind. Spoiler: being 22 doesn't cut it.
Forget the VC glamour; Keith says if you havenāt survived a startup nightmare by 30, youāre just a cute junior generalist dreaming too big.
Meanwhile, somewhere a startup founder cries saying: 'I took all the risks, why canāt I just skip to the Viktor of Venture Capital?'
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 10/31/2025 | Author: Lauren Edmonds
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