Project Background
Andreessen Horowitz is considering hiring you from an operating role at a high-growth B2B SaaS company into an advisory/investing role focused on helping portfolio founders with go-to-market and product execution. As part of the interview, the partners want to assess whether you can make a structured transition plan rather than just explain your motivation.
You would join a small platform team of 6 people supporting 28 active portfolio companies. The firm wants you to become founder-facing within 90 days while preserving credibility with CEOs, building an internal sourcing perspective, and avoiding disruption to your current employer during your exit.
Key Stakeholders
- The hiring partner wants you to ramp quickly and show differentiated value to founders.
- Portfolio CEOs want practical advice, not generic frameworks.
- The platform lead wants repeatable playbooks that scale across companies.
- Your current manager wants a clean handoff and minimal business disruption.
- The investment team wants you to contribute to diligence on new deals by the end of the quarter.
Constraints
- You have 12 weeks before your first formal performance review.
- You can spend no more than $75,000 on external research, events, and expert support during ramp-up.
- You may support at most 8 portfolio companies directly in your first 90 days.
- Two portfolio CEOs have already requested help on urgent launches in the first month.
- You must complete your operating-role transition in 4 weeks with no backfill approved.
Complications
- The hiring partner expects immediate founder impact, but the platform lead prefers you spend the first month building reusable advisory materials.
- One high-profile portfolio CEO is skeptical that operators can succeed in VC and may disengage if your early support is not concrete.
- Your current company is entering annual planning, making your exit timing sensitive.
Your Task
- Build a 90-day execution plan for transitioning into the advisory/VC role.
- Define how you would prioritize founder support, internal ramp-up, and deal diligence.
- Propose stakeholder communication and handoff plans for both firms.
- Identify the top execution risks and mitigation steps.
- Define success metrics for your first-quarter performance.
