“Venture capital professionals arguably used to be a more homogeneous group: the founders and pioneers of the business, and their hand-picked proteges who had grown up as venture capitalists under close supervision and with rigorous training. The explosion of venture capital in the late 90’s has led to a much broader range of people becoming partners in venture capital firms. Many partners today have little venture capital experience. Instead they have background as executives, entrepreneurs, attorneys or recruiters.

A VC with an executive recruiting background can be incredibly helpful at recruiting. But there’s probably still no substitute for the VC who has been a VC for 20 years and has seen more strange startup situations up close and personal than you can imagine.