Two of TempoCap’s recent interns Harry Coombes and Gabriel Daudy shared their experience of working on the TempoCap internship programme.

From working with investment team members, participating in investment committee meetings, supporting our existing portfolio companies and sourcing and screening new potential investments, our internships provide unparalleled exposure for someone early in their career to high-growth technology sectors and to the management teams that are building successful businesses within them.

Read their internship blogs below!

Harry Coombes

I began my internship at TempoCap by attending a routine Monday morning meeting. What immediately struck me was that all decisions being taken were unanimous, despite the presence of multiple teams representing each of TempoCap’s locations. I witnessed first-hand how there is a truly collective process at the organisation when it comes to picking and supporting portfolio companies.

I spent the remainder of the week with my fellow intern Gabriel, associate Lou and analyst Zara. The majority of my work was split into three themes: conducting market research into the industries of prospective companies, assisting with TempoCap’s work on ESG, and providing a young person’s insight into tech start-ups.

When it came to researching industries, I would first aim to understand the prospective company’s business model and their USP, before looking into the global, US, UK and European market size of their industry, as well as its CAGR and market size forecast. The research process showed me that venture capital is not just about investing in entrepreneurs and their ideas, but also about investing in their wider, expanding industries.

The ESG work proved to be the most challenging of my tasks. Despite ESG becoming an increasingly important aspect of business considerations, there is currently no uniform standard of comparisons. This meant that interesting issues could arise, for instance, when taking into account European practices.

Finally, my work looking for prospective companies from a young person’s angle was the most thought-provoking. I would research companies on Pitchbook to see if they matched TempoCap’s criteria in terms of their revenue, industry, and number of employees, ultimately aiming to bring forward promising businesses that older generations would be less exposed to.

I had a very limited knowledge of how venture capital funds work prior to my internship. Zara and Lou thoroughly explained how to conduct market research and would generously discuss any questions about the venture capital world that Gabriel and I had.

I had won my internship knowing that I would like to be part of a start-up team in the future. Although TempoCap invests in growth-stage companies, the insights I have ultimately gained from a VC perspective have been invaluable in understanding the indicators that are suggestive of a scalable business.

Gabriel Daudy

During my internship, I helped to compile an ESG report on several of Tempo Cap’s investments, as well as collating financial income statements for potential investments. I also compiled a list of investment companies popular with Gen Z and utilised recent academic research to understand how to support economic prosperity in developing nations.

While conducting my work, I was surprised at the complexity involved in researching and understanding a new market. Finding reliable sources of information online was initially difficult but after some assistance from associate Lou and analyst Zara, I was able to build a series of directories to gather what I needed. I especially enjoyed using Pitchbook to try and discover new information. I also found analysing undervalued investment opportunities through the comparison of market capital with competition a fascinating challenge.

I learned continually during my internship, especially about how to approach understanding financial markets and in the field of growth investing. Subsequently, this is an area that I now consider to be a future career option for me.

Overall, my experience at TempoCap has cemented my interest in studying an economics-related course at university. It has also changed my perception of the benefits that the markets can provide, through allocating capital to start-ups that will then allow them to provide better services for consumers.

Compared to my time at school, interning at the office allowed for far greater collaboration and independence in the work that I did. For future interns, I suggest that you throw yourself into the work at hand and feel secure in the fact that Lou and Zara are very supportive if you encounter any challenges. Bringing your own interests to your time at TempoCap is also invaluable in personalising your research and finding new opportunities.