August 28, 2026
Venture capital is a young industry, but it can sometimes feel like a closed one. We think it doesn’t have to be this way. At Calm/Storm, we run our Visiting Analyst program with a simple idea in mind: give talented young people a real seat at the table early.
Not just to learn how venture works, but to experience what it means to work alongside founders, operators and investors, and to form their own view on what they want to build later.
Our Visiting Analyst program runs in six-month cycles.
Venture is not one job. There is sourcing, research, founder conversations, investment decisions, portfolio work, fundraising, events and everything that happens in between.
We want our analysts to get a broader view of how a fund actually works. Instead of siloing tasks, we plunge our analysts into every operational layer. As our current VA Matteo puts it:
"At Calm/Storm, you will be thrown straight into the VC storm from day one. You will get exposure to every side of a VC fund, from scouting new investments and speaking with incredible founders, to supporting our portfolio companies and investor relations efforts."
Because we believe that understanding venture means understanding more than how to analyse a company. It means seeing how people make decisions, how relationships can create opportunities, how companies and markets evolve, how communities can grow, and a lot more.
We also don't want the program to be about producing the “right” answer.
Venture is about building conviction. Our analysts are encouraged to challenge ideas, ask questions and tell us when they disagree. But there is an important second part: if they challenge an idea, we want them to be able to back it up. That means learning how to communicate clearly. How to get the important point across quickly. How to explain why they believe something.
And it means becoming comfortable with the fact that their view might change. In venture, there is rarely a perfect answer. Decisions are made with incomplete information, assumptions are tested, and perspectives evolve as new information comes in.
There is another reason we care about this program. Spending six months around founders and entrepreneurs changes your idea of what is possible. We want our analysts to experience those conversations early. To hear how founders think about their businesses, how they make decisions, what they get wrong, and how they respond when things don't go to plan.
They don't have to leave the program wanting to become a VC. In fact, we don't expect that. Maybe they discover that you want to start a company. Maybe they want to work at a startup. Maybe they want to invest. Maybe they realise they want to do something completely different.
We also believe venture needs younger generations involved.
They use different products. They move through different communities. They have different reference points and different questions. They can spot changes in behaviour that might look insignificant to someone who has been looking at the same market for twenty years.
Venture is ultimately about making decisions about the future. It would be strange not to have people in the room who will be living in that future.
Bringing more young people into venture also helps make the industry more diverse. Just as we aim to back diverse founders and companies working in areas that have historically been overlooked, from femtech to tabootech, we want that diversity reflected in our own team. Different nationalities, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives make us better at what we do.
Our current VA, Julinka, is a food scientist with an interest in health. Working at Calm/Storm she is able to leverage her scientific perspective, whilst filling her backpack with finance skills, learning from the investment team on a daily basis. She says:
“The diverse backgrounds in the team complement each other, and from the very beginning I felt heard and appreciated in my perspective. Inclusivity is absolutely one of Calm/Storm’s greatest aspects for me, as I pivoted from a science career into venture capital.”
That's why we keep opening the door. Because venture should not only be about investing in the next generation of companies. It should also be about making sure the next generation has a place in venture.
If we do it well, our analysts don't just leave knowing more about how Calm/Storm works, but with a better understanding of venture, entrepreneurship and HealthTech, and, hopefully, a few ideas about what they might want to build themselves.
We are currently accepting applications for our upcoming January Visiting Analyst cohort! The program is entry-level, but we are looking for more than a CV. A background in startups or healthcare is a plus, but genuine curiosity and passion for these areas matter just as much. Previous VC experience is certainly welcome, but it is not a requirement. What matters most is a willingness to learn, form a point of view and challenge ideas. Apply for our Visiting Analyst position here.
