How Do You Pivot From Aerospace Engineering to Venture Capital?

In this episode of Careers in Finance, Denisia Pereira shares her remarkable journey from studying aerospace engineering to leading venture operations at TopDown Ventures. She opens up about working in microfinance in Honduras, navigating business school with a global lens, and learning to speak founders’ language while building a VC career.

Denisia’s story highlights what it takes to break into venture capital without a traditional finance background and why technical skills, curiosity, and adaptability matter more than a linear path. Her experiences offer valuable takeaways for engineers interested in startups, women in finance looking to enter the VC space, and professionals considering a career switch into early-stage investing.

If you’re exploring finance career options, especially in venture, you’ll get practical insight from someone who’s built a career from the ground up and across industries. Tune in to FinPod for this inspiring and informative conversation with Denisia Pereira.

Transcript

Meeyeon (00:10)
Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of Careers in Finance. Today I am joined by a wonderful friend of mine, Denisia and I am so happy to be able to interview a successful woman in finance. And I just want to open it up, I guess, just by asking, where did you get your interest in finance? How did you get started? Did you have a parent that was working in finance?

Where did your career and interest in finance begin? Because I know that you are also something very rare, a female engineer.

Denisia Pereira (00:46)
Indeed. Yeah, so it’s kind of funny. Both my parents were in finance. My mom kind of dabbled in it, but my dad was always an accountant. But they always, that was not an option being Indian kids. It was either doctor, engineer, or lawyer. Those were the three options. And my family was in aviation.

And that got me interested in it as well. I always wanted to be a pilot, but then sort of feared, you know, like I went and sort of went and worked with my uncle for a bit. And he took me up in the helicopter and everything and I was like, okay, I’m actually scared of heights. So I don’t think this is gonna work. And so thought of different careers in the aviation space.

And then finally, I agreed with my parents and said, okay, we’ll go the engineering route. So we moved to Canada so I could study aviation or aerospace engineering at Carleton and did that. But while doing that, I took some business courses, even though I couldn’t get credited for it,and was really interested in it, super interested in it. And one of a close friend of mine, met his father

and he’s a serial entrepreneur. And I was sitting down and having this like intense conversation with him. I was like, wow, this is super interesting. It’s like a whole different world that I’ve never been introduced to. And, you know, I was like, should I switch out of engineering? A lot of my friends were doing that at this point. It was like a third or fourth year of engineering. So very close to being done.

And I was like, should I just keep going or should I switch out? Because they wouldn’t allow us to do a co-degree like business as well as engineering. No, I guess it was either it wasn’t an option then or it was too late. I can’t remember. But so I couldn’t do it. And so decided since I’ve already invested so much in it, let’s just finish it and complete it. And so I

Meeyeon (02:45)
Really, you couldn’t do the dual major thing?

Denisia Pereira (03:05)
completed my engineering and then got recruited into a software company. So decided let’s do that and went to work there for a while. Started on the R &D side. It super interesting. They were moving from an on-premise platform to a web platform. And so I helped out with the whole ⁓ product management responsibility, a product management responsibility and sort of, you

learning about the user interface and what the customer wanted and stuff like that and building out the pages and stuff like that. So it super interesting. ⁓ And then once I was billed out, transitioned into the technical sales side of it because no one knew what the platform now did because it was a completely different platform. ⁓ And so I helped out the sales team and then slowly transitioned into the business side of the company.

And loved it. I just really, really enjoyed it. And it was like, okay, you know what? This is seem, I should go back to sort of the business finance side of it. The finance was not sort of top of mind at that point, but the business was. ⁓ And then decided I left, I quit my job, ⁓ took a year off. And during that year off, I was like, should I just do a volunteer thing overseas? Do something completely different?

And went to Spain. Sorry, went to a Spanish-speaking country because I wanted to learn Spanish. And went to Honduras. And there, it was, you know, the International Development Agency at the time, when it existed. They used to have internship opportunities across the world. And this was with a microfinance ⁓ organization, and they were looking to set up a minor

microfinance program in Honduras with a partner organization. And so, you know, they wanted me to lead that. And so I went there, did it, and realized.

Meeyeon (05:11)
And what is, for those that aren’t familiar that are listening, what is microfinance?

Denisia Pereira (05:16)
So Microflow, this specific, you know, there’s different programs. So it could be, you know, you’re lending, providing small loans to, you know, small, medium-sized businesses. That’s primarily sort of the definition of it, but it comes in different sort of program styles, if you will. And we were sort of building out

how do you work, like, building out sort of an add-on to a program that already existed for people with disabilities. So there was an education platform to teach them new skills. And so this microfinance program would be layered on to sort of give them the financial capabilities to then sort of execute or on their, you know, the business that they’re trying to start up.

And so it was a bit unique in that sense. As I was sort of trying to implement that, I realized I didn’t have, you know, the background in finance. You know, it was sort of part of having the microfinance piece, was also that they learned about ⁓ finance, right? And like putting together a ledger and all these things to help

with the accounting of the business, right? But obviously in an informal way, but still be able to ⁓ manage cash flow and things like that. And I was like, I don’t have the fundamentals. How am I going to teach them the fundamentals? So, put together a program to teach the participants. And so, yeah, so the whole experience was great. It was a great learning experience, but realized there was a lot of gap in my

knowledge and skill set as well. And so I decided to come back to Canada and do an MBA. So that would give me an opportunity to learn the finance piece, the business piece and all of it. So did that. This time, were you fluent in Spanish? I was, yeah. So, well, I was getting there. Part of it, I came back and started at Schulich. And part of the reason I selected Schulich was because it had the international MBA program. And with that, can

Meeyeon (07:26)
By this time, were you fluent in Spanish?

Denisia Pereira (07:42)
pick a specialization area of specialization and so I picked Latin America and you also get Spanish classes along with that, right? And so you can perfect your Spanish as well while I was doing the business degree as well. So it was a good ⁓ way and then I was still, so that’s when I met my now husband and so I was moving back and forth in Honduras and so it was great. I could still practice the,

it was not just learning it. Exactly. And so I was still practicing it, which is, think, very important of getting fluent in any language. And so, yeah, so I did that. And then it was by this time, know, my not husband was in Canada already. He immigrated here.

Meeyeon (08:11)
My God, it’s like so many parts of your life coming together in that chapter.

Denisia Pereira (08:36)
And so it’s like, okay, what’s the next chapter now? Do we all move back? I mean, he already moved to Canada, so you might as well find something here. ⁓ And that’s when I got introduced to someone at BDC and they were like, ⁓ you’ve got a great technical background, you’ve got a business background, we’re trying to provide loans to, sorry, technical businesses.

But we’re not able, we have to still figure out a strategy and how we go to sort of provide the lending because most of the software companies don’t have assets to lend against, right? So how do we do that from an underwriting perspective and stuff like that? And you know, are you able to sort of help us with that developing that strategy and what that execution model looks like? So came in, did that for a while. ⁓ You know, it was going really well. You know, they put together a team.

Similar to now, how you find a TD and BMO and so on, just focused on ⁓ tech companies. We did that at BDC as well. And then, so, okay, this is ⁓ interesting, but I really ⁓ want a bit more challenge. I’m not using my technical skills at all. And also on the business side as well, because it was a lot of just onboarding new companies to sign up to the lending side.

Meeyeon (10:08)
And this role was mainly just focused on the credit piece, right?

Denisia Pereira (10:12)
It was just focused on that. So I was not even doing any due diligence or anything, right? So we would just kind of gather all the documentation and set it, the credit team. So there was, you know, I was not finding it as challenging. And so through BDC, moved to, was offered a, they call it like a stodge. So an internal kind of internship with another department and was able to work

with the BDC IT Venture Fund and loved it because I was able to use sort of the technical ⁓ background as well as the finance, business and so on.

Meeyeon (10:54)
At this point, are you drawing on anything aerospace?

Denisia Pereira (10:57)
Besides just sort of understanding, think, you know, in venture, you have to sort of be able to pick up or understand the technology really quickly, right? Because it’s evolving so fast. ⁓ And now, you you see that with AI is just be able to sort of research and learn and be able to pick up on sort of, you know, what are the trends? What is sort of makes this company excel?

Meeyeon (11:10)
Mm-hmm.

Denisia Pereira (11:27)
In terms of their IP and stuff, compared to other companies providing the same sort of offering. And so I think the engineering side definitely helps with that

Meeyeon (11:39)
Yeah, piece where it’s, so my husband’s an engineer and he did his master’s in mechanical engineering, so something a little bit different. But the, I think the spirit of every engineer is that they love problem solving. And the thing with men, especially male engineers, their big thing is they all say this, which is, love Lego. It’s like building things and like, that’s a huge part of their childhood. But I find that anyone that comes from an engineering background

Denisia Pereira (11:50)
spirit

Meeyeon (12:09)
has a tendency to do really well in finance because they’re always focused on finding solutions just in a different setting than you would in, for example, aerospace engineering.

Denisia Pereira (12:13)
for finding solutions just in a different setting than you would, for example, aerospace engineering.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it could be true. I mean, I’m glad to hear that I never got into Lego. Neither did But, yeah. But my daughter is, so I’m glad to hear that. She loves it. She goes through Lego sets like crazy. So I’m glad to hear that. I’m hoping she gets into the… Even though I see a lot of more…

Meeyeon (12:25)
Neither did I.

Denisia Pereira (12:42)
male kids in the engineering classes than females. I’m hoping she gets into the technical side as well. But anyways, sorry what are you?

Meeyeon (12:55)
Yeah. And then so after the venture fund, were, so you started at BDC in mainly a credit capacity and then you’ve kind of grown internally at BDC. First you started at the IT venture fund and tell us what your day-to-day was like in that because I know so many people are becoming more and more interested in being at a venture capital company. like, think, so I’m not going to date myself and say when I graduated.

Denisia Pereira (13:06)
First, you started at…

What your day-to-day was like at that? Because I know so many people are becoming more and more interested in being at a venture capital company. So I’m not going to date myself and say when I graduated.

But.

Meeyeon (13:24)
But in the early 2010s, would say, the whole, like I think they still exist today, but it’s like, oh, I want to go to an investment bank. I want to be part of the investment banking analyst team. Like that was the number one path. was that you need to pick that you want to be an investment banking analyst or you go into capital markets and you go to sales and trading. And then there’s like general buy side. And for me being in Toronto, the places were the place that I ended up initially was Ontario teachers pension plan, their CPPIB. But

Denisia Pereira (13:27)
Yeah.

That you want to be an investment banking analyst, or you go to capital markets and you go to sales and trading, and then there’s like general buy side. And for me, being in Toronto, the places where, the place that I ended up initially was Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, there’s CPP IV,

Meeyeon (13:54)
venture, like VC, was not really a piece that people talked about back then. It was still kind of like relatively unknown. But I think,

Denisia Pereira (13:54)
venture, like VC, was not really a piece that people talked about back then. It was still kind of like relatively unknown, but,

think as, especially in the US, like Sequoia and all of those places start to come up, people become more more interested in that path. I’m wondering, maybe you could share, what was it like when you first started? Like the day to day, so to speak, for the IT venture.

Meeyeon (14:02)
as you know, especially in the US like Sequoia and all of those places start to come up, people become more and more interested in that path. So I’m wondering, maybe you could share what was it like when you first started, like the day-to-day, so to speak, for the IT venture fund and then take us through how you grew in BDC and where you are now, because you’re still in the VC space.

Denisia Pereira (14:18)
I am, yeah. So when I first started out, and it sort of progressed throughout my career at BDC, I mainly sort of focused on the due diligence side of things, so I stayed on the investment side.

And so, mainly due diligence, you’d be introduced to a company, you’d look at all the data that they provided, the data room, look at the pitch deck, look at all the financials, projections, statements, so on. So the IT venture fund focused on sort of series A and above. So a bit more later stage, I’m saying later stage because right now I’m focused on very early stage companies.

And so you had a lot of data, them selling to customers and so on. And so you could do cohort analysis and determine, see how they’re doing in terms of growth of new customers as well as in terms of retaining existing, right? So you do that in-depth analysis and figure out if this is sort of a right company.

And that’s just on the financial side, but then you also look at the technical side, as I mentioned before, and sort of understand the technology, understand the IP, and especially with software companies. IP is really tricky. Deep tech, all these other sort of type hardware type companies, there is sort of tangible IP there, but with software it’s very hard.

You know, it’s different. And so really understanding sort of how the company can defend itself ⁓ and excel in terms of product offering and so on to stay sort of the lead in its space, right? So, like all of this, you kind of have to put together this analysis, put together an investment memo and then sort of pitch to the rest of the team

for the initial or follow-on investment. And so that sort of would be ⁓ the day-to-day ⁓ when I was working at the BDC IT venture fund. then as I sort of grew, so I started out as an analyst and then sort of grew into that role as senior analyst and then associate ⁓ and through sort of, ⁓ during my career, sorry, at BDC.

And then you just kind of take on more responsibilities, but I always still focus on the due diligence side of things. But take on more responsibilities like sourcing the companies, ⁓ you know, working on the term sheets, putting together the term sheets, negotiations, take on more responsibility on the legal side. So working with the legal team, making sure, you know, that we’ve got all the different aspects of the term sheets in the legals.

You know, you’re always looking to protect the fund from a downside perspective because, most of it, generally, you’re always looking at the upside, but you have to also protect the fund on the downside. Like, what if the company doesn’t do as well? You know, how do we protect our securities moving forward as, you know, the company fundraisers and they’re, you know, onboarding new investors and so on. And so there’s a lot of sort of these

different variables that is really interesting when you’re putting together the term sheet. And so as you’re sort of growing in your career, you take on sort of more responsibilities, work closely with the partners, sort of from the start to the end, close of a deal, and then also on portfolio, supportive management. And that’s also a very critical piece. And I saw that as I was sort of growing in my…

in my career as well, the portfolio support is a big piece as well. It’s not just sort of the due diligence and figuring out if this is a strong company, but the due diligence provides sort of the gaps of where the company needs to focus to excel and grow. And then the portfolio support and management piece is really important to help with sort of getting them to that next milestone, right? So if that piece is missing, especially if you’re a lead investor, if that piece is missing, then the company just doesn’t know what to do

to get to the next stage, right? And so ⁓ that’s sort of, you know, why I really like sort of the fund that I’m with today is because they’ve got a platform piece, they’ve got the finance, they’ve got the HR piece, they’ve got a network of advisors that they bring on board as the company’s looking to go to market or looking at all the different aspects. And so…

And I think also just being in a niche ⁓ space. So the current fund that I’m at is called Top Down Ventures, and we invest in early-stage software companies that sell to or through the managed service provider channel. And so it’s very niche, right? And so, you know, the three founders, ⁓ they’ve started their own businesses, well-known businesses, you know, they’ve taken…

IPO, being acquired by Tesla, Kaseya, and so on. And so they really know what it takes to sell to the MSP space and what go-to-market strategies really work. And so they started investing with their own capital from all the success they’ve made from their exits and started to invest with their own capital.

And then again, saw success there and now they’ve launched the venture fund ⁓ and I’ve come on board to sort of help with all the operations pieces, fundraising and so on. ⁓ so I think this is sort of now the next step of my career, where it’s ⁓ having ownership in a fund, building out sort of all the different aspects

of the fund and then sort of looking at even our second fund right now. so it’s, you know, another part of sort of being in venture capital where, you know.

Meeyeon (20:56)
As you grow in your career though, your role changes so much. In the beginning, a lot of people I think really enjoy the due diligence piece, the research, getting to know the different companies.

But then as you grow, a lot of it becomes, I don’t want to say like a sales role, but it kind of is in that all of a sudden you’re having to go and see what companies are out there. You’re having to build relationships and then see what the next one to invest in is. What is your favorite part of your role today?

Denisia Pereira (20:59)
Mm-hmm.

You grow a lot of it, say, like a sales role, but it kind of is.

Meeyeon (21:23)
What is your favorite part of your role today versus what was your favorite part of your role when you started the venture?

Denisia Pereira (21:28)
So yes, when I started in venture, it was the due diligence piece really getting to know the company, really seeing sort of the different variables that kind of make it make this company a success, right? And like getting into the depth of the sort of analysis. And then it sort of moved into term sheet creation and negotiation and sort of really thinking of all the playing out forward. So, you know, like what is it going to take to get from here to exit

and how do we protect the fund and ensure that we maximize our returns. So that was the next really interesting part and I really enjoyed. And then now I find it’s just the different aspects of really running a venture fund, right? So with BDC, we didn’t have to fundraise because BDC was RLP.

Now, being in fundraising, there’s so many different aspects. You have to think about marketing, have to think about sort of, ⁓ you know, all the back-end operations of the fund. You have to think about the financials. You have to think about, I don’t know if I mentioned fundraising, but fundraising, is a huge, big deal, but then investor. And then also, you know, just building out your network, right, of family offices,

Meeyeon (22:40)
Reaching is very stressful.

Denisia Pereira (22:51)
institutional investors, which I never had to do before. And then the data room side, all the documents that we require. And so there’s just so many different aspects to a venture fund that I’m learning now. And it’s really exciting and it keeps me going.

Meeyeon (23:14)
So, Denisia, I have one last question for you, which is if you could give young Denisia a piece of advice after when you were joining BDC, what would it be? What is the one piece of advice that you could give all of our listeners who aspire to be in your shoes?

Denisia Pereira (23:28)
The one piece of advice I’d give is, I guess, to be open to opportunities. Many young professionals that have come into the of the venture space, you know, I find, which is great, but very ambitious and sort of they have that end goal of being a partner. But in venture, which is very different from other sort of, you know, PE type roles,

building and being part of scaling and growing a company I think is a really important part of venture or being a venture partner. Just because like if you’re, you you have to be on the board, you will be guiding companies, you will be looking at sort of what that exit look like.

You will be trying to work with the company to get to that exit stage, right? Because I mean, we’ve got five to seven years and we have to get these companies to return the capital. ⁓ And so, you know, having that experience is great. And if you’re sort of sticking in finance, it’s hard to sort of gain that experience, that operational experience.

But, you know, there are opportunities while you’re at the fund to take up projects here and there that will sort of, know, work, that allows you to work with the company directly on a specific project. You know, say for example, they’re looking for a line of credit. You can work with them to sort of work with different institutions to find sort of the best offering and sort of help them

understand what those offerings are and sort of what, you know, why this ⁓ term sheet is better than the next, right? So that’s just one example. And so taking up sort of opportunities like that will give sort of that operational experience. But, you know, I think at the end of the day, if you want to be a partner, you will still have to sort of consider going back and gaining that experience as well. Because then you’re able to, like I said, you know, not only provide advice at the board level, but also be able to communicate

using the same sort of terminology that a founder would understand. Or you show that you’ve been in those shoes, right? So that you can sort of relate to them easily. But yeah, so that’s what I would say is sort of my advice to someone that wants to get into venture capital.

Meeyeon (26:58)
And so I think that this has been our most informative, educational, and very easy to follow linear podcast we’ve had so far. And I know a lot of our CFI members have really deep interests in pursuing a career in venture.

So I hope that whoever is listening, especially if you are one of the female listeners and you’re looking for a career path in venture, I hope you’ve been able to see yourself in Denisia, to a degree, and that if you are interested in a career path in VC, I hope that this has been helpful, and until next time, we’ll see you all later.