Moving abroad without putting career on pause — realistic from VC / finance?
I’m 31, based in London, and have been working in the same VC role for almost 10 years.
On paper, things are going well. I have a good job, strong sector experience, decent responsibility, and I’ve built a solid network. But I’m starting to feel bored of the same environment. Some of that is probably natural after being in one place for so long, but there are also frustrations with the setup which I suspect feel more acute because I’ve been there for years.
My girlfriend and I are also at a point where we don’t have much tying us to London or the UK, other than our jobs (she's in tech sales where remote-first opportunities are more common). No kids, no mortgage, no major family obligations. We’d both love to explore living and working abroad for a period, partly for the lifestyle and change of scenery, but I’m trying to sense-check whether there is a sensible way to do it without putting my career on pause.
One obvious suggestion might be to speak to my current firm about working abroad, but I don’t think that is especially realistic. We are a UK-focused fund, so there is not much commercial logic in me being overseas. We do not have international offices or a strategy that would obviously benefit from someone being based elsewhere.
The two main options I can see are:
- Start my own business This is appealing because it would create flexibility and a genuine new challenge. But it obviously comes with risk, and I’m conscious that “move abroad and start a business” could either be very exciting or a slightly romanticised way of blowing up a good career.
- Find a fund with international offices or a remote-first setup This feels like the cleaner option professionally, but I imagine these roles are highly competitive. I have a lot of industry experience, but I don’t necessarily have the academic credentials that some hiring managers may screen for, particularly if applying cold to larger / more institutional funds.
I realise another option is simply to move to another London-based fund, but that does not really solve the broader desire for a change of scenery / life experience. I’m also not looking to coast, downshift, or semi-retire. I still want to build a serious career, earn well, and keep progressing. I’m just questioning whether doing that has to mean staying in the same London-based environment indefinitely.
I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has made a similar move, especially from VC, PE, finance, consulting, law, or other London-centric professional services roles.
A few specific questions:
- Is it realistic to move abroad while continuing to progress professionally in VC / investing?
- Are there particular geographies where UK VC / finance experience translates well?
- Has anyone moved into an international fund, family office, venture studio, operator role, or startup role as a way to make this work?
- Has anyone started their own business partly to create geographic flexibility, and how did that play out?
- Did anyone take the leap, move abroad, and later regret the career impact?
- Conversely, did anyone stay put for career reasons and regret not doing it earlier?
Very open to challenge here. I’m trying to work out whether this is a sensible ambition with a practical route, or whether I’m underestimating how hard it is to combine geographic flexibility with continued career progression in this kind of field.