I show that venture capital market shocks have real consequences for high-skill knowledge workers. Plausibly exogenous shocks to local VC increase local startup hiring but also increase startup labor turnover. Workers that join startups in hotter VC markets are less likely to remain at the firm and more likely to leave the universe of VC-backed firms within two years. While job duration in hot markets falls across occupations, effects on career advancement differ by role: STEM workers who enter booming VC markets advance slower in seniority in the following two to five years, while Business workers are less affected. I show that differences in technology-skill specificity across occupations can explain this heterogeneity. The results indicate that shocks to risk capital can have lasting effects on knowledge worker careers.