College Kids as Venture Capitalists? You bet!
Over the past 2 years, I have been a part of a Fellowship program at .406 Ventures, a $170M early stage technology venture capital firm based in Boston, MA. The program is designed to introduce highly entrepreneurial college students to the venture capital process and ultimately grow their entrepreneurial skills so they can start awesome technology companies.
The 13 Student Fellows represent campuses all along the east, from Harvard to Carnegie Mellon. Each Fellow is responsible for identifying exciting high growth technology start-ups founded by students in their school, collaborating with the other Fellows and .406 investment professionals to evaluate the opportunities and then connect their classmates to the vast resources of one of the highest regarded venture firms in the Boston tech scene. This past year, the group introduced over 250 start-ups to .406.
There were a ton of learning opportunities throughout the program:
- Networking - I got to meet so many cool people through deal sourcing for .406. In fact, one of them is now my business partner.
- Learning - I got to observe pitches and participate in the deliberation process after. Now when it’s my turn to pitch, I know exactly what to do.
- Internships - the partnership knows everybody, and connects the fellows with great internships. I just finished one at a .406 portfolio company.
- The Fellows - the group consists of incredible students doing amazing things at their schools. As the program grows, so does the network.
For any current students considering the Fellowship, it has been a cornerstone of my college experience, and I passionately recommend it.
