VC roles for MBA students

There’s a smattering of ways to get involved with venture capital and entrepreneurship as an MBA student. This list is not exhaustive, so please let me know what I missed! Also, I copy & pasted language directly from the applications.

If you’re looking to learn about investing, and want a community, consider:

Contrary

• Application link: https://contrary.com/blog/venture-partner-apps-2022
• Virtual national info session on Sept 6th. RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/gJWeDfvF
• Process: ”generally includes 3 steps: a chat with a member of the Contrary HQ team, a casual interview with existing VPs at your school (if applicable), and a conversation with our founder Eric.”

Dorm Room Fund

• About DRF: “DRF helps college, masters, and PhD student founders from day 0 with capital, expert advice, and the power of the DRF community: a family of VCs, fellow builders, and talented operators who have founders’ backs. Our model is unique: we train top student investing talent at universities across the country to identify and directly invest in their most impressive peers even before founders reach traditional channels — when they’re still building in their dorm rooms. DRF student investment partners graduate to become VCs, founders, and operators at the best companies in the world.”
• 2022 student partner applications: “Our applications open on September 6th and we’ll be accepting Investment Partner applications until September 30 for the Boston & Northeast team. Pre-interest form here.”

Rough Draft Ventures

• Info: https://roughdraft.vc/who-we-are/
• Application: https://roughdraft.vc/get-involved/

Pear VC

• “You can learn more about Pear and our amazing alumni track record at pear.vc/fellows. The application is live here (please apply by 9/10/22).
• The Pear Fellowship is ideal if you’re looking to: Build a strong foundation to launch a successful VC career, Learn firsthand how early-stage investing works, Be challenged and supported by the best seed stage investors in the industry, Gain hands-on practice through deal simulation, Lead on-campus events to build a community at HBS.
• Please apply here by 9/10/22.”

NFX

• “NFX is a leading Seed fund, having recently raised Fund III of $450M, that was created by successful entrepreneurs to help the next generation of founders. NFX has invested in 250+ companies including many outstanding companies such as Trulia, Lyft, DoorDash, Poshmark, Honeybook, Mammoth Biosciences, Outdoorsy, etc.”
• Application: https://jobs.nfx.com/jobs?q=NFX&_ga=2.121252552.1321192214.1661889295-1372855398.1661889295

Pillar VC

• Pillar VC hires MBA venture associates during the school year! Applications are open: https://www.pillar.vc/careers/venture-associates/

XFund

• Application live in January on Xfund.com/jobs
• Process: Fill out an application, go through an interview, decisions go out and the onboarding process begins

If you’re a founder looking for a community while learning about investing:

.406 Ventures

• Information: https://www.406ventures.com/writable/resource_files/student_fellows_program_overview.pdf
• Interested undergrad & grad entrepreneurs send resume to .406 at studentfellows@406ventures.com

Sigma Squared

• Sigma Squared Society is a “global community of entrepreneurs who are on a mission to transform broken industries and create a positive impact. You’ll get access to the best young founders on the planet!”
• Requirements: you must be <26 and working on an impactful startup
• Referrals are required to apply, so DM a current fellow for a referral

Soma Capital

• https://somafellows.com/
• “If accepted, win $100k immediately (no valuation cap, no discount no price pressure) to build your best ideas. ****Soma Cap can keep supporting you all the way to your IPO with follow-on investments and we can bring Tier 1 VC’s to lead your rounds — we’ve been very close for decades with the top folks @ Tiger, Sequoia, a16z, Accel, NEA, Insight, etc. from a lifetime of building and investing in startups ourselves!
• Focus: B2B / SaaS, Web3, Fintech, HealthTech, Space & Frontier Tech, and Consumer — we are generalists!”

Accel

• https://www.seedtoscale.com/
• “Accel’s curated learning community to help founders build venture fundable startups. We partner with early stage startups to help with market sizing, product, GTM, and fundraising”

If you’re looking to invest your own money & are accredited, consider angel investing your own $$.

If you’re looking to make investments with minimal oversight, consider joining a scout program at an institutional VC (you usually need to know a partner pretty well to get this role).