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  • The VC/PE Investment Apprenticeship

     

    Apply Now

    Program Overview

     

    Develop The Skills, Experience, & Network For Breaking Into The VC/PE Industry

     

    • Join The Investment Team Of VU Venture Partners: Become an Analyst, Associate, Principal, or Venture Partner (for Angels, Emerging Fund Managers, and individuals looking to join as a Partner at a VC/PE fund)

     

    • Learn & Work Alongside Top Performing Investors: 45+ yrs of VC/PE experience, investing $1.8B+, with over a 4x+ net cash returns as early investors in 15+ unicorns, including Beyond Meat, Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Venmo, FabFitFun, Flyr, Oculus, Oscar, Palantir, Wayflyr, Wish, etc.

     

    • Develop Your Skills: Deal sourcing, doing due diligence, and investment evaluation

     

    • Gain Broad Experience: Focus on seed through growth stage companies across Consumer, Enterprise, Fintech, Frontier Tech, Healthcare, and PropTech

     

    • Weekly Partner Meetings: Present your top investment opportunities each week

     

    • Investment Committees: Make and review investment recommendations

     

    • Build A Portfolio & Establish A Track Record: Make ~2-5 new portfolio company investments and ~1-3 follow-on investments per quarter (up to ~20 new portfolio companies investments and up to ~12 follow-on investments over 12 months), each targeting a 10x+ return, and co-invest with top-tier investors

     

    • Provide Portfolio Support: Help portfolio companies succeed

     

    • Profit Sharing Agreement: Share in the financial upside on the investments made

    Schedule

     

    VU's VC/PE Investment Apprenticeship is a 10 week program and starts week two of VU's 11 week Investor Accelerator program, after The VC/PE Masterclass in Week 1

     

    Individuals can do the VC/PE Investment Apprenticeship for 1-4 quarters (~3-12 months) depending on the amount of investment experience the individual wants to gain and the size of the track record the individual wants to build by investing in up to 20 companies.

     

    Upcoming Cohorts:

     

    U.S. & Europe Cohort Dates:

    • Winter 2023: Jan 9 - Mar 24

    • Spring 2023: Mar 27 - Jun 9

    • Summer 2023: Jun 12 - Aug 25

    • Fall 2023: Oct 2 - Dec 15

     

    Asia-Pacific Cohort Dates:

    • Winter 2023: Jan 30 - Apr 14

    • Spring 2023: Apr 17 - Jun 30

    • Summer 2023: Jul 10 - Sep 22

    • Fall 2023: Oct 9 - Dec 22

     

    Time Commitment:

    • Full-Time: 10 Weeks, 5 Days per Week, Mon-Fri, ~9am-5pm

    • Flexible: 10 Weeks, Minimum of ~20 Hours per Week

    Locations

     

    Join VU's programs from our San Francisco and Hong Kong offices, or virtually from anywhere!

     

    San Francisco Office: 1700 Montgomery St, Suite 440, San Francisco, CA 94111

     

    Hong Kong Office: The Workst@tion, 43 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, Hong Kong

    Cohort Members

     

    • Individuals Looking To Join VC/PE Funds As Analysts, Associates, Principals, & Partners

     

    • Individuals Looking To Join Or Launch Accelerators, Startup Studios, Family Offices, Corporate Venture Funds, & Institutional Funds

     

    • Emerging Fund Managers

     

    • Angel Investors & Family Offices

     

    • Experienced Professionals & Industry Experts Looking To Transition Their Career Into The VC/PE Industry

     

    • Entrepreneurs Who Want To Learn To Think Like Investors

     

    • Select Undergraduate & Graduate Students

  • "VU provides a "full-stack" VC preparation from deal sourcing to deal closing. It is a great opportunity to someone who wants to gain first-hand experience in VC,"

    Nancy Tong, Cohort 7

     

    "VU is simply fantastic! The program is for people who want a truly hands-on experience and have decided to get into VC. It gives you all the tools, all the contacts, and everything else to make it happen. The whole VU team is really dedicated and focused on the success of all cohort members,"

    Robert Checchia, Cohort 7 

  • Detailed Overview

    Forming Deal Sourcing Teams:

    At the end of Week 1 (The VC/PE Masterclass), Cohort members form deal sourcing teams focused on Consumer, Enterprise, Fintech, Frontier, Healthcare, and PropTech based on each cohort members interests, expertise, and background.

     

    Startup Madness:

    Week 2 is Startup Madness, where ~60-100 companies pitch VU's investment team from some of the top accelerators in the world. Throughout the rest of the program, there are also additional Pitch Days, where other startup accelerator companies pitch VU's investment team.

     

    Deal Flow Assignment:

    Each cohort member is assigned ~100 companies to review and reach out to. These companies are sourced and identified by VU's internal deal flow tracking system of top companies (~3-4K companies per quarter).

     

    Market Landscape Development:

    Each cohort member identifies, builds, and evaluates their own market landscapes within the sub-verticals of their deal sourcing team's focus.

     

    Sourcing Proprietary Deal Flow:

    Each cohort member generates their own proprietary deal flow after being trained in five core deal sourcing methodologies, and adds to the overall total deals sourced per quarter (~4-5K companies per quarter).

     

    Weekly Deal Sourcing & Management Team Meetings:

    Each of the deal sourcing teams meet weekly with VU's senior investment team to discuss their top deals, ask questions, get feedback, and request introductions to help with deal sourcing and due diligence.

     

    Weekly Partners Meetings:

    Each Monday, VU has a weekly Partners Meeting across all offices (SF, NYC, and Hong Kong), where each deal sourcing team presents their top two deals to the General Partners. A decision is then made to pass or move forward into deeper due diligence on each company. Each deal sourcing team competes their prior weeks top deal flow with the current weeks top deal flow, narrowing down to their best investment opportunities over ~3 months.

     

    Due Diligence:

    Each deal sourcing team completes multiple levels of due diligence, including initial, 2nd level, 3rd level, and final level of due diligence. Deeper due diligence includes market sizing (TAM, SAM, & SOM), competitive landscape analysis, evaluating the team, reviewing historical and projected financials, reviewing cap tables, speaking with current and potential customers, speaking with current and new investors, and building a waterfall and return analysis.

     

    Investment Committees:

    If there is an investment opportunity that has the conviction of one or more members of the investment team, the opportunity can be brought to the investment committee for review and approval. Bringing a deal to the investment committee does not require the consensus among a deal sourcing team. The investment committee includes VU's senior management team and one person from each of the other deal sourcing teams. Each quarter there are usually 5-10 investment committees, and each member of the cohort has the opportunity to pitch to as well as vote on one or more of the investment committees.

     

    Green Lighting Investments:

    Once an investment opportunity has received the "green light" at the investment committee, the investment opportunity is shared and presented to VU's VU's Investor Syndicate. VU's investors in the Investor Syndicate then select investments on a deal by deal basis and makes initial investments of ~$100K-$1M per company.

     

    If there is availability in the investment rounds, at VU's sole discretion, and with no obligation, current cohort members, VU alumni, and close relationships of cohort members and VU alumni may participate in the investment rounds if they are accredited investors. If a current cohort member participates in an investment round through VU's Investor Syndicate, there is no management fees or carried interest on their investment.

     

    Investments:

    Each cohort makes ~2-5 new portfolio company investments and ~1-3 follow-on investments per quarter.

     

    Possible outcomes: It's possible that each of the sourcing teams (Consumer, Enterprise, FinTech, Frontier, Healthcare, PopTech) will make one investment each during the quarter, but it's also possible that a deal sourcing team (e.g. the FinTech team) will make two investments or no investments by the end of the quarter.

     

    There is no requirement for a deal sourcing team to make an investment during the quarter. Having the strength to pass on making an investment, and not feeling the need to make an investment, is an important lesson and skill to gain. Equally important is gaining the strength to pull the trigger when you've identified a truly extraordinary opportunity that has ability to yield a 10-100x return and is worth the risk with real capital.

     

    At the end of day, the overall investment team is looking to make the best possible investments in any given quarter. It is important each cohort member acts as a team player, as all cohort members equally share in the upside across all investments made during the quarter.

  • "When I am sourcing for hiring analysts and associates for my fund, Venture University is at the top of my list" – Rusty Matveev, GP @ Global X Ventures

  • Disclaimer: *Foreign nationals participating in Venture University's program in the United States are not able to receive the profit sharing agreement as part of the Investor Accelerator unless they have a J1 Visa or other type of Visa allowing them to work in the United States. Individuals participating in Venture University's Investor Accelerator program outside of the United States are able to receive the profit sharing agreement. Individuals that participate in and complete the Investor Accelerator receive a profit sharing agreement that is tied to the future performance of the investments made during the program. Individuals that participate in Venture University's programs do not receive an equity stake in Venture University's investment funds or an equity stake in any of Venture University's portfolio companies. If an individual that participates in the Investor Accelerator is an accredited investor, then at Venture University's sole discretion, the individual may be allowed to, but is not required to, nor have any obligation to, invest in Venture University's investment fund or a portfolio company through Venture University's investment fund. There is no guarantee of any return of capital or profits from the investments made, as the risks of investing are high, the future outcomes from the investments are unknown, and could result in a 100% loss of invested capital in the portfolio companies, or result in a small or significant amount of profits for individuals in the Investor Accelerator which will be recognized as income and be taxable.

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