Rebel Venture Fund Reflections — Background Information
As an undergraduate student at UNLV, I was tasked with leading the university’s venture capital fund, Rebel Venture Fund (“RVF”). In this series, I will discuss my experiences as CEO, including the benefits of such a responsibility and the numerous challenges our team faced.
Before I begin writing the series, I’d like to provide you with some context while reading the series:
Formation of Rebel Venture Fund
The Rebel Venture Fund was originally formed through the generous donation of $500,000 by Jeff Moskow to help students learn about venture capital through real-world experiences. All returns made from investments would be reinvested back into the fund, and nobody involved with the RVF would ever receive any compensation.
Initially, the entire RVF team was comprised of graduate students; the students were responsible for deal flow generation, due diligence, recruitment, and every other operational task associated with running a VC fund.
Additionally, a management board and an advisory board, which was composed of local venture capitalists, angel investors, lawyers, etc., were formed to oversee the fund. The students reported to the boards once each month, and informal training sessions were also held with individual board members as needed.
Given the small size of the fund, the RVF would make angel-sized investments of $25,000 and co-invest with others in the community. As a result, developing strong relationships in the community would be vital to the success of the fund.
Joining the RVF
In early 2013, my friend, Joseph Ninco, and I joined the RVF as the first undergraduate students as we began to learn about startups and venture capital alongside some incredibly smart people. Prior to joining, we knew little to nothing about venture capital, but we absorbed as much information as possible. Soon after we joined, the fund made its first investment in Walls360, who continues to be a premier provider of high quality wall graphics.
In 2014, after we gained a little over a year of experience, many of our superstar graduate students, including Rey Dossantos, left the university. As a result, Joseph and I, along with a newer, fearless recruit named Roddrick Reed, stepped up and took the reigns of fund.
My stories in “Rebel Venture Fund Reflections” will reflect on our journey from early 2014 through the spring of 2015 (when I graduated and ultimately moved to San Francisco).
I hope you will take something away from the series! First up is “Part 1 — Deal Flow Generation,” which discusses the difficulties of generating quality deal flow for a new, student-run venture capital fund.
“Rebel Venture Fund Reflections” Series:
Part 3 — Recruitment
