Welcome 2016–2017 CV Student Fellows!

We’re very excited to kick off one of our favorite initiatives here at Chicago Ventures — our Student Fellows program.

Now in its fourth year, the program was launched by Ezra Galston in an effort to connect with and learn from the most entrepreneurial, curious and bright students in startup ecosystems throughout the central part of the country.

Our Student Fellows act as boots on the ground in cities like Omaha, Iowa City and Cincinnati, sharing the inside scoop on their local ecosystem, providing perspective on industries we want to learn more about, and scouting companies. And we think they get something out of it too: a first-hand view into how a venture firm operates, access to our team, portfolio companies, and networks, and — importantly — a network of their fellow Fellows that they can tap into for the rest of their professional lives.

We continue to be blown away by what our Fellows have accomplished so early in their careers. This year’s class includes Founders (of companies like GreekRide, Nantucket Buckets, Eyesight Creative, Bewdly Coffee, and Zcruit); students who have worked at tech companies (like Google and Flywheel); bitcoin and blogging enthusiasts; some who’ve had experience managing their student-run coworking spaces and entrepreneurship groups (like The Anvil and Founders) and on-campus venture funds (like Midway Ventures, University Growth Fund, and Redhawk Ventures).

We’re looking forward to getting to know them better over the next 7 months, including during a 3-day trip to Chicago where we introduce them to our portfolio companies, other local startups, and inspiring young entrepreneurs.

We hope you enjoy getting to know them as well:

Martin Aguinis | @martinaguinis
Indiana University [Bloomington, IN]
Martin Aguinis is a Senior at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business studying Marketing and Technology Management. He is 1 of 18 in a class of 8,000 students named a Wells Scholar — Indiana University’s most competitive merit scholarship. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, he is fully bilingual and brings forth a multicultural perspective.

Martin has worked at Google as an Associate Product Marketing Manager, where he helped lead various virtual reality projects at YouTube. Previously, he founded GreekRide (an application that gives university students safe and efficient transportation), worked for several technology companies across 3 countries, and served on the board of the Shoemaker Scholars. Martin has gained extensive decision-making and leadership experience, which has proven invaluable in acquiring incubation space and consulting multiple startup companies from their idea-to-launch phases. His goal is to become an expert in business, give back to the community, and positively impact the world around him.

Danny Baker
Northwestern University [Chicago, IL]
Danny is a rising senior at Northwestern University studying mathematical methods in social sciences (MMSS), economics, and classical studies. Over the past year, he founded the first startup to provide predictive analytics for college football recruiting. In his free time, he enjoys playing Settlers of Catan, chess, basketball, and soccer with friends. Leading his soccer team to an intramural championship this past Spring was the crowning moment of an otherwise undecorated athletic career.

Lara Butler
Creighton University [Omaha, NE]
Lara Butler is a golf-loving Minnesota girl, pursuing a double major in Finance and Marketing at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. She currently manages a large cap domestic equity portfolio of the university’s endowment funds, and works at Flywheel–a local Omaha startup! She has previously worked for a startup accelerator, and was accepted to the 2016 Twin Cities Startup Week fly-in program. In addition to loving all things entrepreneurial, Lara’s favorite TV show is The Office, and her favorite holiday is NCAA March Madness. She currently holds a Bloomberg Certification and hopes to someday work in venture capital.

Jordan Gonen | @jrdngonen
Washington University in St. Louis [St Louis, MO]
Hi I’m Jordan — I’m passionate about finding things that provide a lot of value and helping them grow. I’ve sold tomatoes, worked for companies of all sizes, and have worked in venture capital. I also really like to write. I’ve published a public blog post every single day for the past 6 months, and have lately been featured on Forbes, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur Mag, writing about growth, marketing, and venture capital. I also really like hummus, traveling, and most sports.

Jake Hurwitz | @jhurwitz
The University of Colorado Boulder [Boulder, CO]
Hey, I’m Jake, a senior at The University of Colorado Boulder and the founder of Eyesight Collective. I moved from New York to Colorado when I was eighteen and have fallen deeply in love with Boulder’s startup scene over the years. I have a passion for helping students and young professionals turn THEIR passions into careers, through videos, podcasts, workshops and events. I spend most of my free time either at Spark, our local student co-working space, exploring the Rocky Mountains on my mountain bike and snowboard, or cooking as many varieties of a pasta dish as humanly possible!

Wiley Jones | @wileycwj
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [Champaign, IL]
Wiley Jones is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying Mechanical Engineering, minoring in Electrical Engineering. On campus, he works closely with Founders, an organization working to empower student founders in the campus entrepreneurial ecosystem. With Founders he has worked on many initiatives, including an 8-week accelerator called Startup Bootcamp, as well as “Microgrants” which helps fund early-stage startup ideas. His past work experiences include consulting with PwC, product design at Cummins, and undergraduate research.

Shivani Mishra
University of Chicago [Chicago, IL]
Shivani is a junior at the University of Chicago studying Economics and Statistics, hailing from Mumbai. She has seen firsthand the explosive development of Indian startup culture and has honed her interest in VC and entrepreneurship by leading Midway Ventures, a UChicago-based on-campus VC club and working at the universities Innovation Fund. In addition to her interest in VC, Shivani is passionate about dance, and has been learning classical Odissi since the age of 4. Her other interests include puppies and travel.

Connor Van Ooyen |@connorvanooyen
Purdue University [West Lafayette, IN]
I am a sophomore at Purdue University studying Economics and will be picking up a minor in CS as well. I am from Fort Wayne, IN, so nothing exciting there. I have started a couple of different e-commerce companies and am currently running Bewdly Coffee (Bewdly.com). I recently began to feel left out with my lack of technical experience so I taught myself Swift (iOS Development) and am finally getting to the point where I will be able to start tackling some larger projects. I am also the Director of The Anvil (the largest student-run co-working/entrepreneurial space in the country) and we are currently in a crazy time of setting up events, picking a new leadership team, and fundraising, so that is what I am spending most of my time on. I have also worked a few “real” jobs, but nothing too exciting. Besides that, I love technology, entrepreneurship, and sports.

Erik Popaja
Westminster College [Salt Lake City, UT]
Senior studying Finance at Westminster College, and Senior Associate for the University Growth Fund. Served as the President of the Finance Club, Chair of the Financial Oversight Committee, and Business Senator at Westminster College. Bosnian, born in Germany, and currently living in Utah. Look forward to facing new challenges, love to learn and debate, and aspire to work as a venture capitalist after graduation. During my free time, I love to watch and play basketball (go Bulls)! I am also an avid skier, movie fanatic, and board game extraordinaire!

Cameron Schorg | @schorgie30
University of Iowa [Iowa City, IA]
Cameron is earning a degree in finance and business information systems as well as a certificate in entrepreneurial management at the University of Iowa. Much of his professional experience has been centered around bitcoin and blockchain technology starting with him launching a bitcoin exchange. He then went on to work on another bitcoin startup and is currently launching a new personal finance application called Atlantis. Cameron is one of the directors at the Blockchain Education Network, president of the universities entrepreneurship club and tightly plugged into Iowa City startup ecosystem. Outside of his entrepreneurial endeavors, Cameron enjoys any opportunity to be outside and active. His friends call him a beach cowboy as he loves the mountains and all that comes with them but would fit into a beach side village along the coast perfectly well.

Marc Zuzolo | @marczuz
Miami University [Oxford, OH]
I am a Junior at Miami University studying Entrepreneurship and Interactive Media Studies. At Miami I am president of High Street Startups which runs similar to a startup accelerator on Miami’s campus to help bring together student-entrepreneurs to collaborate and grow their businesses. I am also involved with Redhawk Ventures which is Miami’s student-led venture capital fund. Outside of school I run Nantucket Buckets, a business I co-founded 3 years ago. We have an e-commerce based company with a full line of headwear products. In my free time I love to play ice hockey and spend time at the beach!