Harvard Ventures Covid-19 Response

How Harvard’s leading startups and venture capital organization is making an effort to contribute to pandemic responses, support membership’s move to virtual learning, and continue to cultivate community during difficult times…

First and foremost, Harvard Ventures number one concern is the safety and health of our community during the pandemic. We advise all readers looking for updates on Covid-19 to visit www.cdc.gov.

Tuesday March 10, 2020 an unprecedented announcement was made. It felt like college was cancelled. All undergraduate students had 5 days to pack up their dorms and move off campus. The rest of the semester would take place virtually. Life as we knew it was coming to an end. And for a student-run organizations like Harvard Ventures, this meant all our in-person pitches, socials, workshops, and other programming had to be cancelled…

But we quickly realized our pitch night and socials weren’t what mattered at a time like this. These events could happen again next year and the year after that and so on. What mattered were the health workers serving patients without masks, the low-income families suddenly having to feed their children an extra meal that used to be provided by schools, and the people dying due to complications relating to Covid-19. Suddenly, the world was full of problems that we had never encountered before. But this is what being an innovator requires: responding to the world around you to answer novel problems with fast solutions.

Harvard Ventures will continue to serve the Harvard student body and friends of our organization from at-home to not only work to solve these novel problems but also offer support and a much needed sense of community.

Here’s some of the HV board at our recent meeting — Zoom style!

Here are some of the updated initiatives Harvard Ventures is working on in light of these events:

1. Virtual Office Hours — This initiative is aimed at any student tinkering or ideating with a project that may be looking for peer to peer feedback or advice. We specifically are interested in hearing student ideas relating to pandemic response, and our team is able to offer introductions to our HV network, resources for funding, and more. Click on the Virtual Office Hours link to add our Harvard Ventures external calendar to your Google Calendar and stay updated on when Virtual Office Hours will be happening. If none of the scheduled times work for you, feel free to reach out hello@harvardventures.org to find an alternate time.
2. The Bottom Line Podcast — We have launched TBL podcast as a way to create engaging and meaningful virtual content for our community. We will be releasing episodes every Monday, and our first episode goes live 4/6 featuring an interview with Mark Cuban.
3. LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, and Instagram — Our digital presence matters now more than ever to HV. Join our new LinkedIn group (exclusive for members, alum, advisors, and friends of HV). Follow our socials and blog as well. These platforms are key ways to stay updated on our happenings, opportunities, and virtual events.
4. Summer Internship Opportunities + Mentorship — We will soon be sharing on our social platforms (above) and newsletter (below) a database to offer our membership new opportunities for remote summer work. Additionally, any student looking for extra support during these times is eligible to be matched with an HV alum for virtual 1:1 mentoring. Stay tuned!
5. Membership + Alumni Newsletter — If you’re not already on our email list, email hello@harvardventures.org to be added. We will be sending out newsletters monthly, spotlighting ways to get involved in pandemic response, startups looking to hire, fundraising sources, and more.

How we react to this pandemic, the businesses that survive, and the changes our society chooses to make will shape the foreseeable future. As college students, we think it’s our duty to do our part in shaping how we want this future to look. At Harvard Ventures, we believe that community is of the utmost importance, and we’ll strive to continue offering this value to our membership.

If you have other ideas for how Harvard Ventures can support our community during these times (or just want to chat!), feel free to reach out to us hello@harvardventures.com.

Now get off whatever device you’re viewing this article on. Get out there. And build something awesome.

Follow us on Instagram, Medium, and Facebook. Listen to our podcast TBL. And for more information check out our website.