Touchdown Ventures College Cohort 2
Applications are open now through October 31st
Earlier in 2023, we launched Touchdown Ventures College, an internship program for undergraduate students interested in venture capital. An initial cohort of 15 undergraduate students with diverse background from around the United States participated in the program from January through March of this year.
Touchdown Ventures College Cohort 2
We’re now excited to announce the launch of our second Touchdown Ventures College cohort.
Applications are now open here.
The program will be virtual and run from January to April of 2024.
The Touchdown Ventures College program is unique in that it has both educational and practical components to provide students with real world venture capital experience. The internship is a part-time, unpaid program with a requirement of approximately six hours per week, designed so that students can participate while still meeting their undergraduate coursework responsibilities.
The Touchdown Ventures College program has two components:
1. Education
Students will participate in weekly virtual Zoom classes on Mondays at 4pm eastern time.
Classes will be led by Touchdown senior investment professionals. Our team has taught venture capital at Wharton, UCLA, USC, Berkeley, the University of Michigan, UC Davis, CalPoly, and many other schools.
The weekly Zoom classes will teach students about fundamentals and best practices of venture capital, including how to evaluate startup investment opportunities. We will cover topics such as VC fund strategy, deal sourcing, due diligence, term sheets, and portfolio management, among others.
Kush Gulati (Duke University ’23) participated in the first Touchdown Ventures College cohort and subsequently joined Touchdown as a summer intern. Kush noted that he enjoyed the classes because senior investors “taught us the fundamentals and basics of venture capital but also taught us life lessons from decades of their VC experience. The structure was also great because each class built on the previous one until we covered the entire VC deal funnel.”
2. Experience
The program is designed for students to gain practical venture capital experience by working directly with investment professionals at Touchdown Ventures approximately five hours per week. Students will source and evaluate potential investment opportunities, conduct industry research, and support diligence efforts including building market size and competitive landscape analyses. Each student will also be paired with a senior investment professional at Touchdown who serves as a mentor and provides hands-on training.
Shand Stephens (Notre Dame ’23), participated in the first Touchdown College cohort and subsequently joined Touchdown as a full-time analyst, noting “my first assignment was quite challenging. It certainly took some adjusting to adopt the mindset of a VC investor. However, continued work and mentorship helped me to understand what makes a deal attractive and gain that ‘think like an investor’ lens.”
At the end of the program, each student will present a summary of their experience and learnings to Touchdown’s senior leadership team.
Lizzy Adler (Washington University in St. Louis ’24) was another member of the initial Touchdown Ventures College cohort who joined Touchdown as a summer intern, summarizing her overall experience by sharing that “it’s a great way for undergraduates to learn and get their first taste of VC. It was the perfect combination of education and hands-on work with incredible people.”
Applying for Touchdown Ventures College
Students who wish to apply for the Touchdown Ventures College internship program can apply here.
The application deadline is October 31, 2023
We are using a rolling admissions process and we will make final admission decisions by December 1, 2023.
Information Session
We will host an upcoming information session for students interested in learning more about this program. The information session will take place Thursday 9/28 at 5:00 PM ET via Zoom.
Please register here to join the information session.
We are excited about continuing this program and looking forward to welcoming our second Touchdown Ventures College cohort in early 2024!
Please contact Eileen Wixted, who leads this program for Touchdown, at eileen@touchdownvc.com if you have any questions.
David Horowitz is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Touchdown Ventures, a firm that provides “Venture Capital as a Service” to help corporations launch and manage their investment programs.
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