Big and Little Things Matter
Great entrepreneurs are everywhere. Earlier this summer, I met a rising sixth-grader named Nick Savage, who at only 12, said that he wanted to be a venture capitalist when he grew up. I offered him a one-day internship at Village Capital on the spot (his compensation: Shake Shack lunch.) He took the deal, and brought youth, vigor, and a new level of curiosity to our day. We were even more impressed with the insights he contributed at the end of the day.
Nick put a modifier on what he wants out of his career — he doesn’t just want to work with startups, but seed-stage startups. In his words, “ think I am more of a seed stage guy …. it’s like warm forging a company … like making a knife. Later stage is more like sharpening it.”
There’s an old saying that if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. As we think about how to build companies that make a better world, we can always do big and little things to work with the next generation.
A Day at Village Capital
By Nick Savage
On the last week of my summer vacation, I got a one day internship at Village Capital. I met Ross Baird, the CEO of Village Capital, at a Case Foundation event where Adam Grant was speaking (you can see the video of his presentation here where I got to ask a question at the 12:00 minute point — thanks Mr. and Mrs. Case for letting me come!). Mr. Grant speaks and writes about originality and outside-the-box thinking, which I find really interesting. After Mr. Grant spoke, I met Mr. Baird and we talked for a little while and he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told him I wanted to be a venture capitalist. He said he’d never heard that from a twelve-year-old before, so he offered me a one day internship at Village Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in startups. I was extremely excited!
When I walked through the door on the day of my internship, I was just blown away by the amazing ecosystem — from the people to the building itself. Their offices are located at the the Impact Hub, a collaborative working space for entrepreneurs working toward impact. When you walk in you can just feel all of the creative minds that are with you. Inside the Hub, there is a gathering of entrepreneurs and business people from the DC area. Village Capital has its own office in the hub where they can set up wherever they want. There are only two places that I know about that have cooler offices and they’re both on the other side of the country in Silicon Valley (Facebook and Google!).
Village Capital is based in Washington, DC but focused on investing all over the world. Every venture capital firm (or VC as they are referred to) has its own investment thesis. At Village Capital, the thesis is to make the world a better place by providing support and investments for companies that they believe will change the world in sectors such as healthcare, education, and agriculture. For example, I asked Mr. Baird if they would make a very profitable investment in an oil and gas company and he said, no, because it goes against their investment thesis.
Village Capital believes that smart healthcare investments can improve the lives of many. Prior to my internship, I was given investment summaries of over 30 healthcare companies Village Capital was considering. I had to rate them on a scale of 1–4 on their progress to date, their promise in the future, and their ability to generate a return on investment. I spent most of the weekend reading the summaries and reviewing them with my dad, who is also a venture capitalist. I made notes on each company. During my internship day I got to participate in a meeting with the entire Village Capital team where they discussed the Village Capital process of investing. We were supposed to also discuss all of the companies, but everybody was so interested in talking about how Village Capital invests that we only had time to rate one of the companies!
Another great thing about Village Capital is the team. They can work together on all sorts of projects and they are more than just colleagues. They are friends. This awesome team is run by an awesome CEO, Ross Baird, and an awesome COO, Allie Burns, who are great at keeping Village Capital on track and motivated. During the day of my internship I had to rate health companies between 1 and 4 on several topics; I would rate the Village Capital team a 4 (the best!) for their cohesiveness, and transparency That is why I think that the Village Capital team will do great things and why I am so happy I got to work with them.
Thank you Village Capital
I reviewed investment summaries for healthcare companies.
At lunch at Shake Shack, Mr. Baird and I talked about limited partners. Next to me is Dahler Battle, he works for Mr. Baird as his assistant.
Ms. Burns explained what it’s like to run a company and more about Village Capital.
Meeting with the Village Capital team to review the Village Capital process.
