大學(xué)生寢室創(chuàng)業(yè)基金尋找下一個(gè)Facebook
大學(xué)生在寢室創(chuàng)業(yè)已經(jīng)不是什么新鮮事,，扎克伯格在寢室里打造的Facebook就已成為校園創(chuàng)業(yè)傳奇。然而,，目前面向大學(xué)生的創(chuàng)業(yè)基金一般都要求年輕的創(chuàng)業(yè)者們放棄學(xué)業(yè),，專(zhuān)心創(chuàng)業(yè)。但是，大學(xué)生寢室基金卻是個(gè)例外,。有了它的資助,，大學(xué)生們可以魚(yú)與熊掌兼得，求學(xué)創(chuàng)業(yè)兩不耽擱,。
|
????當(dāng)今新一代的年輕創(chuàng)業(yè)者的大學(xué)寢室就是前輩們創(chuàng)業(yè)時(shí)的車(chē)庫(kù),。因此,，毫不奇怪，一些風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司已聘請(qǐng)學(xué)生“星探”在大學(xué)校園內(nèi)搜尋有前途的初創(chuàng)企業(yè),。 ????但迄今為止,，還沒(méi)有風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司授權(quán)學(xué)生做實(shí)際的投資決定。首輪資本公司（First Round Capital）是一個(gè)例外,，它已承諾向大學(xué)生寢室基金（The Dorm Room Fund,，簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)DRF）出資50萬(wàn)美元。 ????具體的運(yùn)作方式是：首輪資本公司會(huì)在費(fèi)城地區(qū)的大學(xué)聘請(qǐng)8名在校學(xué)生,，負(fù)責(zé)搜集和投資由在校學(xué)生或新近畢業(yè)學(xué)生創(chuàng)立的初創(chuàng)企業(yè),。投資不限行業(yè)，通常投資額為1萬(wàn)-2.5萬(wàn)美元,。 ????首輪資本公司合伙人喬什?科佩爾曼一開(kāi)始會(huì)擔(dān)任大學(xué)生寢室基金投資委員會(huì)的成員,，但他的目標(biāo)是最終實(shí)現(xiàn)該機(jī)構(gòu)的自立和自治。這意味著這些學(xué)生未來(lái)需要籌集外部資本,，挑選他們（畢業(yè)后）的繼任者,。 ????科佩爾曼在一篇博客中寫(xiě)到： ????現(xiàn)在用較少的錢(qián)就可以創(chuàng)建一家公司，但它并不意味著完全不需要錢(qián),。而且,，學(xué)生群體已經(jīng)承擔(dān)著五位數(shù)的貸款用于支付學(xué)費(fèi)，他們要找到,、并獲得追加資本通常都很難,。朋友和家庭往往已經(jīng)捉襟見(jiàn)肘，而且大多數(shù)情況下都已竭盡所能減輕在校大學(xué)生的負(fù)擔(dān),。另一方面,，我們可以看到很多非常出色的企業(yè)孵化器和加速器的增長(zhǎng)——但它們通常都要求學(xué)生退學(xué)（或從大學(xué)“休學(xué)”）。而且,，傳統(tǒng)的風(fēng)投家不會(huì)開(kāi)出2.5萬(wàn)美元的支票為在讀學(xué)生的想法提供資金,。很多創(chuàng)業(yè)者都說(shuō)過(guò)：“籌集最初的2.5萬(wàn)美元,，難度遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于后來(lái)的200萬(wàn)美元”。 ????科佩爾曼補(bǔ)充說(shuō),，如果費(fèi)城的這個(gè)試點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目取得成功,，他希望能把它推廣到其他城市。 ????首輪資本公司承諾出資的50萬(wàn)美元將來(lái)自其第四只基金,，這只基金最近在籌集了1.35億美元資本后剛剛封閉,。 ????譯者：早稻米 |
????The dorm room is for today's generation of young entrepreneurs what the garage was to their forefathers. So it's not surprising that several venture capital firms have hired student "scouts" to patrol campuses for promising new start-ups. ????But, until now, no venture capital firm had empowered students to make actual investment decisions. The exception to that rule is First Round Capital, which has committed $500,000 to what it's calling The Dorm Room Fund. ????Here's how it works: First Round will hire a team of eight current students at Philadelphia-area universities, who will be expected to source and invest in startups founded by current students or recent graduates. No parameters on company sector, with typical investment sizes of between $10,000 and $25,000. ????First Round partner Josh Kopelman will initially serve on the DRF investment committee, but his goal is for the effort to eventually be self-sustaining and self-managed. That means that the students will be asked to raise outside capital, and also pick their own successors (upon graduation). ????In a blog post, Kopelman wrote: ????Just because it takes less capital to build a company now, doesn't mean it doesn't take any. And, for a student population already taking out five figure loans to pay for school, finding and obtaining that additional capital is often extremely difficult. Friends and family are usually stretched thin, and in most cases, already do whatever they can to ease the burden on their college relatives. At the same time, we've seen the growth of many wonderful incubators and accelerators – but those often require a student to drop out (or take a "leave of absence" from college). And traditional venture capitalists are not optimized to write $25K checks to fund a student's idea while they are still in school. We've heard from several entrepreneurs claiming that it was "much harder to raise our first $25,000 then our next $2 million." ????Kopelman adds that if the Philadelphia pilot program is successful, then he hopes to bring the program to other cities. ????First Round's $500,000 commitment will come from its fourth fund, which recently closed with $135 million in capital commitments. |
最新文章