Organization:Dorm Room Fund

Overview

Dorm Room Fund (DRF) is a student-run venture firm that invests in student-run companies. Launched in September 2012 they have since grown at an astounding rate. Backed by First Round Capital they provide average investments of $15,000 - $20,000 for students run start-ups. They're overall mission is to inspire and support more careers in the startup industry. Apart from funding DRF also offers their members discounts and partnerships with premier service providers, PR, mentorship from their incredible RAs, DRF events, and access to a national network of other amazing student entrepreneurs.  They currently have student groups based out of New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia, and Boston. 

Purpose

The main purpose of DRF is to help student founders take their ideas from their dorm room to the market while providing their members with an entrepreneurial education. Their main ways of achieving this are through investments and access to their huge support network and vast recources. All the DRF investors are students so it really is a organization for students ran by students.  

Distinct Differences From Other Offerings

How It Is Run

What start-ups the DRF invests in is entirely decided upon by the student investors. This means that the investors can really relate to both what other students are trying to do and the problems they may encounter.  By using this approach to start up investment it gives the DRF a very different way of looking at start-ups compared to the traditional investment teams.   

Financing

They invest on a founder-friendly uncapped convertible note. What this means that an investor loans money to a startup, but instead of receiving their money back after a certain time period, the note converts into stock. However, if the startup is successful without raising additional capital or pursuing equity financing, the note may not convert and the startup can choose to simply repay the note plus a very nominal (around 2%) interest rate. At Dorm Room Fund they try very hard to operate as transparently as possible so that every aspect of their terms are clear and understood. Knowing that some companies won’t work out, they realize that a failed company is not the same as a failed entrepreneur. As long as we all learned something, they view this money as tuition paid toward an entrepreneurial education – for everyone involved. So, if it turns out that your company does not explode into the next billion dollar business and instead fails, the Dorm Room Fund takes a loss and the founders DO NOT need to repay the money whatsoever.

Impact Achieved For Students and Campus

Even thought they are a farily young program DRF has already funded 24 companies. The successfulones can all be viewed at DRFs portfolio page or in the galary below. Their portfolio CEO's come from a variety of schools which include Upenn, Columbia, Stanford, UC Berkeley, NYU, Dartmouth, MIT, and Princeton.