Difference between revisions of "Organization:Dorm Room Fund"

Latest revision as of 10:59, 2 June 2020

Overview

Dorm Room Fund (DRF) is a five-year-old venture capital firm that invests in student founded companies. The firm, backed by First Round Capital, invests in companies where at least one founding member is a student, undergraduate or graduate. DRF’s investment teams consist of small committees of students on campuses in the New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and the Bay Area. Each investment team is given $500,000 to invest in student-run startups in order to bring their ideas from the “dorm to the market.”

The Program

Once accepted into the program, founders are given access to all of the resources at DRF. On top of providing $20,000 of capital, DRF investment partners meet regularly with founders to help them learn fundraising, launch strategy, growth, and hiring. In addition, DRF connects founders to a vibrant community of talented entrepreneurs, world-class advisors, investors, industry leaders, and mentors to help them solve their key problems.

Stats

DRF has invested in 150 startups that have gone on to raise over $300 million in additional funding from Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, Union Square Ventures, Sequoia Capital and more. Here are a few of those startups:

DRF represented the largest community in Y Combinator's Spring 2017 batch with 8 startups.
Over $1 billion in value has been created by DRF companies. With multiple portfolio companies raising rounds of over $10 million within the last 6 months alone, students are rapidly building some of the most promising companies in the country.
Student founders come from schools all across North America:

How to Apply

Student founders can submit an application to the DRF website with the option to include a pitch deck. The website stresses the importance of two main components in an application. The first thing partners look for is a strategy for how the company plans to grow either capital or users quickly and effectively. The second thing they look for is where the ideas are coming from. DRF partners want to have faith in the success of the people they are investing in. Based off of these criteria, the investment partners decide whether or not a startup should join DRF's program.

Contact

Last Edited by: Cheyanne Wheat, Liyang Feng, Joshua Lim

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[File:DormRoomFundLogo.png|thumb|right|300px]]
+[[File:DRF.png|thumb|center]]
-= Overview =
+== Overview ==
-<span style="font-size:medium;">Dorm Room Fund (<span data-scaytid="1" data-scayt_word="DRF">DRF</span>) 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&nbsp;[http://firstround.com/ First Round Capital]&nbsp;they provide&nbsp;average investments of $15,000 - $20,000 for students run start-ups.&nbsp;They're overall mission is to inspire and support more careers in the startup industry. Apart from funding <span data-scaytid="2" data-scayt_word="DRF">DRF</span> also offers their members&nbsp;discounts and partnerships with premier service providers, PR,&nbsp;[http://dormroomfund.com/about#advisors mentorship from their incredible <span data-scaytid="4" data-scayt_word="RAs">RAs</span>], <span data-scaytid="5" data-scayt_word="DRF">DRF</span> events, and access to a national network of other amazing student entrepreneurs.&nbsp;&nbsp;They currently have student groups&nbsp;based out of&nbsp;[http://dormroomfund.com/newyork New York City],&nbsp;[http://dormroomfund.com/bayarea San Francisco Bay Area],&nbsp;[http://dormroomfund.com/philly Philadelphia], and&nbsp;[http://dormroomfund.com/boston Boston].&nbsp;</span>
+<span id="docs-internal-guid-198f9028-de14-0153-9143-ffbfe260f63e"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dorm Room Fund (DRF) is a five-year-old venture capital firm that invests in student founded companies. The firm, backed by First Round Capital, invests in companies where at least one founding member is a student, undergraduate or graduate. DRF’s investment teams consist of small committees of students on campuses in the New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and the Bay Area. Each investment team is given $500,000 to invest in student-run startups in order to bring their ideas from the “dorm to the market.”</span></span>
-= Purpose =
+== The Program ==
-<span style="font-size:medium;">The main purpose of <span data-scaytid="7" data-scayt_word="DRF">DRF</span> 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 recourses. All the <span data-scaytid="8" data-scayt_word="DRF">DRF</span> investors are students so it really is a organization for students ran by students. &nbsp;</span>
+<span id="docs-internal-guid-198f9028-de14-368a-bdbe-675fcea3cefa"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once accepted into the program, founders are given access to all of the resources at DRF. On top of providing $20,000 of capital, DRF investment partners meet regularly with founders to help them learn fundraising, launch strategy, growth, and hiring. In addition, DRF connects founders to a vibrant community of talented entrepreneurs, world-class advisors, investors, industry leaders, and mentors to help them solve their key problems. &nbsp;</span></span>
-= Distinct Differences From Other Offerings =
+=== <span style="font-size:large;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">'''Stats'''</span></span> ===
+<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">
+<li><span style="color:#000000;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-198f9028-de1d-beb9-fa6f-43e9b5f372d7"><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent;">DRF has invested in 150 startups that have gone on to raise over $300 million in additional funding from Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, Union Square Ventures, Sequoia Capital and more. Here are a few of those startups:</span></span></span></span></li>
+</ul>
-== '''How It Is Run'''<br/> ==
+[[File:Partners.png|border|center|Partners.png]]
+<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">
+<li><span style="color:#000000;"><span><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DRF represented the largest community in Y Combinator's Spring 2017 batch with 8 startups.</span></span></span></li>
+<li><span style="color:#000000;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-198f9028-de1d-beb9-fa6f-43e9b5f372d7"><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Over $1 billion in value has been created by DRF companies. With multiple portfolio companies raising rounds of over $10 million within the last 6 months alone, students are rapidly building some of the most promising companies in the country.</span></span></span></li>
+<li><span style="color:#000000;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-198f9028-de1d-beb9-fa6f-43e9b5f372d7"><span style="font-size: 11pt; background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Student founders come from schools all across North America:</span></span></span></li>
+</ul>
-<span style="font-size:medium;">What start-ups the <span data-scaytid="12" data-scayt_word="DRF">DRF</span> 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. &nbsp;By using this approach to start up investment it gives the <span data-scaytid="13" data-scayt_word="DRF">DRF</span> a very different way of looking at start-ups compared to the traditional investment teams. </span>&nbsp;&nbsp;
+[[File:Schools.png|border|center|Schools.png]]
-== '''Financing''' ==
+=== <span style="font-size:large;">'''How to Apply&nbsp;'''</span> ===
-<span style="font-size:medium;">They invest on a founder-friendly uncapped convertible note. What&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;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.</span>
+<span id="docs-internal-guid-198f9028-de1a-5059-00c2-0c8aeafcff54"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Student founders can submit an application to the DRF website with the option to include a pitch deck. The website stresses the importance of two main components in an application. The first thing partners look for is a strategy for how the company plans to grow either capital or users quickly and effectively. The second thing they look for is where the ideas are coming from. DRF partners want to have faith in the success of the people they are investing in. Based off of these criteria, the investment partners decide whether or not a startup should join DRF's program.</span></span>
-<div>
-== '''The&nbsp;Support System'''<br/> ==
-<span style="font-size:medium;">The most incredible thing about this program by far is the knowledge and experience that the RA support system gives to the student entrepreneurs.&nbsp;The 60 RA's have a combined 450 years of entrepreneurial experience and have together have produced $2.7 Billion in exit revenue. This network gives students accepted into the program a huge advantage from the advice and recourses they receive.</span>
+== Contact'''&nbsp;''' ==
-</div>
-= Impact Achieved For Students and Campus =
-<span style="font-size:medium;">Even though they are a fairly young program <span data-scaytid="21" data-scayt_word="DRF">DRF</span> has already funded 24 companies. The successful ones can all be viewed at <span data-scaytid="26" data-scayt_word="DRFs">DRFs</span> [http://dormroomfund.com/portfolio, portfolio page]&nbsp;or in the gallery below. Their portfolio CEO's come from a variety of schools which include <span data-scaytid="28" data-scayt_word="Upenn">Upenn</span>, Columbia, Stanford, <span data-scaytid="29" data-scayt_word="UC">UC</span> Berkeley, NYU, Dartmouth, MIT, and Princeton. Another interesting part of <span data-scaytid="23" data-scayt_word="DRF">DRF</span> is many of there companies funded are in extremely different fields.</span> <gallery mode="packed-hover">
+[https://dormroomfund.com/ <span id="docs-internal-guid-198f9028-ddfc-152c-bbf9-e2ef1ed5c871"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(45, 86, 136); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Website</span><span style="text-decoration-line: underline; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span>]
-File:A&B.png|
-File:Addy.png|
-File:Buzz.png|
-File:Dagnedover.png|
-File:Databetes|
-File:Firefly.png|
-File:FiscalNote.png
-File:Outline.png|
-File:Pagevamp.png|
-File:RadiatorLabs.png|
-File:Skillbridge.png|
-File:Suneris.png|
-File:Tiptopspeakers.png|
-File:Wham.png|
-File:ZenKars.png|
-</gallery>
-= Steps Required To Bring Resource to Campus =
+[https://www.facebook.com/DormRoomFund <span id="docs-internal-guid-198f9028-ddfc-152c-bbf9-e2ef1ed5c871"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(45, 86, 136); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Facebook</span><span style="text-decoration-line: underline; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span>]
-= Contact Information =
+[https://twitter.com/DormRoomFund <span id="docs-internal-guid-198f9028-ddfc-152c-bbf9-e2ef1ed5c871"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(45, 86, 136); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Twitter</span></span>]
+[https://medium.com/@dormroomfund <span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(45, 86, 136); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Medium Blog</span>]
+<div>Last Edited by: [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Cheyanne_Wheat Cheyanne Wheat], [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Liyang_Feng Liyang Feng], [http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/Joshua_Lim Joshua Lim]</div>
+[[Category:Organizations]]