Organization:Venture for America

Overview

"Venture for America" is an organization, founded in 2011 by Andrew Yang, that trains and places talented college graduates at startup companies located in struggling cities.  Modeled after "Teach for America," the non-profit seeks to revitalize America through entrepreneurship, while enabling opportunity and restoring an American culture of achievement.  Since its inception, the organization has trained almost 100 fellows (today applications exceed availability), given fellows access to upwards of $100k in yearly seed funding, and facilitated their placement in cities including Detroit, Cincinatti, and New Orleans [1]. 

Purpose

Graduating from Columbia Law School, Andrew Yang was conflicted with what to do with his career.  As with many other young professionals, Yang knew the options outside of working on Wall Street were slim and likely career-diverting.  After working with and starting several companies (rising to the rank of CEO in Manhattan GMAT), Yang founded "Venture for America," to increase the accessibility to the startup process for college grads [linkedin].

The problem today is that qualified college graduates crave hands-on business experience to learn how to start a business.  Meanwhile, companies struggle to hire due to lack of resources and since they have yet to establish their brand.  Venture for America bridges this gap- they give companies access to high quality, motivated young workers.

Overall, the goal is to funnel top young people into American startups, socialize them, and provide future structures and role models for others.  They wish to rebrand entrepreneurship as the most prestigious professional aspiration, as evident in one of their mottos: "Smart people should build things." 

Distinct Differences From Other Offerings

Venture for America Fellowship

After acceptance into the program, fellows commit to training and a two year commitment of work.

At training, fellows are given the skills to hit the ground running.  Training sessions include lectures, visits from investors, website design challenges, and practice with business creation.  By the end of training, fellows are well versed in finance modeling, sales, public relations, branding, marketing and basic business/office etiquette [1].

Fellows are matched with the company of best fit to them through an intense matchmaking process including preferences and phone/in person interviews.  Companies must be show high growth potential (energy, biotech, health, information, technology, consumer markets) and are required to commit to $32-38k in salary (plus benefits), pay $2,500 to fund the fellow's training, 

Appeal

Venture for America appeals to young professionals in a few ways:

• Prestige: looks good on a resume and has the reputation of attracting ivy league talent
• Progress: brings young professionals to the next level in their careers
• Opportunity: keeps doors open
• Money: workers are compensated for their work
• Skills: fellows gain skills and training for anything and everything they will face
• Community: fellows build a sense of community with other inspired individuals
• Public Service: Fellows are doing a public good, both for local communities and America

Impact Achieved For Students and Campus

(Include images, where possible, and campuses involved)