Venture Fund
OVERVIEW
The Simon School Venture Fund (SSVF) is an early stage seed fund run by MBA and Master's students at the Simon School, University of Rochester. The SSVF is an evergreen fund made possible through the support of alumni donations.
The Fund is guided by an alumni advisory board that consists of VCs, successful entrepreneurs, and accomplished professionals in finance, law and other disciplines.
MISSION
The purpose of the Simon School Venture Fund is to create a unique experiential learning opportunity for students with respect to venture capital, private equity, and entrepreneurship. The Fund provides hands-on due diligence, interaction with entrepreneurs, presentations to advisory board members, direct participation in investment decisions, and ongoing monitoring and analysis of investments. The objective is to make sound investment decisions based on comprehensive due diligence and investment analysis with the intent to perpetuate the life of the fund.
WHY SSVF?
As a subsidiary of the University of Rochester, we are able to leverage the University’s vast resources and alumni network to assist in the development of our portfolio companies, as well as the startups we partner with through business development projects. SSVF’s partnering companies benefit from an extensive network of student professionals and world-class entrepreneurial advisors to assist in developing their ventures.
SIMON SCHOOL VENTURE FUND PRACTICUM (GBA 484B)
This practicum supplements the experiential learning of students working at the Simon School Venture Fund (SSVF). All students working on the Fund have expectations for engagement and performance and the practicum course provides support and adds required deliverables meant to augment students’ understanding of VC operations and any particular deals/projects they worked on. The student leadership team (2nd year MBAs) that manage Fund operations receive guidance and supervision from 3 of the Fund’s Board members: a Simon faculty member, a UR entrepreneur-in-residence, and a former student-manager of the SSVF. The current student leadership team then, in turn, supervises and guides the MS and 1st year MBA students who work as Analysts/Senior Analysts for the Fund.
CONTACT US
If you're an entrepreneur with an engaging startup in a dynamic space, and have initial traction (product, sales), or an alumni or angel investor that would like to collaborate, we'd love to connect: