Introducing Rocket Fuel Ventures
Educating students at Stevens on venture capital and the entrepreneurial ecosystem
By Brian Li and Profesor Mukund Iyengar
Within every FAANG company and Unicorn is the beginning stages of a startup. We are all too familiar with the greatness of these companies through their innovative products, free food, and playground-like campuses; but this is merely the tip of the iceberg.
We rarely have the chance to explore their beginning stages, fundraising, and how to use this learning to spot the next unicorn. Unfortunately, the entrepreneurial ecosystem is rarely taught or given exposure to outside of the Top 25 schools for most students. Most students do not understand what venture capital really is.
At Rocket Fuel Ventures, we set out to educate students on venture capital, the entrepreneurship ecosystem, and assist the entrepreneurship accelerator on our own campus. We became the first undergraduate initiative at Stevens Institute of Technology to focus on the fundamentals and essentials of venture capital. Below are some of the goals we’ve accomplished in less than six months:
Our Core Principles:
Venture 101: Every student admitted in the Rocket Fuel Ventures program is given a six-week course filled with lectures and workshops. Our first two weeks introduce the fundamentals of Venture Capital such as valuation terminology and funding cycles. Meetings start with a 10–15 minute lesson followed by a discussion or interactive workshop. Tools and methodologies such as term sheets, cap tables, and exit strategies are taught to give students exposure and valuable insights into the day to day operations of a VC. Finally, students are able to conduct their own market research to find emerging markets within our own entrepreneurial ecosystem at Stevens.
Speaker Events: Each semester we bring in several speakers to discuss the in’s and out’s of venture capital and share their experiences in the field. Speakers range from startup founders to VC associates working in the neighboring Tri-State area. Speakers from Newark Venture Partners and Grant Park Ventures are set to speak at our meetings this semester.
Collaboration with LaunchPad @ Stevens: We provide due diligence through analysis recommendations and investment memos for the accelerator at Stevens. We meet, attend, and co-host pitch competitions to evaluate over 15 startups. We are able to strategically consult and recommend the accelerator to make investments in the startups incubating at LaunchPad
Undergraduate Venture Summit
We are the founding member of the Undergraduate Ventures Group, a group of VC student organizations around the United States. Every April, we host a conference featuring keynote presentations from both founders and VCs, panel discussions, workshops, and a networking session. VC student groups from Stevens, Rutgers, Penn State, Columbia, UNC, Lehigh, and Case Western are attending.
Speakers from VC firms such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Lux Capital, GSV, Lerer Hippeau, and Boeing HorizonX are set to attend the summit this April.
Meet the Team:
Our team of ambitious students comes from many different academic backgrounds and disciplines. Our members have valuable experiences to share, having worked at top companies like Goldman Sachs, Lockheed Martin, and Prudential, to name a few. We work under the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Department at Stevens.
Join Rocket Fuel Ventures:
- If you are a student interested in joining Rocket Fuel Ventures this fall, please visit our website to apply
- If you are a VC interested in partnerships or speaking at our meetings or conferences, please email us at rocketfuelventures@gmail.com
