Friday, January 10, 2014

The G51 Venture Capital Scholar Program


by Khanh

In my last post, I briefly talked about my decision to attend the Carroll School and how much I enjoyed the applied learning aspect of the program here. This time, I would like to delve deeper into my favorite program, the G51 Venture Capital Scholar, and relay my experience so far.

The program was started approximately ten years ago by Rudy Garza, the Founder and Managing Partner of G51 Capital. Initially, Rudy was working with a couple of in-state institutions in Texas, including UT Austin and Baylor University. Thanks to its overwhelming success, the program quickly grew to a national level and, as of this fall, involved more than ten top tier institutions, including MIT, Harvard, Northwestern, Duke, and Boston College.

For every school, Rudy aims at selecting three to four graduate students from diverse backgrounds, such as business, engineering, and computer science. All share the same passion for entrepreneurship and venture capital. Working with Rudy and the other Managing Partners has been a fantastic experience and, frankly, my learning curve has grown exponentially over the course of three months.

During the program, G51 Scholars are expected to fulfill the following tasks: deal flow review, communication with entrepreneurs, local deal flow and specific projects as assigned by the Managing Partners. Says Rudy, “Our goal is to create an exceptional network of future business leaders grounded in technology innovation and entrepreneurship. We are connecting with the best business schools and entrepreneurial institutions, in the United States and internationally, to enable a global renaissance of science and technology commercialization.”

Since G51 invests in hardware, software, clean technology and internet service companies, the Scholars have plenty of freedom to carry out the sourcing process. So far, I represented G51 at a number of start-up events, including the MIT Bootcamp, Harvard Cyberposium, and the Babson Entrepreneurship Forum. In addition, another rewarding aspect of the program is our exposure to some inspiring visitors in the field of technology entrepreneurship during our teleconference. At one point, I found myself pitching a company to Rudy, without realizing that Lee Walker, the first President of Dell Computing, was also in the room. Thankfully, his follow-up comments were positive.

The G51 Venture Capital Scholar Program has been an amazing journey for me here at BC. I look forward to continuing my commitment to the program in the spring.

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