Rebel Venture Fund Reflections — Background Information
Summary
As an undergraduate student at UNLV, I was tasked with leading the universitys venture capital fund, Rebel Venture Fund (RVF). In this series, I will discuss my experiences as CEO, including the benefits of such a responsibility and the numerous challenges our team faced.Before I begin writing the series, Id like to provide you with some context while reading the series:The Rebel Venture Fund was originally formed through the generous donation of $500,000 by Jeff Moskow to help students learn about venture capital through real-world experiences. All returns made from investments would be reinvested back into the fund, and nobody involved with the RVF would ever receive any compensation.Initially, the entire RVF team was comprised of graduate students; the students were responsible for deal flow generation, due diligence, recruitment, and every other operational task associated with running a VC fund.Additionally, a management board and an advisory board, which was composed of local venture capitalists, angel investors, lawyers, etc., were formed to oversee the fund. The students reported to the boards once each month, and informal training sessions were also held with individual board members as needed.Given the small size of the fund, the RVF would make angel-sized investments of $25,000 and co-invest with others in the community. As a result, developing strong relationships in the community would be vital to the success of the fund.