DraperU Ventures VC Fellowship

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This is not your average fellowship. You won’t be grabbing coffee — unless it’s for a meeting with a founder building the future of AI, robotics, or space tech.

The Draper University Ventures Fellowship is a hands-on opportunity to learn the inner workings of VC from the inside. You’ll work directly with the Draper Associates team — early investors in companies like SpaceX, Robinhood, Tesla, and Coinbase — to help us find and support the next generation of legendary startups.

Venture capital is part science, part art, and mostly hustle. This fellowship is your crash course.

• VC 101: Learn how deals are sourced, evaluated, and structured
• Market Research: Identify emerging sectors, trends, and technologies
• Sourcing & Screening: Find promising startups and evaluate investment potential
• Founders & Fundraising: Sit in on real pitch meetings with partners and startups
• Deal Flow Meetings: Participate in internal team meetings where decisions are made
• Portfolio Support: Help support founders in the Draper ecosystem

By the end of the program, you’ll understand how investors think, how deals get made, and what separates a good startup from a fundable one. And you’ll leave with real connections to some of the most respected investors in the industry.

This fellowship is for people who are deeply curious, intellectually sharp, and endlessly excited about startups. You don’t need prior VC experience — but you do need hustle and taste.

• You have a pulse on what’s happening in tech and startups
• You ask great questions and love getting to the root of a problem
• You’re organized, resourceful, and not afraid to reach out cold
• You want to become a founder, investor, or operator someday
• Bonus: You’ve done something entrepreneurial or taken initiative on your own

• Work alongside one of the most legendary VC brands in Silicon Valley
• Lodging provided at Draper University
• Access to founder/investor events, mentor sessions, and the Draper Network
• Potential to convert into a longer-term role or return offer

This fellowship is fast-paced, immersive, and designed to give you a crash course in venture capital by doing, not just watching. Here’s what your journey will look like:

Welcome to Draper. You'll dive into the basics of venture capital: how funds operate, how deals are structured, and what makes a company investable. You’ll also set personal learning goals and begin your capstone project: sourcing and pitching a real startup to the team.

Time to hit the ground running. A 4-day immersive leadership bootcamp designed to stretch your limits — physically, mentally, and creatively. You'll also learn the art of startup sourcing — how to find promising early-stage companies before anyone else. You’ll build target lists, conduct market research, analyze trends, and start engaging with founders.

You’ll sit in on real founder pitch meetings with Draper Associates and DraperU Ventures partners and shadow the due diligence process. Learn how to ask the right questions, assess product-market fit, evaluate traction, and dig into data. You'll also get exposure to how we support existing portfolio companies.

This week is all about storytelling and critical thinking. You’ll learn how to write a compelling deal memo and how to communicate why a company is (or isn’t) a good investment. You'll refine your final pitch for the startup you sourced during the program.

Present your sourced startup to a panel of Draper ecosystem investors. Receive live feedback on your thesis, sourcing strategy, and investment rationale. Celebrate your growth, expand your network, and get plugged into the Draper ecosystem.

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Compensation

This is an UNPAID fellowship. The goal of this fellowship is to help you grow as an engineer, leader, and entrepreneur / business person. You will not be working for DraperU Ventures. You will be participating in a program designed to mentor you and help you grow in your respective field, here in the heart of innovation (Silicon Valley). At the end of the program, we will choose 8-10 students to invest $25-50k to help kickstart your project.

Housing is covered by us, but you are responsible for transportation and food costs during the duration of the program.