venture.universityReviews of venture.university

The program is well structured and accessible from diverse backgrounds. It offers the great opportunity to develop first hand experience in real-world deals across verticals. It is a great opportunity to learn investment rigor, well structured due diligence all the way up to closing deals. It changes the way you evaluate opportunities beyond companies and business.

The experience that J. Skyler Fernandes and Andrew Zalasin share is invaluable. If you put in the work, you are set up for success.

The Venture University program is a worthy educational investment for those who are interested in private investing or simply knowing more about the venture capitalist landscape. There are both academic studies as well as real world practice in doing real deal sourcing and company due diligence. Would highly recommend for those interested to explore this industry further.

My experience at VU Venture Partners was incredibly valuable. The program is thoughtfully designed, offering a perfect blend of learning and hands-on experience. I particularly appreciated the insights from Skyler and Andrew, who generously shared their own investment experiences and perspectives, providing priceless knowledge. As an investor in the program, I enjoyed actively participating in deal sourcing and presenting to partners, which gave me real-world experience in venture capital. I highly recommend this program to anyone looking to enter the VC world. It’s an excellent opportunity to gain practical skills, expand your network, and learn from some of the best in the industry

This program is superb! I enjoyed interacting with the partners at VU, as well as the members of the cohort. digging into hundreds of deals, interface with founders from around the world, navigating multiple industry sectors, andhaving exposure to a variety of business models is priceless! I want more of this!

Venture University realizes the untapped talent that is looked passed for so many reasons. VU understands that everyone does not come from the"right pedigree". VU had given me the opportunity I've been looking for all my professional life. Thank you.

I was a member of Venture University’s 35th cohort in the Fall of 2023 and it was such an awesome experience! At the very start of the program one of the partners told us that ‘you get out what you put in’ and that couldn’t be truer. It’s intense and you learn A LOT very quickly, but it’s very structured which makes it easier and allowed me to plan around my consulting work. After our initial Masterclass week, we met with multiple startups and got to listen in on how the partners at VU approached the calls with founders. Each had a different style that complimented the others very well and it was really interesting to learn from them all. We were then ‘off to the races’ so to speak, deal sourcing and doing diligence on startups ourselves and I really enjoyed this because the cohort members began to naturally work together even more at this stage. Including each other on calls, sharing experiences and insight etc. I really got to know the other team members well during this stage and I hope to continue those relationships for a long time to come! The cohort was divided into five teams: Healthcare, Proptech/Fintech. Enterprise, Consumer & Frontier and each week the teams would present their best deals at partner meetings. Needless to say, we had to come into those partner meetings very well prepared and we never had all the answers but even though the questions were tough, honest, and to the point, all of the feedback that was given was constructive and as the weeks went on we all got better at fine tuning our sourcing and due diligence skills. By the end of the program I felt our cohort had become a tight knit group and we had the investment committees and an amazing trip to Nappa Valley to celebrate! One final observation. As you go through the program it becomes really clear that the Partners and the entire VU team just really loves venture capital and are building something great to give back to the community. I’m really glad that I joined the team and am a VU alum, highly recommend!

It is an amazing experience learning concepts, pitching companies at the partner's meeting, doing due diligence, getting tips on looking at different aspects of the deals, then taking the deal to the Investment Committee, and then if it goes through, do the Syndicate call and Reverse Demo Day. This is not very easy to do even by big name Universities. Invaluable experience! Also, we need to remember that we can make the best out of this program by completely immersing yourself in this. I enjoyed my time thoroughly. Sky, Andrew, Jenna, Aakash, and Arpan were all amazing in helping us with different aspects in their own way. I highly recommend this program which gives you all you need to confidently transition into a VC/PE career, provided that it is dependent on you if you can handle all the work and transition from apprentice to a VC career path in 3 months or a year. Nevertheless, every bit of your time is going to be fruitful with this program.