We’re officially more than halfway through Training Camp and if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the first 3 weeks, it’s that life is pretty nonstop around here. Whether they’re absorbing lectures by world-class trainers and guests, working into the night on their weekly challenge, or facilitating discussions in their own time, the Fellows continue to move full-speed ahead. Check out the week 3 recap below:
Guests on Guests
Training the Street: On Monday Fellows honed in on their Excel skills with Training the Street, a professional training firm that teaches all things financial modeling and applied Excel.
Chris Ryan: VP of Manhattan Prep and a world-class instructor, Chris gave Fellows a remarkably engaging crash course on Stats and Modeling, while also somehow learning all 122 Fellow names on the fly (Seriously.)
Danny Warshay: Danny is Brown’s single most highly ranked Professor and a veteran entrepreneur. Last week at Training Camp, he helped Fellows navigate a Harvard Case Study and then opened the floor up for questions on how to approach specific markets.
Bob Jeffrey: One of the original Madmen era marketers and former CEO of J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, Bob encouraged a conversation about risk-taking and thinking outside the box in order to be remembered.
Marian Salzman: CEO of Havas PR North America, Marian is a world-renowned “trendspotter,” and one of the first to get the word out about VFA. While explaining the ins and outs of personal branding, she urged Fellows to pull out their phones and draft a 140-character bio, an exercise in rethinking the way they view themselves.
Dan Porter: Dan has done it all, from being President of Teach for America to creating the app “Draw Something” which has been downloaded over 100 million times. He ended the week with invaluable advice on internet entrepreneurship, the gaming industry, how you know when to sell your company and more.
An Epic Challenge: Show Me The Money!
There was a lot of hustlin’ last week here in Providence as the 2015-ers responded to their toughest and most ambiguous challenge yet: “Make as much money as possible in 10 days using a crowdfunding platform.” The lack of instruction and competitive nature of the challenge helped set the stage for some very difficult, but ultimately creative work. Some initiatives made thousands of dollars in less than 72 hours, relying on strangers, friends and even some celebrities (check out “Larry the Dog,” wearing one of the teams’ products), while others hit the streets of Providence grabbing donations or t-shirt sales wherever they could find them.
This year’s winning team was *drumroll*… TuneSquad! They came up with Capture Detroit which combines stories and photos in a “journalistic attempt to log the growth of the people and organizations” in Detroit. Detroit Fellows Andrew Harris and Ben Seidman will be teaming up to make this project a reality in the years to come.
For live updates throughout the week, be sure to check us out on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or our #vfabootcamp live feed!
Special thanks to our generous sponsors, UBS and PWC, who make this all possible!
