I’m writing to share the latest from VFA. We have exciting news (record application numbers! new Fellow ventures!) and some significant strategic shifts as well (revamped training program, reduced number of target cities). 2018 is set to be a year of tremendous growth, major evolution, and increased focus. Thank you for being on this journey with us!
Some headlines
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Application Growth – we received a record 2,417 applications for our Class of 2018! This represents more than 70% growth over 2017, where we received 1,411 applications. We attribute this growth to digital marketing efforts, organic increases in brand awareness, and a robust campus partnerships program. We have two more Selection Days to go, and are on track for a class of about 195 Fellows (vs. 182 in 2017)
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Innovation Fund – Our annual crowdfunding competition launched on March 12th. We have a record 12 teams participating, with projects including a children’s book, a body positive magazine, smartphone gadgets, and an outdoor teaching program. In addition to the funds they raise from supporters, our Fellows are also competing for $20,000 in prizes from VFA. Check them out and show your support! Many of these fledgling projects turn into full-blown companies; so this is a great opportunity to get directly involved in helping the next generation of entrepreneurs.
2018 VFA Cities
In my reflections on 2017, I shared that VFA would not be expanding to any new cities in 2018, and that we intend to grow cohorts in our current cities to 10+. I can now confirm that we are also no longer going to place new Fellows in three cities: Atlanta, Denver, and Nashville. This brings our total number of cities in 2018 to 15.
We made this decision in line with the goals and the framework we established in the VFA Strategic Plan. We want to focus our work on cities with a strong need for talent attraction and job creation, an existing entrepreneurial ecosystem, and a path to fundraising sustainability. Based on our experience over the past six years, we had the sense that some of our cities did not meet these criteria, and that our program was not as successful in those places as a result. We engaged a pro bono team of quants at Barclays to run a detailed analysis of all VFA markets (including comparative data from the top 50 metropolitan areas in the country) and their results confirmed our intuition: these three markets are not struggling to attract talent and create jobs. There was not a clear path to achieving our mission; so we decided to increase focus to places where we can fulfill those objectives.
We see this as the natural outgrowth of being a startup: we tried a lot of things in the early days, we learned, and now we know what the criteria are for us to achieve future success. We can act on that. Having fewer cities going forward means that we can do a better job in the markets where we are now focusing. We will be able to bring larger cohorts, improve the Fellow experience, and build deeper relationships.
Training Camp in the Motor City
In September, we got the hare-brained idea to put out an RFP to raise $1mm over two years to bring VFA’s Training Camp to a new city. This stemmed from a combination of the fact that we had physically outgrown Brown’s facilities and a recognition that we could deliver a great experience in other VFA cities that were eager to host us. Much to our delight, several cities indicated interest, and we ended up receiving two very competitive bids. I am thrilled to announce that after much consideration, the VFA Board of Directors decided to make Detroit the new home of Venture for America’s training program! We are excited to showcase Detroit to the newest Fellowship class. As one of our original VFA cities, the city has shown deep commitment to VFA, it has 60 Fellows and Alumni and a groundswell of supporters, and is experiencing an inspiring rebirth. We will be inviting supporters to join in many capacities, and if you have an interest in being part of the fun this July, please do reach out.
Summer Celebration
After six fun years, we have decided to discontinue our annual summer gala. The reasons for this are many: the event wasn’t the best way to showcase our work, did not meaningfully engage supporters in directly helping our young entrepreneurs, and was not the most effective use of staff time. We will still be fundraising up a storm of course, and we are excited to replicate our highly successful post-accelerator Demo Day that took place in December as a means of engaging our New York-based community going forward. We will also be strengthening our volunteer offerings and mentorship program, as well as hosting smaller, more focused events in order to engage more supporters.