From summer VC intern to deal analyst: Venture Scholar profile

Shirley Deng took a running start to the G-51 Venture Scholars Program, having freshly completed her summer at a venture capital firm in San Francisco. The past few weeks with the program have been demanding for the dual-degree BU Questrom School of Business graduate student, but Shirley has enjoyed the exposure the program has provided her, “I learned a lot from talking to the entrepreneurs. G-51’s feedback has also been very good in challenging my thinking and pushing me to think about something a different way.”

Shirley presented one deal at last week’s Deal Review Day, and will presenting one more this Friday. “There are definitely learning points that I got from reviewing the first deal that have helped me with reviewing the one I’m presenting this week.” Both of Shirley’s deals are very different, but there are similarities in the review process that are relevant to deal reviewing regardless of the start-up’s industry.

Last week, Shirley presented a start-up consolidating ed-tech communication tools within a single platform, addressing existing pain points in communication and planning between teachers, students, and parents — negatively impacting teacher instruction, student learning, and parental oversight. While her recommendation for this deal was negative, consistent with the review findings of another Venture Scholar from another business school – Shirley felt the feedback provided by G-51 was sufficiently thought provoking to justify investigating further. This week, she looks forward to presenting a promising health-based start-up providing a 360-degree health understanding though systems systems for providers and patients.