Business attorney by day, student team advisor by night!
Minde Kornfeld is a business attorney who works closely with the entrepreneurial community. She has been involved with Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) for three years, both as a mentor and as a judge selecting the team. She offers her time to students by mentoring the team as they prepare for VCIC. This is done by helping with strategy, serving as a resource and sounding board, and roleplaying by acting as the entrepreneur or as a judge in mock negotiations, for example.
How has your experience with VCIC been so far?
It has been a very positive experience. VCIC involves bringing together a very engaged group of people who want to help the students. There are many members of the entrepreneurial community involved – from established VC’s to serial entrepreneurs. Everyone’s commitment and time are an important part of the experience for students. I enjoy working with Greg and the others. VCIC is very well organized and the whole experience is a rich one for all involved. It is great to go to the Regional VCIC and watch all of the teams participate. It helps with our preparation and is another level of support for the team.
What advice can you give the students?
The competition is hard work and requires time and effort to practice as a team. Working together and building on each person’s strengths and skills is invaluable in being successful at VCIC. Additionally, a solid understanding of the basic venture capital/financing terms and interplay is very important. We also remind students that these entrepreneurs have worked very hard to build their businesses which is important to acknowledge and be respectful of; this helps both the integrity of the competition and in the negotiation process.
What is your favorite part of working with VCIC?
Observing the students during this process as they become more comfortable with the terms, process, and strategy for the competition and most importantly, how they gel as a team. For students, the program can be a very positive experience and a really good opportunity to tie their business school coursework and experiences along with meeting and working with members of the business community.
Written by BU MBA candidate Jennifer Fessler
