Faces & names: G-51 Venture Scholar Profile

A couple of weeks remain as the semester begins to wind down at the end of the year, and we catch up once again with Shirley and her experience as a Venture Scholar this semester.

An exciting event happened in School last weekend when the G-51 team held its Deal Review Day here in Boston instead of in its home office in Austin, Texas. Shirley and other Venture Scholars based in Boston were able to attend the Deal Review in person and meet the people behind the program for the first time. I asked Shirley about her take on the event. “It was great to talk with Rudy and Bill… and finally put faces to names.”

We talked about the conversations she had at the event, which were insightful. “It was very valuable to get feedback (about the deal review). Usually after we present the deal and receive follow up questions, we move on to review other deals and we don’t know how we did. It was good to get a chance to chat afterwards,”

Thankfully, the feedback was positive. Rudy and Bill found her analysis thorough and critical, and they discussed the work she had put into the deal review. In reviewing one of her deals relating to a new healthcare technology, Shirley not only reviewed the pitch documents and interviewed the founders. In order to provide a fair assessment on an area of which she had limited knowledge, she conducted research through online databases, spoke to other members of the start-up regarding operations, and interviewed independent healthcare experts.

Her conversations with Rudy and Bill also revealed opportunities leveraging on her connections in San Francisco as well as China. Identifying potential shared interests, Shirley connected entrepreneurs as well as investors to G51 and selected ventures. “It will be mutually beneficial for them to be connected. Why not help identify opportunities?”

The G-51 Venture Scholar program is in fact one of several initiatives Shirley has involved herself in this fall. One of the lucky few to have scored an internship in the venture capital over the summer at a firm in San Francisco with over $2 billion in assets under management, Shirley returned to school with a renewed interest in venture capital, start-ups and entrepreneurship in general. In addition to the G-51 Venture Scholars program, she also participated in the Boston University Venture Capital Investment Competition, and began taking classes in private equity offered by the school. Although her time as a Venture Scholar is nearing its close, Shirley will undoubtedly continue to pursue her passion in supporting entrepreneurial innovation.

(Blog entry completed by BU MBA candidate Joanna Ghazali)