We’re looking for the next CEO of Dorm Room Fund
I’m excited to announce that we’re kicking off a search for the next leader of Dorm Room Fund (DRF)and celebrating our newest #DRF4Life…
I’m excited to announce that we’re kicking off a search for the next leader of Dorm Room Fund (DRF)and celebrating our newest #DRF4Life alumni, Rei Wang, as she gets set to shift her leadership focus from the DRF community to her own startup.
In the summer of 2015, DRF was two years old, had teams in four cities and felt like the start of something powerful. Then, I got an email in response to a post like this, and Rei joined us. Since then, everything’s changed.
Under Rei’s leadership, DRF evolved from an operationally efficient group of student investors to an incredibly vibrant community of entrepreneurial students. DRF members are empowered to create, own and launch — and the results have been outstanding, from innovative products (VCWiz) to community events (AllDRF and Female Founders Track) to new funds (Graduate Fund).
As the leader of DRF, Rei has forged an inclusive community that welcomes students for who they are — and what they can be. She has championed hundreds of students, encouraging them to challenge obvious career paths and take chances with the support of the DRF community. The DRF community has transformed and will continue to honor these values as it grows.
Because of the community that has come together, I could not be more confident in the future of DRF. Over the next few months I will be working with Rei and other members of the First Round team, DRF alumni and current DRF partners to identify the next leader of Dorm Room Fund. If you think this might be you, please read on. If you think this might be someone you know, please share this post with them and encourage them to talk to us about the role. Or follow Rei’s lead — send me that cold email.
I can’t wait to see where Dorm Room Fund goes from here.
Be the next CEO of Dorm Room Fund
Run the premier student-run venture capital fund in the country
Spearhead an Innovative Organization
Dorm Room Fund is a VC fund focused on building the strongest community of entrepreneurial students. As the CEO of Dorm Room Fund, you will be running an entire venture capital fund, a team of 40 investment partners, a platform team of designers, engineers, and data scientists, and managing a portfolio of 250+ startups. You are the leader of a large, decentralized, mostly-remote, organization that is run as a self-governed democracy. You’ll be at the helm setting the direction of the fund and making key strategic decisions in collaboration with the students of Dorm Room Fund and the partnership at First Round.
Partner with a World Class Team
Dorm Room Fund is a standalone fund, it has its own investment thesis, community, brand, and mission. It is also a central part of the First Round family. What that means is as CEO of Dorm Room Fund, you also have the opportunity to partner closely with the First Round investment and platform team. You’ll be working out of the First Round office, learning how investment decisions and portfolio support works at First Round and applying those frameworks to Dorm Room Fund. You’ll build relationships with amazing entrepreneurs and experts in the First Round community. You’ll work closely with Phin, Ben, and other members of the First Round team on strategic initiatives that enable both Dorm Room Fund and First Round to grow and succeed.
Be Part of the Best Freakin’ Community
The members of the Dorm Room Fund community are mind-blowingly awesome. They are Forbes 30 under 30 honorees, TED Speakers, and National Science Foundation Grant Recipients. Accolades aside, they are brilliant and hard working and all share a core belief of using entrepreneurship as a tool to change the world. You’ll have the opportunity to build relationships with every single member of the Dorm Room Fund community, which includes investment partners, platform team members, founders, and alumni. This community will quickly become one of the most valuable communities you’ve ever belonged to, and membership in DRF is #DRF4Life.
What’s the commitment?
Being CEO of Dorm Room Fund is like being the CEO of an early-stage startup. It will be intense. Everyone in Dorm Room Fund has high expectations for themselves and we are constantly pushing ourselves to better serve our community. This is not a standard 9–5, your hours are untraditional. The majority of Dorm Room Fund investment meetings are held during the evening and weekends, and you will be traveling frequently during the academic school year.
Interested? Here’s what we’re looking for:
You’re passionate about student entrepreneurship. We believe that the most successful founders of tomorrow are on campus today and should have the tools to turn their ideas into businesses right now . You recognize that university communities are an incredible environment for entrepreneurs. You see the opportunity for Dorm Room Fund to continue leading the charge as the premier organization for entrepreneurial students, and you’re ready to take action.
You’re a master motivator. You know how to run an effective organization with high outputs. You are a solution-oriented and creative problem solver who knows how to serve your customer. You know how to work with multiple stakeholders and drive group consensus around shared objectives to get work done.
You’re a star operator. Dorm Room Fund has four teams spread across the country, actively investing throughout the year while serving a growing portfolio of companies. We’re investing in about 50 companies a year and for the past few years we’ve 1.5Xed our investment pace. We need someone who can look at investment opportunities across every industry ranging from healthcare to robotics and work with a rapidly growing portfolio of companies to help them hit their next milestone and raise follow on capital.
You’re a product visionary. The next thing Dorm Room Fund needs hasn’t been built yet. You’ll be able to get to know the community quickly, identify the biggest needs, build solutions to serve them, and then scale them broadly. The last product Dorm Room Fund built was a fundraising tool called VCWiz. What will the next one be?
You inspire greatness. You have the ability to spot and unlock potential in others. The best student entrepreneurs and investors are still students — and they’re still learning. The next CEO of Dorm Room Fund will be someone who can spot raw talent and help cultivate it to serve our mission.
We hope to meet candidates with 6+ years of work experience in the technology startup industry and with management experience. Ideally you’ll be based or willing to relocate to New York, or San Francisco. We welcome folks of all background to apply. You don’t need to have prior venture capital experience, and we encourage cold emails.
To apply, please complete this application by October 31st.
Questions? Feel free to reach out to Rei or Phin by email or on Twitter. We are both firstname at firstround dot com and @heyreiwang or @phineasb.