Kelly Peeler, 2013 Kauffman Foundation Global Scholar and Founder of NextGenVest
When the Kauffman Foundation launched the Global Scholars Program in 2006, their aim was to teach and inspire recent college graduates who want to build innovative, world-changing businesses. Entering its seventh year in 2013, the program has hosted students sponsored by governments and organizations from eight countries representing at least 14 nationalities. The Global Scholars Program offers high quality education in entrepreneurship and features presentations, seminars, workshops, and discussions with leading professors, researchers, and entrepreneurs from around the U.S. During the program, Scholars have the opportunity to shadow executive leaders and immerse themselves in the day-to-day operations of an innovative firm such as Google, Cisco, InVivo Therapeutics, and InCube Ventures. Through this they learn first-hand about the challenges of launching a new, innovative enterprise. The benefits provided by the Kauffman Foundation include the costs of participation in the program, program-related lodging and travel expenses for the six month duration of the program, and a small living stipend.
Kelly Peeler, a 2010 Harvard University graduate, was the ideal candidate: her aim is to build a business that helps make investing more accessible, social and cost efficient to young people, as only 14 states currently require any type of financial education. We caught up with Kelly to learn more about this extraordinary program.
1. What inspired you to apply for the Kauffman Global Scholars Program?
I was inspired to create NextGenVest, a financial education, experience, and progress-tracking platform for young adults because I had not had any type of financial literacy training through high school or in college. It was only when I became an investor within J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank that I learned how to invest and understand the need to proactively manage personal finances at any income level. I myself procrastinated learning about all topics associated with personal finance, including credit, budgeting, investing, etc. and started to realize that all of my friends and peers did as well. These are vital skills that every person really must understand and have control over, especially in a post-financial crisis era.
2. What is a typical day like for a Kauffman Global Scholar?
The Kauffman Foundation is one of the largest Foundations globally that is focused on promoting entrepreneurship and education. The Foundation hosts programs and publishes extensive research to foster discussion and action around entrepreneurship. The Kauffman Global Scholars Program is a sixth month intensive program for 13 founders from around the world to help them effectively launch their companies. Kauffman Scholars work with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, professors, and industry professionals to learn, develop their product, and hone growth strategies in different cities including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Kansas City.
It was attractive for me in that it allowed me to learn from a group of international entrepreneurs, do customer development and test my product in different cities across the U.S. It also gave me the opportunity to better understand the core problem I am solving.
3. What tips would you give others applying to the Kauffman Global Scholars Program?
Any student applying to the Kauffman Global Scholars Program should have a clear understanding of why they want to build the company they want to build. They don’t have to have all the answers about how the product or service will look, but they should understand the problem they are trying to solve. Everyone who goes through the program changes their product over time based on the feedback of their users. The applicant needs to be willing to go out and ask users lots of questions, receive criticism, and adapt – quickly. The interview is about proving your ability to formulate and execute ideas. Be flexible and honest about the challenges you have faced so far in starting your own company or venture, they know everyone has them!
As a Kauffman Foundation Global Scholar, Kelly Peeler is building a company focused on making personal finances easier for young adults. She is currently piloting NextGenVest with schools and parents. If you believe you could have been more prepared to manage your own finances, let Kelly know! Contact her at: Kelly at nextgenvest.com
Kelly is also the Executive Director of Business Across Borders. Previously, she worked at J.P. Morgan’s Private Bank as an investor covering financial sponsors, venture capital principals, and strategic clients to the firm. Kelly holds a bachelor’s degree in history and economics from Harvard University.
© Victoria Johnson 2013, all rights reserved.
Bernard Moon, Cofounder and CEO of Vidquik, and former Coro Fellow in Public Affairs (1995-6)
What many people may not know about Bernard Moon, the Cofounder and CEO of Vidquik, is that he made his career start in public service through the prestigious Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs. In 1995, Bernard was one of 48 fellows selected nationwide for Coro’s post-graduate leadership program and was placed in St. Louis. Bernard thrived in the program, which offered training that emphasized organizational analysis, critical thinking, project management and group theory. Just two years after his fellowship in 1998, Bernard founded his first start-up company, ViewPlus, a multi-cast video-on-demand service targeting cable and satellite TV industries, which successfully closed $600,000 of angel funding and secured financing of $33 million. Since his time at ViewPlus, Bernard has co-founded several companies and ventures and is currently Cofounder of Vidquik, a web conferencing and sales solutions platform, and SparkLabs, a recently launched startup accelerator in Seoul, Korea. We asked Bernard how the Coro Fellows Program impacted his career in entrepreneurship.
1. What inspired you to apply for the Coro Fellows Program?
“Every group has its ultimate challenge, an experience that defines those who participate as among the most talented in their field. Track and field enthusiasts have the decathlon. Whiz kids have the Odyssey of the Mind competition. Fitness freaks have the Iron Man Triathlon. Aspiring public servants have the Coro Fellow Programs.”
When I read this description in the Princeton Review’s Top Internships book, it sparked in me the desire to apply along with the impressive list of alumni, which included U.S. Senators, Congressmen and leaders across various fields.
2. How has the Coro fellowship influenced your path as an entrepreneur?
My Coro experience helped shaped my path as an entrepreneur tremendously because it prepared me for the uncertainty and chaos of startup life. Much of the training during Coro was being thrown into unknown situations and testing how you respond as an individual and team. I still say Coro was the 2nd best experience for my career after my first startup.
3. What are some of the benefits of being an alumnus of the Coro Fellows?
First, more than half of our class of 12 (Class of 1995-96) are still close friends because we worked at least 70 hours a week on intense projects, training sessions and discussions which created lasting relationships. Second, meeting alumni – even from Classes 10, 20 or 30 years before ours – and having an immediate connection is amazing. It is amazing because we have mirrored experiences and so many common insights. Much of the content and structure of the program hasn’t changed since 1942 when it was founded, which is an incredible testament to the founders.
Bernard Moon is Cofounder and CEO of Vidquik, a new web conferencing and sales solutions platform, and co-founder of SparkLabs, a recently launched startup accelerator in Seoul, Korea. He is also an alumnus of the Network of Korean American Leaders (NetKAL) Fellowship Program. Bernard is a father of three and lives in Palo Alto, CA.
© Victoria Johnson 2012, all rights reserved.
In preparation for my upcoming seminar at MIT, I’ve gone back through my posts on science and engineering fellowships. Here’s a review of some of the best we’ve found.
Engineering:
- The Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowship is a competitive and prestigious fellowship for exceptionally talented doctoral students in the applied physical, biological and engineering sciences.
- The Amelia Earhart Fellowship is a $10,000 award for women of any nationality pursuing a doctoral degree in the field of aerospace-related sciences and aerospace-related engineering.
- The Hydro Fellowship Program is awarded to mechanical and electrical engineering graduate students in their final year of study who are interested in conducting research related to the improvement of conventional hydropower.
- The KPCB Engineering Fellows Program is a paid summer fellowship for entrepreneurial engineering students at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Science:
- Yale University offers 20-25 annual Gruber Science Fellowships for students of any nationality pursuing a PhD in biomedical and biological sciences or in astronomy and astrophysics.
- The L’Oreal USA Fellowships for Women in Science is a competitive fellowship program that provides five awards of up to $60,000 to women postdoctoral researchers who are pursuing careers in the life and physical/material sciences, as well as mathematics, engineering and computer science.
Tech:
- Code for America is a highly competitive professional fellowship program that recuits talented web developers, designers, and entrepreneurs to work on innovative tech projects in city government agencies across the U.S., including Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington, DC and Boston.
- The Google Policy Fellowship is a paid summer fellowship for undergraduate, graduate, and law students to spend 10 weeks in Washington, DC, San Francisco, Toronto or Ottawa, Canada at public interest organizations working on public policy in broadband access, content regulation, copyright and trademark reform, consumer privacy, and open government.
- The DHS Emerging Leaders in Cybersecurity is a paid professional fellowship program for computer science graduates; fellows complete rotational assignments at the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, DC.
We hope to see you at our Spring 2012 University Tour in Boston! Read here for details.
IAC, a leading Internet company, and New York University (NYU) are launching a new IAC Teaching and Research Fellowship Fund in partnership with NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. IAC is providing $250,000 to support graduate fellowships for students from the School’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), a graduate education program in interactive media.
Four IAC Fellows, selected based on academic and entrepreneurial excellence, innovative research, and their potential to make an impact on the future of the interactive media space, have been awarded a one year fellowship to develop new technologies and research while providing faculty and student support within ITP’s classrooms. Their mentors include executives from Vimeo and IAC’s Hatch Labs, an innovation incubator devoted to improving wireless technology.
“Partnering with IAC in creating a Research Fellowship for recent graduates follows the example of many entrepreneurial ITP alumni, most notably Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley who spent a year after graduating incubating his ideas around locative media,” said ITP Founding Chair Red Burns. “Through this Fund, selected ITP students will now have a little extra time to deepen their skills and further explore their ideas in collaboration with the innovators at IAC.” Read more.
When Steve Jobs dropped out of college he didn’t know where his life was headed. Looking back he was able to “connect the dots” and said that this was the first step on his path to becoming the founder, chairman and CEO of Apple, Inc.
The Thiel Foundation aims to find extraordinary people just like Jobs. The foundation has established the 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellows program, which provides 20 young geniuses $100,000 to create innovative scientific and technical projects, learn entrepreneurship, and begin to build the technology companies of tomorrow. The kick? They have to drop out of college.
One of this year’s Thiel Fellows, Dale Stephens, had already dropped out of Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas to launch UnCollege, a nonprofit that helps teens educate themselves outside the conventional university system.
“I created my education, essentially hacked it by leveraging the resources of the world around me,” said Stephens, who had been homeschooled since 6th grade. ”You can do the same thing at the collegiate level.” Read more.
Only 2 of the 20 Thiel Fellows are women – Laura Demming, who plans to commercialize anti-aging research, and Eden Full, who started a solar energy start-up that deploys her patent-pending inventions.
Venture for America is doing their part to create jobs for the U.S. economy. Today VFA announced the offering of new entrepreneurship fellowship opportunities for recent college graduates. VFA’s goal is for its fellows to contribute to the creation of 100,000 jobs by 2025.
Here is a bit of information about how the program works:
“Start-up companies within the target cities will be identified within industries of great potential or future importance (e.g., energy, biotech, materials sciences, infotech, education innovation, etc.). These start-ups will be presented with VFA fellows to hire for two years, at a discounted salary of $32- $38,000 per year. At the end of the 2-year period, the company can hire the fellow under new terms”.
VFA fellowships are for two years, and upon the conclusion of the fellowship the highest performing fellow is awarded $100,000 for seed investment for a new venture or funding for their existing company. VFA is working with established venture capital and angel networks to be able to extend multiple awards like this, as well as vendor services, in the coming years.
To learn more about Venture for America fellowships please visit their website: http://ventureforamerica.org
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