Coming out of college, Venture For America founder and CEO Andrew Yang wasnt sure what career path to take. For a while he tried being a corporate lawyer and then attempted to found his first company, but soon realized that he was unprepared for the challenge. Yang worked with a seasoned entrepreneur, which showed him that having exposure to entrepreneurial experiences is necessary for success.
Yang eventually became the CEO of Manhattan Prep, an education company later acquired by Kaplan. In that position, he saw many young people who had little direction and were thinking of going to business school. He thought that if that talent could be funneled into early stage growth companies, the U.S. economy would be in a much better place.
In his book -Smart People Should Build Things,- Yang observes that the talent of bright young minds is wasted when they choose a -safe- job over one that exposes them to entrepreneurship and innovation early in their career. Venture for America (VFA), a non-profit company he founded in 2012, attempts to address this career issue by offering graduating college students the opportunity to work in startups and growth stage companies.
Referencing the Kaufman Foundations research over the past decade that concludes all new job creation has come from small businesses within their first five years, Yang believes that new company formation is critical for the growth and health of our nations economy. Therefore, VFAs trained college graduates or, -fellows,- are placed in startups or growth stage companies located in cities seeking to revitalize their business sector, such as Cincinnati, Detroit and many others.
Yang feels that Venture For America could be the answer to what he sees as this generations social and economic challenge just as Teach For America was almost two decades ago when it started to address educational challenges in American inner cities.
At its core, VFA is a facilitator and intermediary. It creates a pathway from college education to entrepreneurial training to real world experience. Â VFA is also planting seeds in urban areas that previously could not have attracted such talent, providing important opportunities for them to build their citys economic future with critical entrepreneurial talent.
-I always see students that have the potential to start a new business, but they dont always have a solid direction,- Yang said. -There is so much intellectual and human capital that is not being fully utilized, so I wanted to fix that.-
VFA does just that. They place somewhere between six to 10 fellows in each city so that they can, combined, make a larger overall impact on the citys economy. VFA has only been around since 2012, but has already made big strides. The non-profit is now in 12 cities in 10 states, and the number of fellows grows each year. In 2012, 40 fellows were deployed. This past year, that number grew to over 140.
-We try not to chase numbers, we try to chase impact. We want to make a real impact and benefit the cities that were in,- Yang said.
While VFA doesnt pay for the salary of each fellow, VFA invests significantly in each individual coming into their program. Before beginning their two-year position, VFA invests about $30,000 per fellow to recruit, train and prepare each one. They seek individuals who demonstrate a passion about what they do and can show they have been successful in at least one area they have pursued whether it be in business, sports, leadership or a variety of other things.
-Obviously, you cant teach everything about entrepreneurship in five weeks, but you can prepare them for real world experiences,- Yang said. -We teach each fellow about themselves, about working in teams and about getting things done in a high-intensity environment.-
VFA has been a very rewarding experience for Yang, providing an outlet for his entrepreneurial passion while also fulfilling a social mission. His success is now seen in an annual budget that approaches $5 million, achieved through the support of key corporate sponsors such as UBS, Barclays, PWC, Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans, Blackstone, Bank of America and others.
Over the course of the VFA program, Yang sees the fellows transform from idealistic college students into productive workers in stressful startup environments, which makes them better grounded aspiring entrepreneurs. He is pleased to share that startups have already emerged from fellows who have completed their placement. Yang sees that as the end of the full cycle that VFA initiates, beginning with its recruiting at U.S. universities and ending with an aspiring and passionate young entrepreneur engaged in a local community.
Venture for America is always looking to expand and recruit more fellows. For more information, visit http://ventureforamerica.org/.
