Today, we’re excited to introduce the GC Venture Fellowship, a reimagining of our Rough Draft Ventures program, our student-powered VC program. 

When we founded Rough Draft Ventures in 2013, we had a simple goal: to support ambitious student founders focused on creating powerful, positive change that endures. With our GC Fellowship program, that mission stays the same. 

As campuses become leading hubs for innovation, we feel it’s important to support student founders on their missions to leave the world better than they found it. When it's a question of imagination, young creative brains have a leg up. In the dawn of the AI era, we are thrilled to welcome ideas from ambitious student founders. The AI native builders among them will change the face of the internet as we know it today. To do that, we must build responsibly – we can no longer build businesses solely for profit or growth. This ethos aligns with GC’s Responsible Innovation core, and we believe it can be fostered as early as in the college dorm room. As GC’s early stage practice expands, most recently by welcoming the La Famiglia team into our family, we felt it was even more important to align our identity among student founders with our broader GC ethos and mission. 

This year, the GC Venture Fellowship is excited to support student founders, no matter where they are in their company-building process. For founders who may be ready to raise their first round of equity, we’re excited to hear directly from them. For student founders at an even earlier stage, as they are still finalizing their ideas for how they’ll change the world, we’re excited to support student founders through our grant program, which provides students a starter grant to help them begin on their journey. Student founders in this program are further supported through curated community events and strategic guidance for future rounds as they build up their relationships with our investors at General Catalyst and the broader startup and Venture Capital community. 

None of what we do would be possible without the Student Fellows who run our Fellowship Program. Our Fellows are hard-working, energetic, curious, humble, and bold. Many of our Fellow alumni have gone on to start their own companies and VC funds and have gone on to work at top VC and technology companies around the world. They’re problem solvers and learners at heart. When we founded RDV in 2013, we had just a handful of fellows based out of Boston. Today, we have over 20 fellows spread across the country and the world. 

If you’re a student founder, no matter where you are in your journey, we would love to chat! Apply here for funding, or find our fellows here.