Welcome to the VWV Group Independent Study Program!
In 2021 alone, venture capital (VC) investment reached a high of $345 billion in the US. Undeniably, VC is a powerful and enduring economic force that shapes our current society, but historically, it has been an opaque industry dominated by a specific demographic.
With a core mission of democratizing students’ access to VC education, Van Wickle Ventures is excited to offer our curriculum to the Brown student body as a Group Independent Study Program (GISP), “From Shark Tank to Sequoia: The World of Venture Capital.” This course, sponsored by Professor Emeritus Barrett Hazeltine, will be co-taught by VWV Co-Directors Cécile Tang and Ben Piekarz ’24 as well as rotating analysts at VWV. Guest lectures, discussions, and presentations will dominate the pedagogic process.
This course is open to students of all semester levels, without pre-requisites and regardless of specific concentration. If you are an undergraduate student at Brown seeking to apply to this Group Independent Study Program, please review the syllabus and submit your application to this course no later than Sunday January 28th, 11:59 PM EST: GISP Application Form. Our first class meeting will be held on the first day of classes, Wednesday January 24th, 5:40–8:00 PM in the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship – it is required for you to attend the first class in order to be considered in the application process. Please reach out to cecile_tang@brown.edu or ben_piekarz@brown.edu if you have any questions!
Note: if you are a RISD student and/or a graduate student (Brown or RISD) interested in taking this course, please contact the student coordinators for more details.