Venture capital is agony and ecstasy, bust and boom, the stress of gambling and the thrill of a front-row view on the latest technologies. And when real money is involved, it is also one of the hottest classes on business school campuses.
In an effort to elevate their teaching beyond the usual case studies and guest speakers, a handful of schools are raising significant amounts of money to turn over to students who invest in real startups. The hope is to better train both aspiring venture capitalists and aspiring entrepreneurs, who will need to know what it takes to catch an investor's eye.
And while it has not happened yet, if a student venture fund happens to back the next Google and fills its university's coffers, so much the better.
I went around to different VC firms in the (Salt Lake) valley and said I'd sweep their floors for them if they wanted. Then I saw this opportunity
said Mark Campbell, a University of Utah student involved with the University Venture Fund there. It just kills what the classroom has to offer.
Utah is one of at least three business schools where students essentially run venture capital funds, along with the University of Michigan and Cornell University.
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