“zlien has brought on six VFA Fellows over the past three years, and the company has grown significantly with each new addition. Amanda stepped in last summer and already spearheaded the re-building of our brand, as well as the overhaul of our website. It is awesome when supporters email to tell you how on-point your newsletter is or that they love your new website. Three years into our work, I knew we needed to take the next step in how we communicated our story. “I am over-the-moon working with our VFA Fellow, Amanda Tien. But don’t take my (admittedly biased) word for it – local companies love their VFAs. If you’re working with a local startup and are interested in bringing on a Fellow, I’d heavily encourage you to take a look at the bottom of this article to see what you need to do to get the process started.įellows have already been doing some incredible things around the city. These young women and men are looking for compelling positions where they can create real value. Culture is a huge draw for adventurous VFAs, in addition to the opportunities for social entrepreneurship. Truly unique among Southern cities, New Orleans has long proven to be a magnet for young, ambitious transplants. But we want to keep momentum high, both for VFA, and for the New Orleans startup community as a whole. This number includes 19 currently active Fellows and 13 alums who have chosen to remain and work in the city.įinding Fellows interested in New Orleans has never been a serious challenge. Since 2012, over 50 Fellows have been placed at companies in New Orleans. The Big Easy was one of three original VFA cities and remains one of the most sought after in the entire program (for reasons that are obvious to us here at LookFar). They have aided in strategic growth, financial planning, event planning, hiring, content creation, and much, much more. If you can think of a distinct business need at a young startup, there’s a pretty good chance that at least one Fellow has filled it. They work for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. I will create opportunity for myself and othersįellows possess a range of skills, and have worked as Developers, Hardware Engineers, Product Managers, Business Analysts, Business Developers, Marketers, Managers, Designers, Educators, and many other roles. Value creation is how I measure achievement My career is a choice that indicates my values Most importantly, they have proven themselves to act in a manner that aligns with the VFA credo: They are self-starters, many having founded a team, club, or company in college, while balancing school, work, internships, and side projects. Many of them have a desire to become entrepreneurs themselves and so are interested in getting first-hand experience at a young startup. They are driven by value creation and strive to create opportunities for their communities. VFA Fellows are grads from the nation’s top schools including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, U Penn, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Brown, Dartmouth, and many more. With an acceptance rate of 10%, VFA accepts only the most qualified young graduates and provides five weeks of extensive training in hard and soft skills to prepare them for the unique challenges of working at a high-growth startup. Second, by infusing growing ecosystems with outside talent, VFA aims to help budding startup cities – such as New Orleans, Birmingham, and Detroit – establish themselves as new entrepreneurial hubs. First, the program seeks to educate our country’s most promising grads by restoring a culture of value creation as a measurement for achievement and apprenticeship as a means of education. Venture for America takes a similar approach, helping revitalize cities by injecting their economy with young talent. The two-year program is now in 17 metro areas, with more than 300 participating companies. You have probably heard of Teach For America – a two-year program in which recent college grads take on teaching positions in challenging school districts. The result: panicked absorption of industry wisdom, endless coffee-shop interviews, and probably a decent amount of cold sweat.įortunately, you’re in New Orleans (or 16 other cities), and you’ve got a direct line to a hiring pool of young, low-cost but highly-qualified developers, designers, PMs, managers, analysts, marketers, salespeople, and all-around hustlers. Complicating this factor is the fact that very few entrepreneurs have an extensive background in human resources. Hiring the right employees can chart a company’s course to future success or doom it to early implosion. Growing a team is simultaneously very difficult and very important. “If Wall Street is the best money can buy, we’re the best money can’t buy.”- Jason Wu ’15 Originally published by Ashley Meeks ’15 on the Lookfar Blog.
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