About the Club
The Caltech Entrepreneurship Club aims to develop Caltech's startup ecosystem through educational speaker series, networking events, and working with administration to establish a founder friendly environment. We connect students with resources to explore career options outside of academia.
We bring in speakers from various backgrounds including venture capital, startup co-founders, consultants, industry scientists, incubators/accelerators, and large biotech and tech companies in LA. Our goal is provide a range of guests to discuss their transition from academia to industry, what a day in the life at their firm is like, and tips for students to succeed in their careers.
As Caltech is a small school, it is vital to take steps to increase entrepreneurial visibility within our community. The Entrepreneurship Club hosts multiple happy hour and networking events throughout the year to allow students to meet their peers whoa are interested in industry and startups.
Programming and Events
Nucleate: Nucleate is a student run non-profit organization that educates current academic trainees by helping them to translate their technologies out of their labs into a startup. The program pairs scientists with Intellectual Property (patents) with MBA students then puts the teams through a mentorship and expert workshop program to refine their strategic startup plans. The program culminates in a Final Pitch Showcase, with last year's event co-hosted by the LA Mayor's Office at LA City Hall.
Rocket Fund: Caltech's Rocket Fund is a member supported granting pool that helps academic and garage innovators turn their technologies into commercial realities through financial support, entrepreneurial mentoring and education. The program offers $25,000 - $100,000 in non-equity grants for cleantech and sustainability startups. The Entrepreneurship Club helps write the Rocket Fund newsletter and participates in the Technology Advisory Committee.
Plug and Play: Each year the Entrepreneurship Club sends 4 Caltech students to work virtually part time in the SF based venture capital firm to review 500+ pitch decks and discuss exciting companies in Plug and Play's pipeline.
Upcoming Events
July 27th, 11:15-12 PM
General Inception - Venture Studio Model
Coming to Caltech is Vikram Chaudhery, the President and COO of General Inception, a venture studio. Compared to a venture capital firm, venture studios work much closer with the scientific team, partnering with scientists in the capacity as co-founders who spend significantly more time creating a company together as opposed to just funding it. They work with life science projects, so if you have a technology you want to start a company on but don't have any business experience, General Inception can help!
General Inception is an operating company backed by Venture Capital Investors; purpose built to partner with scientific entrepreneurs - translating ideas into venture backed startups. They are focused on bringing the right capital and people together at the right time for successful company formation and growth in Life Sciences and Diagnostic Platforms, Synthetic Biology and Therapeutics. General Inception helps scientific entrepreneurs and inventors successfully overcome the major challenges of building a new startup - from legal and financial support to business strategy and operations. Their team partners with scientific entrepreneurs throughout their journey, from company formation through product development, and venture capital fundraising.
Vikram Chaudhery brings more than 15 years of experience as a business executive, life sciences investor, management consultant, and entrepreneur across life sciences including pharmaceutical, diagnostics, tools, and medical devices. Since 2019 Vikram has been a partner at Genoa Ventures where he has led all aspects of investment operations, including deal sourcing, evaluation and diligence, deal structuring and negotiation, and portfolio company governance and oversight. Vikram currently, serves as a Board Director for BrainBox Solutions, SimBioSys, Epitel & Nureca and as a Board Observer for Ionpath. Prior to joining Genoa, Vikram served as Head of Life Sciences at Lam Research where he led overall operations, strategy, partnership/business development, and venture investment functions for life sciences, focusing on next generation ‘omics technologies. Vikram also has led the Life Science tools practice at McKinsey & Co.
Come learn about General Inception, how it differs from typical venture capital, and ways they can help you find co-founders and develop a company with expert guidance!
Date: July 27, 11:15-12:00
Location: BBB B180
Join Us
If you would like to join our mailing list and receive updates on upcoming events / opportunities go here. If you are a venture capitalist or investor interested in learning about the amazing innovation on campus, please write to the President Bryan Gerber at bgerber@caltech.edu