TheHBS Summer Fellows Programenables students to apply their classroom training as they explore career opportunities in roles or regions where compensation is generally lower than the traditional MBA level. This summer, we are connecting with some of our 57 Social Enterprise Summer Fellows, who are working around the world to develop skills and knowledge while having significant responsibility and high impact.
What are you working on this summer?
I am working as a Venture Capital Associate with Acumen America, an impact VC fund that invests in early-stage companies addressing poverty and wealth inequality at scale. In that role, I am generating investment themes, sourcing new investment opportunities, conducting due diligence on transactions, and supporting internal projects to help drive portfolio growth. As part of that work, I have been helping the Acumen America team further develop their investment theses under their financial inclusion theme. That has meant developing a perspective on venture-backable models in the ecosystems for shared ownership, wealth democratization, housing stability, worker empowerment, and benefits delivery.
Why did you choose this internship for the summer?
I came into HBS having both private sector consulting experience at Boston Consulting Group and public sector policy experience at the White House. I was looking for opportunities this summer that would allow me to engage in the type of due diligence mindset I enjoyed in consulting, while still being part of an impact-oriented environment that was highly energizing in the public policy world. Impact venture capital, and Acumen America in particular, was ultimately the best mix of those worlds, and has given me the opportunity to learn and engage with a wide array of innovative business models that support a more equitable economy.
What are your goals for this summer?
My goals have been twofold, one specific and one more general. First, I wanted to gain a level of comfort with the skills needed to succeed in VC, from developing investment themes to sourcing companies to executing diligence and financial modeling. Second, I wanted to explore a career path that was outside my comfort zone while still leveraging some of the skills I’ve developed early in my career. On both counts, I think Acumen America has been a great fit and exactly the type of experience I was looking for.
How has your MBA skillset prepared you to be successful in this role?
As one might expect, the frameworks, case studies, and discussions from our first-year Entrepreneurial Management course have all been highly applicable as I have engaged with seed and pre-seed stage companies, where Acumen America is most focused. The course instilled some of the starting points and fundamentals when evaluating companies for product-market fit, assessing valuations and cap tables, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of founders. The newfound comfort with financial modeling from our Finance courses as well as the baseline in accounting from the Financial Reporting & Control course have proven valuable as well.
How has the summer influenced your thinking on future involvement in social enterprise?
The summer has reinforced my hope that social enterprise and public service are important elements of my career post-MBA. Working at Acumen America in particular has widened the scope of what I thought possible under that banner, with an incredible depth of new enterprises emerging every day that are finding innovative ways to make a positive impact while also being not only sustainable but also highly scalable enterprises.
How can someone learn more about your organization?
To learn more about Acumen America, I would suggest taking a look at their website as well as their Linkedin, where they feature many of the innovative and impactful companies they have backed.
