![]() The VFA team, the newly minted Fellows, and the companies from across the region were impressed with all that’s happening here. It’s rewarding that Rev1 is a catalyst for that, and that venture capitalists like Drive Capital and NCT Ventures make this an exciting time for entrepreneurs in the region. Sure, Columbus has great geography that plays a role, but VFA’s interest and engagement would not be as strong without the powerful startup and investment energy in the region. Location, Entrepreneurial Vibe, Great Startups Attract VFA VFA plans to base one of their team in Columbus soon. VFA also announced that Columbus will serve as VFA’s Midwest hub and gateway to ongoing expansion. Jade Track, Updox, Vantage Point Logistics, Nexosis, Duet Health, Aver Informatics, Beam Technologies, Farmeron, and CoverMyMeds will be following up with the candidates they met over the next few weeks. There were several companies from Columbus represented at the fair some interviewed as many as seven or eight fellows for open positions. 30+ companies from Columbus, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, and even Birmingham interviewed these Fellows for jobs.38 VFA Fellows made the trip from all over the Midwest and East Coast to interview for jobs with promising startup companies.VFA selects and trains fellows from among applicants who might otherwise be on Wall Street or working consulting gigs, or taking jobs in engineering, finance and marketing in top flight corporations. Venture for America is a fellowship program for recent college graduates to launch their careers as entrepreneurs. Here’s a quick reminder of what the day was all about. About Venture For America, ventureforamerica.We had a great turnout at the Venture for America ( VFA)Midwest Job Fair last week.Yang’s goal is for the companies that VFA fellows are reinforcing to create 100,000 new jobs by 2025. Another 111 high-ranked college graduates entered the program as its class of 2015. In its first four years VFA placed 318 fellows at 150 small companies in 15 cities. ![]() ![]() Individual donors like Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh ($1 million pledge), Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert ($1.5 million), Graham Weston of Rackspace in San Antonio, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman are supporters, as are numerous philanthropies like the PricewaterhouseCoopers Foundation, the Abell Foundation, and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. by supporting those who take economic risks in hopes of achieving common good and future rewards. In addition to introducing the young to business as a creative act, and invigorating struggling communities, VFA aims to “restore the culture of achievement” in the U.S. VFA members are sent not to cities that are already entrepreneurial hotspots but rather to locales that are struggling or have the advantage of being low-cost for new businessmakers-like Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore, Las Vegas, New Orleans, St. Venture for America, like TFA, now attracts some of the nation’s best and brightest young graduates, accepting only about 15 percent of applicants, training them, then plunging them into practical work and problem-solving. In 2011 Yang recruited a long roster of donors to launch a 501(c)(3) inspired by Teach For America. He believes far too many graduates of top colleges currently follow the crowd into finance and law and consulting, and that more of them should become entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and businesspeople who create tangible products and jobs for others. “Smart people should be building things,” says Andrew Yang.
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