9.7
(31 ratings)
6 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Venture Fluent is a live, online, cohort-based course that demystifies the jargon, and lingo of venture capital.
9.7
(31 ratings)
6 Weeks
·Cohort-based Course
Venture Fluent is a live, online, cohort-based course that demystifies the jargon, and lingo of venture capital.
Hosted by
Jorge M. Torres
Lecturer at Yale University
Course overview
Learn the terms, frameworks, and mindsets used by the best VCs in this live course so you can begin investing in startups created by high-potential entrepreneurs.
01
You've had professional success and want to start angel investing, create your own fund, or find a role in the VC industry.
02
You've studied VC on your own but crave the community of peers who can support you as you accelerate your learning.
03
You're ready to create a go-to-market plan for finding and supporting the world's best entrepreneurs.
Successful venture capital investors use the right language to appeal to entrepreneurs, engage with co-investors, and find new opportunities. You'll emerge from the course not only knowing the lingo but also how to use it to advance your professional goals.
With my guidance, you'll create an investment thesis and write an investment memo. Together, they will form a portfolio that demonstrates how you think about startups and your talent for identifying the ones that have the most potential to deliver outsize investment returns.
You'll be in conversation with VC investors who have successfully traveled the road you're on. We'll cultivate a high-trust classroom environment that encourages them to share insights they don't share anywhere else — insights you'll start using right away.
By learning with your cohort, you will complete the course along with peers who share your objectives. They will serve as future thought partners, co-investors, and industry friends for the life of your investing practice.
Venture Fluent
01
June 28 (Wednesday): Orientation; VC Industry Landscape; Thesis-Driven Investing
Topics: Course norms and expectations; fund structures, corporate forms and their interrelationships; investment thesis construction and strategy of the firm.
02
July 12 (Wednesday): Talent & Originating Deals
Topics: Finding deals; identifying high-potential entrepreneurs; psychology of high-impact founding teams.
03
July 19 (Wednesday): Stewardship & Due Diligence
Topics: Fiduciary duties; differentiating risk; frameworks for underwriting transactions.
04
OPTIONAL BONUS SESSION — July 22 (Saturday): Early-Stage Venture Capital Transactions
Topics: Equity vs. debt; key economic and control terms; driving alignment with entrepreneurs.
05
July 26 (Wednesday): The Limited Partner Perspective
Topics: Taxonomy of limited partners (LPs); motivations and objectives of LPs and how they underwrite investments in venture funds; characteristics of VC managers who generate outsize returns; building strong working relationships with LPs.
06
August 2 (Wednesday): Launching a Career in Innovation Investing & Course Conclusion
Topics: Fund entrepreneurship; navigating professional networks; student presentations; next steps and the Venture Fluent network.
Lecturer at Yale University
Becoming a great venture capital investor begins with mastering the language and jargon investors use to establish credibility and work with confidence. After almost decade practicing law, I joined Silas Capital as an early hire on the investment team and won a prestigious Kauffman Fellowship before ever doing my first deal. I did this by reading everything I found that could help me become fluent in the language of early-stage investing. That approach served its purpose, but it took way too long to identify the best sources of knowledge and it was incredibly isolating to learn by myself.
Now I teach venture capital at Yale and at other places to cohorts of peers who want to learn together and who benefit from my curated syllabus of the best readings in the field. I’ve taught hundreds of students how to move their professional goals forward, whether that's securing a role at a VC firm, making their first angel investment, or launching their own fund.
Read my LinkedIn profile to learn more about my career, and visit my personal website to see who's engaged me to teach venture capital to newbies and experienced professionals alike.
9.7
(31 ratings)
Heidi Diamond
Gabrielle Fong
Wendy Maldonado-D'Amico
Maura Comerford Devlin
Paulo Gaviria
Fatema Basrai
Brian Dolan
Nese Ozler
2 hours of live instruction per week
Each module includes a live online session where you'll encounter a mix of interactive lecture, group-work, and guest speakers.
30 mins per week
After each live session concludes, Jorge will stay with the class for an additional 30 minutes to answer any and all questions.
1 hour per week
Curated readings placed on the syllabus and designed to help you get the most out of the live sessions while going deeper on the topics that interest you the most.
2-3 hours per week
Projects help you apply what you're learning. You'll emerge from the course with a portfolio or work you can use to engage entrepreneurs, co-investors, and limited partners. In the past, student projects have involved constructing investment theses and writing investment memos.
Dedicate as much time as you want.
This is a "one size fits many" course! These days, everyone has a ton of demands on their time. The course is structured so you can get the highest return on the amount of time you have available to commit the course.
Valuation is a critical step in successful investing—even if a company succeeds, valuation can make the difference between a huge outcome and barely making money.
In this exercise, I unpack the lingo and illuminate the frameworks top venture investors use to do their work.
This free resource is based on a popular lesson from Venture Fluent, my live, online venture capital course.
In the lesson, you will:
1. Learn about the considerations that go into valuation;
2. Review video walkthroughs of the valuation process; and
3. Apply your learnings