Sean Byrnes ’00 said that when he attended Dartmouth, entrepreneurship was not encouraged or supported as it was seen to contrast with the values of academia. A decade and a half later, the current atmosphere is more welcoming of the melding of academia with for-profit endeavors, Byrnes said.
This new attitude precipitated the creation of the Green D Founders Fund, which announced in September its plans to back promising startups and companies with ties to Dartmouth. The fund’s final close is scheduled for Jan. 30 and will begin investing the $1.5 million committed thus far in 12 to 18 investments over the next 18 months.
“This is a moment in time in the Dartmouth community where the idea of entrepreneurship and innovation is welcome and something that people want to embrace,” Byrnes, a member of the fund’s Investment Committee, said.
Michael Collins ’86, the lead manager of the Green D Fund, said that entrepreneurship is increasingly important in the college environment as larger numbers of top students and faculty move towards starting companies.
“Dartmouth has put an increasing amount of emphasis in building their entrepreneurial ecosystem, but one of the key aspects of having a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystems is having capital available,” Collins said.
Collins is the founder and chief executive of the consulting firm Big Idea Group Inc. and a Launch Angels manager.
Launch Angels, a Boston-based venture capital firm, will be advising the Green D Fund, he said. Collins said that alumni involvement in the fund provides “real value” to the companies and to the investors themselves.
He said the size of the investments, of $100,000 each, will be meaningful for these companies.
A group of approximately 40 alumni contributed to the fund, with investors representing over five decades of graduates. Collins said investors represent “a broad-based group” from different geographic and academic backgrounds.
Alumni who have seen success in the business world see the fund as a way of “paying it forward,” Collins said. They would like to see a substantial return to investors and provide support to enhance the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network.
Collins said that the fund will be available to undergraduates and alumni at the College, as well as to current students and alumni of the Tuck School of Business, the Thayer School of Engineering and the Geisel School of Medicine.
Applicants will submit business plans, which will then undergo a competitive review process by the investment committee representing the fund, he said. The committee will conduct their first of monthly meetings in March following the closing of the fund, Collins said.
Byrnes said that the group will evaluate prospective business opportunities and decide which will be good investments.
“It would be naïve to just blindly invest in any company founded by a Dartmouth alum,” Byrnes said.
Selecting Dartmouth-affiliated companies creates “a natural filter,” Byrnes said. The liberal arts education at the College lends itself well to the diverse responsibilities that founders of a startup company face, he said.
Collins said that several recent funds with similar ties to universities exist, including funds at Harvard University, Stanford University and the University of Michigan. He said this trend makes it necessary for Dartmouth to start its own.
“Every college is going to do it differently, and hopefully we’re going to do this in a very Dartmouth way,” Collins said.
Byrnes said that the endeavor is experimental in that those involved are spread out across the country, with both the College and investors lacking a physical presence close to the companies’ locations.
“I have faith that the strength of the Darmouth alumni network can overcome this geographical distribution,” Byrnes said.
Collins said that the fund has been in contact with the DEN, which views the fund as a complement to their work.
Ryan Buckvar ’17, a member of the DEN associates’ team, said the fund is a testament to how willing alumni are to help students.
Ned Berman ’16, another DEN associates team member, said that while the fund will be a resource of capital accessible to Dartmouth students, it is still a for-profit organization that will only fund high quality projects.
Terry Blum, the director of the institute for leadership and entrepreneurship and professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, said that often these kinds of venture capital investors go to their own alumni to invest, citing similar patterns at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech.
Blum said the Green D Fund appears to be “packaged more nicely” than others, but will operate in similar ways to comparable endeavors. She said that the fund’s smaller size may effect its success..
“It has the potential to do good for alumni and for the startups, but depending upon what the startups are required to do in exchange, it could end up not being a good thing,” Blum said.
Blum said that success cannot be predicted until the fund’s operation and principles for investment and mentoring become apparent.
