Beta Club, Gamma Squeeze
$GME v. 401(k)?
The Syllabus is Dorm Room Fund’s bi-weekly newsletter bringing you the latest news and startup resources for student founders, as well as portfolio updates and job opportunities from our community of companies. Oh, and of course some hot takes.
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What student founders need to know
GSV dares you to be great – GSV, an early-stage VC focused on education, is running it back with its Startup Bootcamp this year. For 7 weeks, founders can participate in weekly classes and real-world case studies, join presentations from world-class speakers, and even pitch their startups to investors… all online and for free 🤯 Can’t-miss events! Register here.
Looking for free swag? – Gen Z VCs recently announced its new Gen Z VCs Beta Club 💫. If you’re a Gen Z student interested in VC or entrepreneurship, this new initiative will connect you with companies building startups for Gen Z. Talk about an easy way to meet founders, get work experience, and receive free swag! Sign up for Gen Z VCs here.
Black Ambition applications are open – The Black Ambition Prize provides a platform for Black and Latinx founders building across consumer products, design, healthcare, and tech to receive funding and mentorship from industry leaders. Apps close on February 18th! Apply here.
Dorm Room Fund News
What we funded
RecoveryLink, the most advanced digital recovery support platform designed specifically for recovery support providers to improve outcomes through systems transformation. Check them out here!
Schefs, a social platform for college students to facilitate and participate in live conversations on topics of their choice 🤓 Schefs is redefining what it means to Learn From Each Other, and harness the collective intelligence of our generation. Join the conversation here!
What we’re celebrating
Aavia recently launched its brand-new platform, including a free app for anyone who wants to optimize their hormone health. Read more here.
Grow was featured by Slack next to Google Calendar and Zoom! Read more here.
RecoveryLink was just announced as part of the Technical.ly 2021 RealLIST as one of the most promising innovative startups in Philly! Read more here.
The Thiel Foundation recently announced its newest cohort of fellows and we’re well-repped by DRF founders and alumni, including Toni Oloko, Brandon Wang, and Michael Chime! Read more here.
Give us a follow on our new IG @dorm_room_fund. We’ve got some big plans for 2021 and you won’t want to miss it! Follow us here.
From the blog: A how-to on building inclusive startups
There’s no shortcut to achieve cultural competency and mitigate implicit biases. As an individual, it’s necessary to learn about race, gender, sexual orientation and people who aren’t the same as you. But as a student founder, your responsibility spreads further into building workplace leadership, and cultivating inclusion and diversity into the company you’re building.
To help you navigate this process, we talked to experts for some candid answers to questions you may have as you grow your team and raise funds: Why should this matter to you? What works and what doesn’t? Will this impact my ability to fundraise? What do you really need to do, and what should you avoid?
Hot Takes
WTF is going on with $GME?
Ah, yes, the age-old question — to invest or not to invest in GameStop 🤔 You remember GameStop, right? That videogame store with hilariously ridiculous buyback prices? GameStop was flying under-the-radar for years until earlier this January, when the company announced a new board of directors. The company’s announcement understandably sparked a non-trivial surge in GameStop’s price.
But here’s the interesting part — that stock price kept rising, and rising, and rising until today, with GameStop stock valued at over $400 a piece. For some context, GameStop started this year at around $19 per share.
Obviously, this surge has to do with more than just a press release on a new board. It has a lot to do with a popular campaign championed by the Robin Hoods of r/WallStreetBets that’s brought big guns like Melvin Capital to its knees. Viral tweets from Chamath Palihapitiya and Elon Musk definitely fanned the flames a bit.
This is all not to say that GameStop wasn’t undervalued at some point and maybe even that its price won’t continue rising! But we’d be careless to believe that the company will keep trading with the Teslas and Amazons of the world for very long. Point being, this is an amazing bubble that’s put the pain on some old-school short-sellers, but it’s going to burst. Our [DEFINITELY NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE] tepid take? We’ll be closing out of Robinhood and pitching into our 401(k) instead 😉
Job opportunities from our network
Various roles @ Mati
Full-Stack Engineer @ Upparel
Brand and Community Manager @ Aavia
If these aren’t a good fit, check out the Dorm Room Fund job board!
What we’re reading and listening to
How GameStop’s stock rocketed up over $200 and brought a Wall Street hedge fund to its knees
Why President Biden’s Peloton may pose a cybersecurity risk
Calendly raised over $350M to surpass a $3B valuation
Wattpad is selling to Naver for $600M
The Acquired Podcast talks Bitcoin
Unlearning and Relearning with our very own Alex Becker
Our own Chris Quaidoo started his own podcast, Venture Games!
Thanks for reading!
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Working on something big? Apply to be considered for an investment from Dorm Room Fund. Know a student founder we should meet or have comments, questions, or suggestions for the newsletter? Send us an email at info@dormroomfund.com.