Fully Funded

First Time Fund Manager Fellowship for Women

A live cohort based course for women who want to start their fund.
⚡ Have you ever dreamt of starting your own fund? If yes, apply now for this fully funded opportunity. You do not need to be an investor to apply. If you have built your category of one in your field, we would love to hear from you.⚡

Ventures led by women are more profitable than those led by men. Despite that they raise only 2.3% of venture funding.

Talent is equality distributed, but opportunities are not. We are trying to change the alchemy of the investor world by supporting women to setup their own funds. Even in a developed market like US, only 4.9% funds are led by women.

​This twelve week fellowship is co-created by First Followers and Network Capital. Classes start on April 9, 2022
Write your awesome label here.

Structure

Total Length of the fellowship program: 12 weeks
# Modules: 9 
Frequency: 1 module / week
Format: 1.5 hours every week

Modules

Investment Thesis / Fund Thesis, Portfolio Construction, Fund Economics, Target Profile - Entrepreneurs & LPs, Unfair Advantage, Purpose & Story, & Team, Fund Structure, and Process - Fund & Portfolio Level

The case for diversity in fund management

Until now, the asset management community has been challenging to enter due to persistent barriers that particularly impact first-time female and minority fund managers. Cultural and gender biases can make it difficult for women and people of color to raise capital for private and institutional investors. And fund managers generally need to commit 1-2% of the total capital for a new fund themselves, which prevents many women and minority fund managers from entering the industry.

It’s a chicken and egg situation: Unless we break these societal, cultural, and financial barriers, we can’t bring diversity to venture capital or asset management in general. And without more diversity in the industry, these barriers will be hard to break. That’s why we need to make a concerted effort to democratize venture capital to make it more accessible for people from diverse backgrounds, making it easier for them to start venture funds and play a role in creating a conscious economy.

At the end of the three months, fellows can expect -

1

To know the basics of building a fund

2

Build a track record and do angel investing with a strategy

3

Be a part of a community of emerging managers and established managers 

4

Interact with Angel Networks and LPs at the end of the program 

Our Mentors

Namita Dalmia
Partner, Enzia Ventures
Soumya Rajan
Founder & CEO Waterfield Advisors
Shrishti Sahu
Co-Founder, Hustle Hard Venture
Richa Natarajan
Director of Unitus Capital
Maya Chandrasekaran
Co-founder & Managing Director, Green Artha
Virginia Tan
Founding Partner, Teja Ventures & Co Founder, She Loves Tech
Amra Naidoo
Co-founder & General Partner
Accelerating Asia
Sameer Guglani
Collaboratively building Supermorpheus
Stella Tambunan
Vice President, Indonesia Investment Authority
Bob Pattillo
Founder of Gray Matters Capital
Lisa G. Thomas
Founder and Managing Director, Samata Capital
Lesley Bendig,
Venture Capital, Private Equity & Corporate Advisory

Who is this fellowship for?

Profile

Serial entrepreneurs, CXOs (Operators), and Investment & Finance Professionals.

Type

Talent investing, i.e., investing or capacity building of the talent (potential fund managers) without launching the fund. 

Stage

1. Planning to make angel investments or have been actively seeking opportunities to invest in building the track record. 

2. Planning to start a venture or impact fund in the near future but have not started it. 

How many participants will be selected for the program?

10-12 fellows

How about time committed to the program?

2-3 hours per week; 12 weeks 

What happens in the 12 weeks? 

Core Modules - 9 sessions covering topics like Investment Thesis / Fund Thesis, Portfolio Construction, Fund Economics, Target Profile - Entrepreneurs & LPs, Unfair Advantage, Purpose & Story, & Team, Fund Structure, and Process - Fund & Portfolio Level
GP Perspective - 6 sessions
LP Perspective - 3 sessions
Demo Day - 1 session

How much does it cost to enroll in the program?

The first cohort of the fellowship is free. 

Introducing First Followers

First Followers was founded by Sagar Tandon and backed by Bob Pattillo, Gray Matters Capital, and Frontier Lab Asia as seed donors. First Followers wants to become a launching pad for women First Time Fund Managers (FTFMs) who naturally see the power of ventures led by women and can yield 10-20% higher ROIs on AUM than all-male fund manager teams.
Created with