Venture Cooperative

The Venture Cooperative is the most accessible onramp for venture capital. Join an inclusive community, attend public events, and dive deep with cohort-based expert classes.

 
 
 
 

1,000 Fellows and Beyond

Over the past 2 years, our 1,000+ fellows have participated in hundreds of our investment meetings, made LP investments without prohibitively high minimums, earned carry in our fund, and discovered exciting job opportunities.

Even better, they have started their own venture studios, startup communities, angel syndicates, and more, creating net new resources for early stage founders 🙌

 
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Preeti Adhikary

Venture Fellow | Founder, Great Nepali Diaspora

“I am grateful for the learning during Laconia’s fellowship and for the friendships that have come out of it. The discussions on startups, venture capital, and the investing landscape were nuanced and deep. I highly recommend the fellowship!”

Ross haleliuk

Venture Fellow | Head of Product, Lima Charlie

“Venture Cooperative is as close as it gets to a shortcut: Geri and the Laconia team put a lot of time and effort to share their experiences, knowledge, and perspectives with anyone willing to put them to work. They remove barriers and make venture accessible. They care.”

Chris Walch

Venture Fellow | Co-Founder and COO, LifeScore

“I learned SO much from this program! I honestly can’t believe it’s free! Geri Kirilova and her team put so much work into this and it’s meaningful, practical information. Having just closed our £11m Series A round, I can honestly say that the insight they provided me during this program was so useful in being prepared for what our investors wanted to see.”

RASHAD HAQUE

Venture Fellow | VP, New York Life Insurance Company

“Geri, Jeffrey, David, and Reena are so generous with their time to share so many great materials and insights in the program. I have been part of a few other fellowship programs and this is absolutely the best in terms of quality of materials and depth of topics. To top it all off, it’s free!!!”

 
 

Closed cohorts for expert-level classes

These sessions provide deep visibility into Laconia’s strategy, perspective, and daily operations. Ideal for individual investors (angels & VC LPs), aspiring fund investors, and aspiring fund managers. Also open to founders, startup employees, career switchers, and curious minds.

 
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Cohort fellows get:

  • an unfiltered view into Laconia and detailed insight on critical topics

  • access to the Laconia team (through small group office hours and 1x1s) 

  • a community of 1,000+ fascinating people, with virtual and in-person event invitations

  • opportunities to shadow live deals and lead Sector Deep Dives

  • potential upside in our fund (if you source a deal we do, we will give you carry)

  • accessible investment opportunities (waived investment minimums for future funds)

 
 
 

Public events open to all

These sessions are for aspiring investors dipping a toe into the venture world, existing investors looking for a refresher on a core topic, and founders hoping to get inside our heads.

 
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 Curriculum

See calendar for upcoming events.

 
 
 
 

A program by Laconia

Since 2015, we’ve been leading seed rounds in companies transforming how business is done.

GP, angel investor, LP, startup leader, founder, VC intern – you name it, we’ve done it.

 
 
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Past Speakers

Jerry neumann

Neu Venture Capital and Adjunct Professor at Columbia

Meha patel

Previous Investor at 645 Ventures

Nikhil krishnan

Founder at Out of Pocket Health

Cheryl campos

Co-Founder at LaFamilia Foundation

lolita taub

General Partner at Ganas Ventures

Sydney Thomas

Founder at Symphonic Capital

Elizabeth Clarkson

Partner at Sapphire Partners

Mina salib

Global Web4 Lead at Axiom Space

Lauren Wippman

Senior Associate at Trajectory Capital Partners

JONATHAN DRILLINGS

Partner at Riverside Acceleration Capital

Taylor davidson

Founder and CEO at Foresight

Kelly lei

Co-Founder and General Partner at Finclusive Ventures

Aya Spencer

Investor at Kapor Capital

Nicole ruiz

Previous Investor at Compound

David horowitz

Founder & CEO at Touchdown Ventures

Sara Zulkosky

Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Recast Capital

Angelia MĂĽller

Co-founder & CEO at Attunement; ex-Techstars, ex-Stripe

FABIAN RONISKY

Investor, L’attitude and Mana Ventures, and former startup/VC attorney

Simeon Iheagwam

Founder & Managing Partner at NOEMIS Ventures

 

FAQ

  • The Venture Cooperative is the most accessible onramp for venture capital.

    We cultivate a community and provide free educational resources that make Laconia's investments, processes, and learnings accessible for the next generation of early stage investors.

    All cooperative participants will receive opportunities to financially share in our success, participate in our investment processes, collaborate with us on due diligence, hear perspectives from industry leaders, share their expertise within the community, and collaborate with early stage founders.

    Applications for Cohort 6 (Spring 2024) are open until February 21st. Applications submitted after the deadline will be considered for future cohorts.

    If you're not quite ready to make the leap, you can join any of our public sessions and follow our content on LinkedIn and Twitter.

  • Historically, the venture capital industry has largely been premised on exclusion, artificial barriers to entry, and proximity to social & financial capital. In addition to creating an industry that is largely homogeneous, it has already resulted in a perpetual dearth of resources allocated to founders at the very earliest stages of their company growth, as capital repeatedly consolidates across fewer firms, larger vehicles, and later stages of company lifecycles.

    We believe that empowering the double long-tail of builders and investors is critical to a dynamic and sustainable startup ecosystem. As regulatory changes and technological innovation decrease the structural barriers to investing, truly leveling the playing field will require bridging the institutional knowledge gap. With the Venture Cooperative, our goal is to eliminate the dichotomy of industry “insiders” and “outsiders” and make it easier for anyone to make the leap.

    Selfishly, we have no doubt that if the Venture Cooperative works half as well as we hope, it will result in more startups for us to fund, more employees for our companies to hire, more investors for us to co-invest with, and higher returns.

  • Cohort 7 will take place from mid-October to mid-December of 2024. Applications for this cohort are open until September 22. Any applications submitted after this date will be considered for the next cohort (Spring 2025).

  • The cohort sessions are a true deep dive into the venture industry. These sessions will provide visibility into the specifics of Laconia’s strategy, perspective, and daily operations. A word of warning: if “liquidation preference”, “Limited Partnership Agreement”, “pro-forma cap table”, and “syndication” sound like gibberish to you, your learning curve will be steep. If you’re up for the challenge, our public sessions and onboarding materials will help you catch up.

    These cohorts are ideal for individual investors (angel investing into startups or making Limited Partner investments into VC funds), aspiring fund investors (thinking about finding a job at an existing VC fund), and aspiring fund managers (considering starting their own VC fund).

    That said, you are more than welcome to apply even if you don’t fit any of the buckets above! Founders looking to get inside a VC’s head, startup employees hoping to understand what goes on in Board meetings, career switchers, and curious minds are all welcome here 🤗

  • As a Venture Fellow, you will receive:

    âś… an unfiltered view into how we operate at Laconia

    âś… detailed insight on critical topics (legal, finance, portfolio construction, etc.)

    âś… access to the Laconia team (through small group office hours and 1x1s)

    âś… insights from expert guest speakers

    âś… a community of 650+ fascinating people

    âś… virtual and in-person event invitations

    âś… opportunities to shadow live deals and lead Sector Deep Dives

    âś… potential upside in our fund (if you source a deal we do, we will give you carry)

    âś… accessible investment opportunities (if there's an opportunity for you to invest in our future funds, we would waive our investment minimum for you)

  • To get the most out of the program, we recommend 2-3 hours a week during the program.

  • Applications for our 7th cohort (Fall 2024) are open until September 22. Any applications submitted after that date will be considered for the next cohort (Spring 2025). Apply here.

  • The public sessions cover fundamental topics like The Dysfunction and Potential of Venture Capital, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of VC Careers, Defining Investment Goals and Strategies, Basics of Venture Capital Portfolios, Leading Deals, and Venture Fund Operations.

    These candid sessions are for aspiring investors dipping a toe into the venture world, existing investors looking for a refresher on core topics, and founders hoping to get inside our heads.

  • All the public sessions are listed here. Each one has a registration link. Once you sign up, you will receive an email confirmation with a calendar invitation.

  • No – everything is free. If you join the Venture Cooperative cohorts as a fellow, there is potential for reward.

For any other questions, feel free to email us directly at cooperative@laconia.vc

 
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