Just a few years after competing, Emily Kist, '22, and Maria Heyen, '23, were invited to judge the Global Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Since graduating from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, both Kist and Heyen have fostered community and conversation around venture capital in their new post-grad homes of St. Paul, Minnesota and Columbia, Missouri, but continue to serve the community of their alma mater, Husker Venture Fund, and the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship.
Most recently, they launched a bi-monthly newsletter called Soapbox, an email newsletter that shares their takes on all things career, culture, and capital. "There is a lack of good content for early career VCs and we wanted to build something unique and vibrant to the ecosystem. Traditional tech and venture capital media is very stale, masculine, and technical. We wanted to engage with fun and exciting content, so that is what we built," said Kist. Through Soapbox, the duo aims to create media that's educational, transparent, and social. Venture capital doesn't pique your interest? Every month, one of their newsletters is a monthly R.E.P.O.R.T. where they share what they're Reading, Eating, Playing, Obsessing, Recommending & Treating.
Kist founded Husker Venture Fund, a student-led and managed venture fund providing early-stage capital to startups in Nebraska, back in 2021 and her and a group of her peer associates competed in the regional round of the competition virtually, placing second. Fast forward to 2022, Heyen and a group of her peer associates placed first in the VCIC regional competition and advanced to the Global VCIC where Husker Venture Fund placed third. To advance to the global competition, Husker Venture Fund beat out teams like Dartmouth, NYU, St. Mary's, Tufts, University of Oregon. Through Husker Venture Fund, Kist and Heyen grew interest and experience in venture capital, leading them to their current roles: Venture & Innovation Associate at Nelnet and Investor at Redbud VC, respectively.
Heyen credits her friendship with Kist partly to the center. "I wouldn't have met Emily if it wasn't for the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship. The physical space gave myself and other entrepreneurially minded students a place to congregate and chat about what we were building! The staff and faculty are and continue to be beyond supportive of our projects, lives, and initiatives," said Heyen. We are so grateful for Emily and Maria's leadership and involvement during their time at Nebraska and their presence at center competitions and programming as alumnae. Follow along on their journeys in VC and subscribe to Soapbox below.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/101706238/admin/feed/posts/
https://the-soapbox.beehiiv.com/
Find more information about Husker Venture Fund here: https://go.unl.edu/huskerventurefund