Venture Capital at Rice: Insights from Rice Student Venture Fund Co-Founder Pranai

Welcome to the Leading Owls podcast brought to you by Rice University's Door Institute for New Leaders. Each week we bring you inspiring stories and practical tips from successful student leaders, faculty and staff, along with leadership experts and coaches that will help guide you in your own leadership journey. Today we are sitting down with Rice leader Pranay to talk about his student club, Rice Venture Fund, which is a venture capital fund run by Rice students that invests in Rice students.

Please welcome Pranay. Pranay, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you for having me.

Can you tell me a little more about the leadership roles you're involved in on campus right now?

Currently I have one and sole leadership role, but I put my all into it, my heart and soul, everything I do outside of school. It's called Rice Venture Fund and essentially it's a venture capital fund that is run by students and we invest into students.

Sometimes I think it's great to just focus in on one leadership role because then you can just put all your time into it.

Absolutely. I mean, I don't think I would try to even expand. I think I found my passion and I can stick to it and draw it out to the biggest extent or draw all the value that I can out of it instead of dabbling everywhere. I got to the point where I know what I'm interested in, which is very lucky because I feel like when you find your passion early, you can go all in. And going all in early means mistakes that affect you are somewhat limited because you're still a college student. There are not that many responsibilities. Going all in on something as a college student is like less risk than in the future, I'd say.

So now this is a club that you started?

Yeah, absolutely.

What do you do in it?

This started last August, but it was an idea then and sort of since we've been like putting bits and pieces together, talking to potential donors, seeing how we can improve this in any kind of way. Just recently in January, we got a 14 person team and essentially what we do now, we have a club split up into four teams. Ecosystem, communication, portfolio and fundraising. All overall. I'll give the one liner and then go into details about these four categories. Our top liner, what we try to do is our venture capital fund so we have a pool of money from our donors. Essentially we invest into student founded startups, students who are really passionate about their idea and are struggling raising capital from official VC fund because they view them as a risk because they have school also going alongside them. So our goal is to bridge the gap between that and sort of leverage. Rice make it a more entrepreneurial school than it already is. Matching that number one in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship with actually company building. And we sort of want to fuel that and make that happen. That's the mission of RVF in terms of how we're doing that is with those four teams. Ecosystem is our team out there. They're in the Houston ecosystem more broadly. Their goal is to start generating partnerships with other VC funds in Houston. Other places where these startups might be so accelerators. Startups often join these accelerator programs where they get advice and so they often are a source of deal flow, sort of co working spaces. Rice is really affiliated with the ion. That's a great space to find a lot of startups as well as like multiple newsletters and different channels that are existing. TMC innovation labs. There's startups there as well. So Houston's a great space and it's growing as well. And I think especially with the recent introduction of a Rice business undergraduate major, this is a perfect timing for something like this. I feel good about it and I feel good about what we're doing. I hope the impact we make or the vision we have really comes to fruition.

I think that's absolutely incredible. There are so many big ideas that happen on college campuses and students can be somewhat limited in their ability to fundraise and to get in front of people who can help them make their dream a reality. And I think it's so exciting that you're doing this and that it's student run which is such a important thing at Rice.

We can talk about the Doer Institute. John Doer himself is a venture capitalist from Rice. The way he brought impact into society is sure. He had his engineering major through Rice and sort of used that as a foundation to really explore the boundaries of how to fuel innovation. Trailblazers like him for a person like me or a student like me, it's inspiring to see RE had no entrepreneur ecosystem at the time he was here, I'm sure. So it's really interesting to see he's made arguably one of the biggest impacts on the venture capital landscape. And imagine if he had that program when he was an undergrad, getting the exposure as early as possible. And we sort of want to make that a mainstream thing. Impact is not only two sided about just your education and how you apply that education on the world. It's very multifaceted. I mean it's literally about the person next to you, about everybody. You see innovation is just progressing towards a positive future. That doesn't mean getting an X degree and doing that X job for the rest of your life. It's about moving forward as a whole. And I think it's important to take that holistic mindset and approach, especially when you're a leader, because you never know, especially in college, what a student's interest is. And you should always have a mindset about improving things. Not necessarily in a way you necessarily see that vision, but in a way that accomplishes. Accommodates for everybody's ambitions and goals as well.

Really inspiring. I love that. I love that answer.

Thank you.

Let's take it back a little bit. What was your very first leadership role that you can remember in your life?

The very first one is a lot different than the one that kicked off a lot of things. For me, my very first one is in fourth grade. I remember the teacher asked me, because I was the most active student in the classroom, to be a leader for this certain project where we compete with other schools in the city. It's about a Rube Goldberg machine. I'm not too sure if you're familiar with that, but essentially, it's like you create. It's a bunch of dominoes falling and things happening to make a simple task happen. I'm sure you've seen a bunch of YouTube videos on those. But essentially we had to come up with one to make a hammer, hammer and a nail. And she decided to have me as be the team lead for the class. It was a inspiring experience. Even though I didn't necessarily know what leadership meant and stuff like that. We had a purpose, and my goal was to motivate the team to get it done. We got second place around the city. That was my first time leading a team and doing anything. And I really loved the experience. Compartmentalized it, focused on a lot of other things. High school got to the point in high school where I decided to start my own nonprofit. This was the transformative leadership experience until Rice Venture Fund. But in that nonprofit, me and my sister, we visited India alongside our family. There's a lot of poverty there, and of course, it's discussed quite a bit. But to the extent where we thought we could make an impact, I mean, we were driving to a rural village where my parents. Parents also live. Driving there, we were seeing a bunch of amputees on the street. It wasn't that they were necessarily poor. It was no one. It was neglected, and they couldn't work for themselves. Ra than choosing poverty. It's. It's it. They just were given that lifestyle and it could be done. I mean, with an America and Western society. We have prosthetics and Medicare and all these other things that are very helpful to a lot of people. But there, if you lose a limb, you're done. You can't provide for your family. My sister and I were thinking, how do we make an impact? And I mean, the best thing we do with our connections was let's throw a fundraiser. Initially, we were super scrappy. My sister was knitting things, selling them. I was like, just telling my friends, tell your parents we're trying to do this, just anything possible. We got to the point where a couple thousands were flowing in. We decided to launch a golf event and dinner and invite and attract wealthier guests. And we got to.

This was when you were in high school?

Yeah, this was high school, yeah, yeah. I mean, I feel like when I make up my mind on something, I'm going to try my best to get it done. Yeah. We tried to get the wealthier donors because our goal was a hundred prosthetics for these amputees. Luckily, one of my parents connections in India, they run this prosthetic manufacturer manufacturing thing. And so our goal was to donate to their plant so that they could make the prosthetics for these homeless amputees. Through that golf event and attracting wealthier donors, we were able to reach that benchmark. And it was sort of a transformative experience, really, handing these amputees their prosthetics. That inspired me a whole lot. I decided I knew the impact and innovation was an aspect of it, but I sort of misconceived a little bit in the fact that I decided to go bioengineering. When I applied to college, I thought it was the medical design and that experience, and that way I would bring fruition to my aspect on making an impact. But when I got to Rice, I mean, things changed. You learn a lot about a lot of other things besides what you're used to. I was really passionate about biology, engineering, all this, but I didn't feel myself being fulfilled or see that as a career path that would set me up for what I wanted. I mean, sure, I mean, there's pressure from all angles and I'm sure many students experience this, but it's really hard finding your passion and I feel lucky to come across it. I took a big leap. Third semester, sophomore, halfway through my sophomore year as a bioengineering major. You finished all your prereqs, you're taking the actual courses. And I decided to switch to business. I just took A full on leap. I mean I was like, I'm interested in this, but this is not where I see myself making an impact. I'll keep the sort of biochem minors, engineering, design minors, but I'll take on business as my major. I decided on that and I sort of got to a point where I wanted to be entrepreneurial. I wanted to be business minded, as entrepreneurial as I've demonstrated as before. I decided to start this app platform and sort of went full on into that. I don't know because I once again, like I said, once I set my mind on something, I tend to go full in on it. I got to the point where we had an MVP. We had 25% of rice using it, we're ready to start fundraising from actual VCs. This is where I first encountered the problem that RVF is trying to solve. I got to the point where I was ready to raise. I was so passionate about what I was doing, found a problem that I could solve, sort of. Those are, I mean those are the hugest barriers to entry. Finding a problem yourself, being passionate and finding a decent solution to that problem that could scale. I was trying to find vc, doing my best to do that. And the access to capital is very limited. As a student, I mean more or less like just because we weren't able to raise money, I stopped doing that and sort of like fell in love with the idea of being in the seat that of the people I was pitching to. I was like, they see so much innovation happening, not just about this app that I created, but about like biology, about that interest that I had previously, about every other aspect of humanity that moves things forward. And I had that idea seated in me that summ. I decided let me do an unpaid internship because venture capital as a whole is super hard to break into. So I was like going around asking people, please. I'm just in the corner, I'm just there to observe. You don't have to pay me anything. I'll just be there. And so lucky I was able to land one. And over that summer, this was summer after my sophomore year, so last summer there I learned A to Z about venture capital. And that is the most transformative experience which allowed me to get the investor knowledge as well as the experience of the problem itself to put the two together to create Rice Venture Fund, to be able to give venture experience to Rice students, give them the education and be able to invest in Rice. Founded startups for students who are passionate about their ideas. I mean I feel like it's a pretty straightforward path in terms of where I'm at right now. And it makes. It makes a lot of sense to the path that brought me here.

I think you made a good move switching to business because you definitely have a venture capitalist mind and heart. And I mean, you definitely have that mindset of a venture capitalist. So it's a good thing that you made that switch. And I think it feels for students, you're so. Even when you know you're a sophomore, junior, you're like, I'm so far into it, I. It's too late for me to switch. But you're so young. Like you so much.

No. You feel so committed to something because you put a lot of work into it. But that's anything. Anything in life, it's just going to be worse than that. You're going to be more committed than that to something, and you're going to have to switch again. It goes back to the you. You are at the lowest stakes in your life. I mean, obviously there's external factors that allow some people to do more than others, but when it comes down to it, choosing your passions is what college is for, and it's about exploring it. That's one thing about Rice business, that even though it's new, it's kind of funneling these students into two career paths of either consulting or banking. I could go more into that, and it's sort of like my experience with that. I mean, it's a recent major. Those are the most traditional sort of business paths. But there's a lot more to that. And a lot of business students just get. Get sucked into that funnel. The person next to them is doing it, and everyone around them is doing it. And so literally, sophomore year hits your recruiting IB or consulting right away. Nothing else matters.

It happens quick.

Insane. Yeah. I was lucky enough to where I switched to business late enough to where I was late to the recruiting cycles. I didn't necessarily find my passion in those. I was able to direct my business passions elsewhere and sort of expand what Rice offers. But there's a lot more out there than just what's presented to you. It's not just about consulting or banking. It's about finding your passions, really.

I think that's amazing and so true. You have to keep looking until you find what's right for you. I guess that kind of ties into. My next question is what do you wish you had known as a freshman coming into Rice?

As for my path that led me up here, I wouldn't change a thing. What I would Change, though, is my perspective on time management. I would say as a high school student, I like always was able to manage a lot of things at once. Coming to college, I still could have done that. But I thought like, there's a certain extent to where it applies in high school to where it doesn't here. I mean, in freshman year I had a lot less responsibilities and I was struggling harder than I am now. I would say, like coming in as a freshman, you're going to hit the ground running, but you're not expected to stay running. You're expected to fall and get back up and then run again. It's not a straightforward path of just coming into college, doing well, leaving, and then you're set. It's more like exploring. It's more like a journey and exploration than it is a place that just sets you up for things. Yeah, I mean, sure, you come into college with a major, intended major, and I think that's one thing Rice does really well. We allow students to switch majors very instantaneously and I think a lot of colleges should do that because, oh my God, if I was not able to switch into business, I don't know where I'd be right now and I'd be trenched and not very happy with what I'm doing. So, yeah, I'm thankful for that. Glad I was able to navigate that through Rice. And I think as a freshman at Rice specifically, being open minded and focused on exploring more than finding your niche is the main thing. Many people don't find their passions till they're 30 years old, 40 years old, 50 years old. Right. So you're lucky enough to be there and have the opportunity to explore your passions. Do it and don't narrow yourself down first and regret it 30 years down the line.

Very wise words. What are some things that you do to develop yourself as a leader?

John Doerr wrote a book called Measure what Matters. That book is very, very influential in terms of how I perceived leadership and how to execute on a vision as a whole. But beyond that, what really made me a good leader is I was exposed to a lot of different things and I think that's what really makes an effective leader, because you have to be able to understand other people's perspective going into any given situation. Because sure, everyone should have a common goal, but not everyone's going to have the same way of achieving it. Being a leader means you're trying to achieve that goal while accommodating your team as best as possible. And measure what matters. It taught me exactly what the title says, like, what matters and how you should achieve it? And how do you set goals to achieve something that's so beyond the scope of what traditional thinking is? That's what leaders are. You have a goal, you help people under you achieve it. That applies to any type of leadership. Right. It's not just in a business setting. It's not just in a hierarchical organizational setting. It's about, you put five people in a difficult situation, it could be a tragedy. It could be anything. One person has to step up and lead them to a solution. And so leadership applies to everything in your life. And it's sort of like, how do you make a vision and intangible outcome into concrete, tangible goals? That book sort of set that stone for me. And moving forward, I had that in the back of my mind and had that perspective to get wider perspective on things and allow me to be accommodating and good, transparent leader.

I think that's great. I love that. Is there a leader at Rice who really inspires you that you've worked with a student or a administrator or staff or.

Absolutely. I would say at Rice, specifically, I mean, Kyle Judah at the Lilly Idealab Center. He's a beast. I love the energy he brings, his passion for what he's doing. That's just the nature of that man. And I find that really inspiring. I hope to be bringing that impact to people around me one day. And he's sort of like our faculty sponsor for Rice Venture Fund, and I don't think there could be a better man for that role now.

He is perfect. He's absolutely perfect for that.

Yeah. But Rice is just inspirational as a whole, because everyone's quite smart, and it's just what suits you the best. So you got to pick up bits and pieces and make it mold to how you already are. Your personality, like, the way I think in making that happen is what Rice also gave me. So in part, it's just the community as a whole is a great leader.

Very true. It's such a special, special community at Rice. It really, really is. Final question. What cartoon character do you think is a good leader?

That's a great question. Phineas and Ferb.

Oh, that's a great answer. I haven't gotten that answer yet.

Yeah, I could say them. They're pretty ambitious people. They know how to make a community, have fun doing what they love. And of course, some of it's unrealistic, but a bit it's. They just have their mindset on something. Example, the. The delivery guy comes to them and says, aren't you too young to be doing this? And they're like, yes, yes, I am. And that's always something that I see as I want to exemplify and I want to do some things that my age doesn't necessarily constitute. So, yeah, that's inspiring to see as a great leader.

Well, it sounds like you've been saving the world since you were in high school, so you're doing a lot of things at any age that are incredibly impressive and brave and inspiring. So it's just been wonderful talking to you, and thank you so much for taking the time to be on our podcast.

No, thank you so much for having me. I love talking about things like this. This is what goes on in my brain, regardless of this interview or this podcast or not. So it's always happy voicing my opinions.

Well, good luck with Rice Venture. We're really rooting for your guys, and we can't wait to see all of the amazing impact that you have, not just here at Rice, but around the world. And I think it's going to be a big part of Rice for years to come. So good luck.

I hope so. Yeah. Thank you so much.

Thank you for joining us for the Leading Owls podcast. We will be back next week with more leadership journeys and tips to share. New episodes release each Wednesday. For more information on the Doar Institute for New Leaders and our free leader development programs for Rice students, please visit Doar Rice. Eduardo.