Support Startups
Build Unicorns with Us
Explore the opportunities to below to donate your time, treasure, and talent in support of the next generation of Vanderbilt founders.
Mentor Startups
The founder journey is arduous and it helps to have advice and support while navigating it. The C4E believes the best startup advice comes from people who have walked the walk and we are building a unique advisory network to provide meaningful support to our student and alumni founders. It's not a network of individuals looking to provide advice so they can lead prospect for their own products or services. It's former CEOs, founders, and executives from our alumni base, network of Dore parents, and community who are paying it forward to the next generation of founders.
Be an Early Adopter
One of the most difficult prospects for startups is going from zero to one. The C4E runs accelerator programming to help de-risk products and their implementation. However, we seek friendly sites who are willing to work with our founders as they demonstrate impact on KPIs. Portal to be Network Pilot Partner coming soon.
Make sure to check out our marketplace listing of products and services from Vanderbilt-led startups.
Fund Startups
The Center interacts with several ventures each week where the founder is seeking capital to grow their business. While these businesses are often at earlier capital formation stages (pre-seed through Series A), we do have deals across the private capital spectrum. Academic research has found an association between raising capital from alumni of the same school with 18% larger round size and 40% relative increase in the likelihood of IPO. To support dealmaking within the Vanderbillt network, we currently run two programs:
Attend Convoy
In maritime terminology, a convoy is a group of ships moving together for mutual support and protection. As a nod to our Commodore mascot, Convoy brings together our most notable supporters along with select alumni, students, faculty, parents, and other affiliates to spark new ideas, foster collaboration and investment, advance careers, and accelerate business generation across the Vanderbilt network.
Launched in 2025, Convoy has already grown into one of the largest university-led entrepreneurial conferences in the world: it's first iteration attracted nearly 800 participants from across the globe. 7 unicorn founders, 7 YC-backed founders, and over 80 investors with access to $32 B in dry powder descended on campus for 3 days of networking, education, and community.
Support the C4E
The Center has audacious goals for growing the Vanderbilt entrepreneurial ecosystem and is currently pursuing a $100 MM endowment to permanently fund our programming and build a dedicated facility at Vanderbilt for entrepreneurship.
Current opportunities can support Summer Venture Immersion Placements, Convoy Scholarships, the Student Venture Fund, Entrepreneurship through Acquisition Fellows, the General Fund, and the Building Fund. The Center serves Vanderbilt students and alumni regardless of graduating school.
