101 Fellowship Program

What 101 Fellowship Program is

The 101 Fellowship is a free, remote, 10-to-12-week program that places aspiring venture capitalists inside real VC funds for hands-on experience while delivering a structured curriculum covering the full venture capital toolkit. Launched in the summer of 2020 by Go Beyond Capital during the COVID-19 pandemic, the program emerged when students worldwide were struggling to find internships and the founding team was building momentum for its own fundraise. What began as a single internship opportunity quickly expanded into a formalized program. The first cohort attracted an unexpectedly high volume of quality applications, prompting the organizers to scale from one intern to six fellows drawn from Finland, Poland, Estonia, and multiple U.S. cities. The program was co-founded in partnership with Bragiel Brothers (USA). The core motivation was accessibility: while VC educational content is widely available online, actual fund-level experience remains difficult to access, particularly for diverse applicants, people outside major financial hubs, and those uncertain about committing to the industry long-term. Fellows commit 10-20 hours per week and are embedded directly within a participating VC fund. Practical work includes deal flow expansion, company evaluation, process building, report creation, and fundraising assistance, with tasks tailored to each fellow's strengths and the fund's needs. In parallel, weekly one-hour group sessions unite all fellows for presentations and discussions led by experienced investors. The curriculum covers LP outreach and deck building, fund establishment and legal structures, fund strategy and thesis development, fund economics and returns modeling, pipeline building, due diligence and contracting, and portfolio company value-add. The application process runs each spring for the fall cohort (the 2025 cohort has an August 15 deadline for a September start). Selection involves three steps: a brief online application, a practical task simulating a sourcing or screening exercise, and a 30-minute interview with the organizing team. The organizers then make placement recommendations to participating funds. Former applicants are encouraged to reapply in future cohorts. The fellowship is explicitly designed to welcome applicants from non-traditional backgrounds. It does not restrict eligibility to students or recent graduates, and has been positioned as a pipeline for underrepresented groups seeking to enter venture capital.