Ohio State students invest in young entrepreneurs

Zach Grader
Fri, 29 Sep 2017 03:41:03 +0000
Campus, Web, entrepreneurship, featured, investment, o&e, ohio state, osu, outreach and engagement, upstart funding, venture capital

Contrary Capital, a university-oriented venture capitalist fund, announced its nationwide launch Sept. 18, and Ohio State University is among 55 other universities to be a part of this venture capital network.

The decentralized fund is used to invest in companies just past their startup phase, said Jared Sacks, a third-year in economics and one of the fund’s student investors at Ohio State.

“We focus on companies that are in the their [minimum viable product] inflection point period, companies that have very early traction,” Sacks said. “They haven’t hit that big growth curve yet and our job is to try and get them there.”

Sacks said he works as an investor with two other Ohio State students, including Rachel Nelson, a fourth-year in finance. The two are responsible for meeting with young entrepreneurs with Ohio State ties, and evaluating their ideas.

“In an era where so many companies are developing on college campuses, we want to see Ohio State do the same, and with the launch of Contrary Capital, that can happen,” Nelson said.

Contrary Capital was started by Eric Tarczynski, who has raised money and funded Contrary Capital for the past two years and now has a team to show for it. Tarczynski will visit Ohio State Friday.

In order to receive an investment fund from Contrary Capital, prospective entrepreneurs must pass a preliminary round of presentations in front of the student team of investors. Entrepreneurs who pass that round will then give a pitch to a board of Contrary investors.