Startup Information

If you are an entrepreneur raising funding, read more to learn about our investment thesis and how we operate. If we're a good match, send an email to our Managing Directors, Brian Seckel and Mackenzie Friedman with some basic info listed below.


Who are we?

The Deming Center Venture Fund (DCVF) is a venture capital fund made up of multidisciplinary grad students: MBAs, law students, and engineers at Âé¶¹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder. Created both as hands-on educational opportunity and way to support early-stage Colorado companies, DCVF is a venture fund that prioritizes growing and improving the Colorado startup ecosystem. 


What do we invest in?

DCVF invests in early-stage startups with connections to the Colorado and Âé¶¹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder communities. We write $25,000 checks in exchange for equity, convertible debt, or a similar security. We are industry agnostic, however the company needs to be venture scalable and connected to Colorado or Âé¶¹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØin some way. 


Why work with us?

We support prospective and current companies by keeping things simple:

  • No term negotiation, we sign on to same terms as lead investor
  • Pitch to investment decision timeline of 4-5 weeks, can be as short as 3 weeks if required
  • No investor pressure to pass along, we're funded by donors
  • Hands-off, but we're available to help how we can with our connections and resources

Our investment process respects valuable founder time, consisting of:

  • 30-minute initial meeting
  • 30-minute pitch and q&a
  • Provide access to data room and answer round of diligence questions

See our full process below for more details on how we operate.


Sound like a fit?

If you fit our thesis, please send an email to our Managing Directors, Brian Seckel and Mackenzie Friedman.

Please provide us with: 

  • Website or overview of your company
  • Details of the round you’re raising
  • Pitch deck

We normally respond to submissions within 72 hours.


Investment Process

  • 30-minute initial discussion with 1-3 DCVF members*
  • Initial internal diligence by small group of members
  • Internal team vote to bring in for pitch
  • 30-minute in-person or virtual pitch + q&a with entire DCVF team*
  • Internal discussion and vote to do deeper diligence
  • Access data room and diligence by entire team
  • Round of diligence questions*
  • Internal discussion and final vote to invest

*involves founder