Portfolio Operations

CMU founders, meet our partner funds.

Our sourcing arm gives partner funds early access to the strongest founders coming out of Carnegie Mellon. No fees, no equity.

Founder-firstAI · Deep tech · RoboticsNo equity taken

Our partners

VC partners.

Click a partner to see what they back.

Scottie Ventures
Kleiner Perkins
General Catalyst
Pear VC
TQ Ventures
SV Angel
Coming soon

The sourcing arm

What we do.

We run diligence on CMU companies and route them directly to our partner funds, backed by 80+ analysts and the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.

80+Analysts & leadership sourcing on campus
3Primary sourcing channels
QuarterlyMinimum curated founder batches
$0No fees · no equity in founders

Why it matters

Why it exists.

CMU has plenty of programs to help founders build an MVP. What's missing is the next step: getting in front of VCs. We use our campus partnerships to give our funds priority access to the best cohorts.

Priority access to cohorts

  • ScottyLabs Foundry
  • UEA.x
  • Sigma Eta Pi
  • McGinnis Venture Competition
  • VCIC

Ways we can partner

  • Quarterly founder briefings
  • On-campus speaker events with your team
  • Coordinated founder meetups
  • Hackathons in partnership with other clubs

Sourcing channels

How we find founders.

From our own competitions to CMU's deepest technical labs.

01Internal

Our own competitions & speakers

Analysts draft full investment memos on Swartz companies through VCIC, and we host founder speaker events all year.

  • VCIC internal investment memos
  • Year-round founder speaker series
02Tepper + Swartz

A direct line into the ecosystem

As a Swartz-recognized organization, we have direct access to the McGinnis Venture Competition and the VentureBridge portfolio.

  • McGinnis Venture Competition
  • VentureBridge portfolio access
  • Foundry · UEA.x · SEP · AKΨ
03Technical Founders

CMU's deepest technical talent

Hackathons like Build18 and TartanHacks, plus labs across SCS and the Robotics Institute.

  • Build18 · TartanHacks
  • SCS & Robotics Institute labs
  • Upper-division technical courses
04Network

Surprising places, exceptional builders

We recruit for personability as much as ability, and the network shows it.

  • Member-driven warm intros
  • Reach beyond the obvious circles

Process & cadence

Our process.

Tap through each stage. Curated batches at least quarterly.

01

We find the builders

Scottie Ventures identifies and tracks CMU founders across all three channels, internal competitions, our Swartz & Tepper network, and CMU's deepest technical talent.

For our partner funds

What partners get.

Direct, early access

Top CMU founders in AI, deep tech, and robotics, before the market finds them.

Pre-vetted deal flow

Curated founders, each with a short, opinionated memo.

A dedicated on-campus scout

One point of contact for all sourcing, events, and intros.

No cost partnership

No fees, and no equity in the founders we surface.

Who to talk to

Who to contact.