Relatively commonplace in the venture capital market, scout programs are created by venture capital firms and give a set of exceptional individuals money to invest on their behalf. HB Scouts Club is no different. We are providing capital to people to go out and make their own venture capital investments!

Why?

We want to expand our horizons and invest in verticals and markets typically outside our usual focus — this way, maintaining our position at the very frontier of technology and new developments.

Because we typically invest at the seed and/or A-round stage of a startup, we want to grow our knowledge of a startup team even earlier through an investment from our scout club.

We want to be there first! Venture capital is a competitive industry, and we want to be the first to invest capital into the most promising founders.

You start as a part-time Scouts Club member and get a 5% from all the investments we make on your recommendation up to $100K. Just look around, and if you find some ideas, projects, or companies you are confident to invest your money in, just let us know. If we decide to invest, you get 5%; that's $50K if we choose to invest 1 million.

After your first successful recommendation, you can choose to become a full-time Scouts Club member.

We have decided to take this approach because we value hustle, knowledge, hard skills, and integrity above fancy degrees or long resumes. VCs aren't created from an undergraduate degree. They are made from personal experiences and the entrepreneurial 'muscle memory' that these experiences train.

Eiter a part-time member of a full-time member, the 'how?' is the same:

• Have you identified a team and an idea that is worthy of investment?
• Undertake your comprehensive due diligence on the company, team, technology, market, and product road map, compile a report and send it to us.

If you are a part-time member and if we decide to invest, you get 5%.

If you are a full-time member, after you send us your report and got our opinions and feedback, you decide if you will proceed or not with the investment. If you choose to move forward, we will wire the money to the startup. Once the company exits or creates dividends, we will split the returns generated from the investment with you.

Regardless of your origin story, you must have an insatiable curiosity about new ideas, a natural ability to connect deeply with people, and a character that fits our culture – humility, passion, and a sense of family.

To make a better idea of what it takes to make it and what we are looking for, here is an example:

In 2007, Sequoia's first scout was a serial entrepreneur who had just raised $20m from Sequoia and others for his search engine startup. That individual was Jason Calacanis, and he had made a handful of recommendations to Sequoia about interesting founders, both of whom they passed on. Those entrepreneurs turned out to be Ev Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, and Mark Pincus, who was working out how to build Zynga at the time.

This prompted Sequoia to sign Calacanis as a scout alongside some other entrepreneurs such as Sam Altman (former President of Y-Combinator and now AI Machines), Brian Chesky (CEO of Airbnb), and founders Arash Ferdowsi and Drew Houston (who co-founded DropBox).

Calacanis' first deal referral was a startup company that, himself described in two words: "cabs suck". That company was called Uber, and the small scout investment that Calacanis made helped shape his career as an angel investor. He has also raised his own funds, including two $10m funds and a recent $30m vehicle.