VFA Feb Newsletter: New VFA Fellow Slack, VFA-the-Entity Updates, Jobs and Goals Workshops
lots of potential!
Hello fellow Fellows and community members —
Quick intro today. First, I hope you’re doing well and surviving (maybe even thriving?) in spite of the persisting horrors. Second, there are a lot of things in-motion re: future of VFA stuff. Table of contents below with more details.
Sending good vibes,
Amanda Tien (2015 Fellow, Providence & New Orleans)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
VFA Community - Critical Updates & Key Asks
The Slack Situation: Planning to Migrate in March!
Event [2/11] - Potential Futures of VFA-the-Entity Conversation: For Fellows Only
Potential Paid Fellow Consultants for Alumni Work; Nominate the “Board” to Select These Consultants! [form due Sun 2/9]
5-Min Community Impact Survey, Extended Deadline: [due Thurs 2/13]: Seeking 15 More Responses!
VFA Community - Initiatives
Event [2/19]: New Year, Upgraded You: Goal Setting & Accountability Kickoff
Event: [2/25] - VFA Skillshare: Job Searching Session with Max Polec
Event: [Fridays] - VFA 2.0 Office Hours with Eileen Lee and Dan Bloom
Interest Survey: Reunion 2025!
Jobs
Bulletin Board
We (4.0) launched a pitch podcast where the winner gets $50k.
Free Media Spotlight for ClimateTech Founders through EarthABC’s Interview Series
From Figma to Full-Stack: A Founders’ Low-Code Session
Ready to Turn Your Intentions Into Action This Year?
Submit a Blurb for Next Time
1. Critical Updates & Key Asks
1A. The VFA Fellows Slack Situation: We’re Planning to Move in March!
From Amanda Tien (2015):
The Short Version: we (the volunteer Slack team) are planning to move to a new, Fellow-owned Slack and invite Fellows by email invite by early March. If you agree/vibe/+1 that or share comments, please fill out this 1-question survey and view the live results here. For the long version, click the footnote1!
1B. Event [2/11] - Potential Futures of VFA-the-Entity Conversation: For Fellows Only
From Amanda Tien, 2015 Fellow:
An invitation was posted in the VFA #alumni-general channel and in the 2023/24 Discord on January 23 for a special, one-time event on February 11 from 6pm - 7pm usa est about the potential future of VFA. The Substack is a pretty public forum so I’m not going to share further about that here, but if you want to learn more, please check those messages or email vfaaab@gmail.com for an invitation.
1c. Potential Paid Fellow Consultants for Alumni Work; Nominate the “Board” to Select These Consultants! [form due Sun 2/9]
From Erin Lee (2022 Fellow) and Connie Bowen (2016 Fellow):
Andrew Yang is interested in funding for-alumni, by-alumni work that has been started by VFACC! In order to move the mission/organization of VFACC forward, we want to use that funding to pay 2-3 Fellow consultants to lead the way. And in order to select and manage those consultants, we are seeking 4 - 6 volunteers to be on a board/advisory committee (B/AC, name pending!). The first step of this B/AC is to meet and identify the hiring process and scope of these consultants, with the goal of hiring at least two individuals by end of Q1. Please see here for the VFACC January 29 meeting notes, pitch deck, and scope of work/discussion. Action item: Nominate Fellows here to be on the B/AC (who would then design the hire/manage process for the consultants) by 2/9
1d. 5-Min Community Impact Survey, Extended Deadline: [due Thurs 2/13]: Seeking 15 More Responses!
From Stephanie Guzmán (2018 Fellow):
Friends, I can’t thank 85 of you enough for sharing your experiences in the survey. You did not hold back, and the diversity of perspectives will help better inform “what’s next?” for the community collective. I’m hoping to get to 100 responses to round out the data set. Open one more week only!!! Special ask: if you are in the classes of 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, or 2016, I need you (yes, you!) to add to your class’s responses. All this information will be reviewed and processed anonymously. Click here to submit the survey.
2. VFA Community Initiatives
2a. Event [2/19]: New Year, Upgraded You: Goal Setting & Accountability Kickoff
From Sarah Tatarski (2022 Fellow):
Did you know that writing down your goals makes you 42% more likely to achieve them?
Join the VFASEC (VFA Social Engagement Committee) for an empowering session to kickstart your 2025 with clarity and purpose on February 19th from 8-9PM EST (calendar invite and rsvp here)! We'll guide you through the process of intention setting and reflection, helping you look back on 2024 and learn from your experiences. Whether you’re reflecting on accomplishments, growth, or challenges, you’ll leave with actionable steps to manifest your 2025 vision.
This workshop will be a part of a long-term series where we will have monthly, group accountability check-ins to ensure you achieve your 2025 goals. We hope to see many of you there!
2b. Event: [2/25] - VFA Skillshare: Job Searching Session with Max Polec
From Stephen Kita (2016 Fellow):
The modern job search sucks! Your ability to land your next job should be determined by your work ethic and job skills, not about resume formatting and interview skills. Max Polec (2017 Fellow and author of The CEO Strategy) is an executive coach who also offers career coaching. In the past few years, he has coached 40+ jobseekers to help them break into or level up in their next job in tech. Join this skillshare to ask your questions about:
- Formatting your resume to pass ATS and excite hiring managers.
- Nailing interviews to get fast-tracked in the hiring process.
- Structuring your job search process so it is effective and not soul-sucking.
- Negotiating like a pro during the job offer to get the compensation you deserve.
A lot of time will be reserved for group discussion, so come prepared with questions. We hope to see you there! Date: Tuesday, Feb. 25 from 6:00-7:00pm EST / 5:00-6:00pm CST / RSVP here on this calendar invite
2c. Event: [Fridays] - VFA 2.0 Office Hours with Eileen Lee and Dan Bloom
From Eileen Lee (Original VFA COO):
Dan Bloom (2012) and Eileen Lee (former VFA COO) are leading the launch of a 2.0. version of VFA. Hop on to chat with Dan and Eileen to share your thoughts on what VFA 2.0 should look like. Hear updates and find ways to get engaged in the effort. Join Fridays in February and March from 12-1pm est! RSVP to the events and find the Zoom links on the VFA Community Collective Calendar here.
2d. Interest Survey: Reunion 2025!
From Simrat Oberoi (2023 Fellow):
Hi all! Reunion planning is underway. The VFA Social Engagement Committee would love to get your ideas for what you want to see at the next reunion. Please fill out this quick interest form and let us know what would make it amazing for you! Please reach out to Simrat Oberoi (‘23) or Julie Bautista (‘24 Pittsburgh) if you have any questions. Can’t wait to see everyone!
3. Jobs
Copied and pasted from #job-board in Slack
Shea Fallick: Any data nerds w/ 0-2 years of experience looking to break into a great real estate company? DM me if interested - role is based in ATL. We also opened up a 2nd role that will be more focused on developing LLM use cases. https://careers-cortland.icims.com/jobs/12476/business-intelligence-analyst---atlanta%2c-ga/job
Erica Kiefer: my company Science exchange is hiring! We're looking for folks to join our revenue team! We're a fully remote company with competitive salaries, 4% 401k match and fully covered health insurance. Check our job board below or DM me your resume! We're hiring for: Strategic Account Directors (US), Account Executives (US & EU), Customer Success Managers (US). Joining Science Exchange means being part of a team that’s not just building and selling software – we’re enabling breakthroughs in life sciences by helping our customers accelerate research, save time, and reduce risk!
Veronica Head: Hi all! My organization (4.0) just put out a community job board with jobs from our alumni & community members. It's a great place to look for jobs in the education innovation ecosystem. Link here.
Lilly Checkoff: Naturally New York is hiring for a Program Coordinator position. While the position is primarily remote, you'll need to be based near NYC for events and meetings (about 2-4 times per month). If you're interested or have any questions, feel free to reach out to me via Slack messages.
Nate Johnson: Hey everyone, BoomPop is hiring for a Senior Software Engineer to join our team! Key Requirements/Points of Information: At BoomPop, our engineers are required to be full-stack, so you must be familiar with both front-end and back-end coding. We are preferably looking for someone with 5-6 years of experience.
Jinesh Shah: Hi everyone, we have more new roles here at Endear (a fellow founded company)! Endear is building the first modern CRM for retail teams. We empower brands to drive more in-store sales by giving their retail teams AI-powered tools to have 10x more personalized, human conversations with customers. Despite retail being 6x larger than eCommerce, brick-and-mortar retail has been largely overlooked by the technology industry. We're changing that by enabling thousands of salespeople to leverage customer data in meaningful ways. We now have the following roles we are hiring for: - Senior software engineer, Product analyst - Content & onboarding, Head of product design, VP of marketing, Email marketing manager. If you’re interested in any of these, please apply (and DM me on Slack). If none of these match but you think you’d be a great addition to the team, please DM me your pitch!
Vance Wood: 9:00 NY in person. Let me know if you apply and I can refer. Assists hiring Sales Manager (Inbound Only) in New York, NY: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4142644120
4. Bulletin Board
4a. We launched a pitch podcast where the winner gets $50k.
From Veronica Head (2018 Fellow):
We (4.0) just launched a new podcast where we'll have 10 edu-preneurs pitch their idea, listeners can vote at the end of the season and winner gets a $50k prize: https://www.pitchplayground.com/
4b. Free Media Spotlight for ClimateTech Founders through EarthABC’s Interview Series
From Sean Pak (2024 Fellow):
Are you a climate tech founder, leader driving sustainable solutions for our planet, or know someone who is?
With an audience of 740+ business owners, investors, and climate enthusiasts, EarthABC provides a powerful platform to talk about climate solutions through a 25-minute interview. We dive into your mission, your technology, and the impact you’re making.
Each guest receives a free media kit, including a fully produced interview and short-form content to maximize their reach.
Interested in being featured? Or know someone who would benefit from this? Email me (sp@earthabc.com) with the subject line "Interested in EarthABC’s Interview Series"
Let’s amplify your venture's reach!
4c. From Figma to Full-Stack: A Founders’ Low-Code Session [2/10]
From Suibhne O'Foighil (2023 Fellow):
Hi everyone, I’m Suibhne, founder of Molus. Working with AI-driven startups has taught me some surprisingly efficient workflows—methods that can speed up development by 10 to 20 times compared to traditional approaches. I’m excited to share these insights in our first low-code/no-code skillshare session. In our time together, I’ll demonstrate how to transform a Figma design into a full-stack web app—even if you have no coding experience. More than a demo, this session is meant to be a relaxed, collaborative space for all of us founders to share what we’ve learned, swap ideas, and explore new techniques for rapid prototyping and MVP development. Whether you’re here to learn something new or to contribute your own experiences, I hope you’ll join in as we collectively push the boundaries of what’s possible. Sign-up at https://molus.app
Update: Event - I'm leading the no/low-code Skillshare on Monday February 10. It'll be at 6pm EST. Please join the Slack group if you're interested! https://vfafellows.slack.com/archives/C08AVJ3FGT1
4d. Ready to Turn Your Intentions Into Action This Year?
From Julia Kortberg (2016 Fellow):
Hi VFA fam! I’m Julia Kortberg, a ’16er and a certified professional coach. Coaching provides a dedicated space to pause, reflect, and take meaningful steps toward your goals—whether you’re at a career crossroads, navigating big decisions, or simply looking for a thinking partner to help you stay aligned with your intentions.
This year, my primary intention is to coach as much as possible, so I’m offering “pay what’s meaningful to you” and even have a few pro bono spots available. I’m far more interested in your commitment to the process than the dollars you can contribute.
Curious for yourself or someone you know? Let’s connect! I’d love to offer a complimentary sample session to explore how coaching can support your journey.
Reach out at coachjuliakortberg@gmail.com, or learn more about me and my approach on my website: https://www.juliakortberg.com/
Submit a Blurb for Next Time
The next newsletter will be on Thursday March 6, 2025. Submit your blurb here (it’s also linked on the homepage of the newsletter) any time in the day/evening on Weds Mach 5.
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The Slack Situation and Our Plans: The Long Version: As you probably know already, we* have actively been requesting control of the VFA Fellows Slack from the VFA Board of Directors since August 2024. This has been avoided, delayed, or denied in various forms since then. There is a strong chance of this space being mismanaged, deleted, or given to an entity that we do not know or that does not have Fellow community buy-in. The Slack is first and foremost a Fellow community space, and we believe we have the right to manage that space on our own. Yang actually encouraged us to leave in December, but we decided to wait a bit longer to give the community time to digest this idea, wait for the holidays, and to see if the Board would send Fellows any updates in Q1. After additional discussion, we think it’s a good time to start making moves.
(*We=the VFA Community Collective of active volunteers)
Here is our roll-out plan:
in early February, the new Slack Admin team—Amanda Tien, 2015; Micah Leinbach, 2017; Julia Wang; 2017 and VFA team 2020-21—will build out a a new free Slack using a community-owned email address that will be Fellow-owned and moderated. (Micah and Julia; thank you for volunteering and partnering on this work with me.)
in mid-late February, once the basics of the community are set, we will invite VFACC and other active volunteers to test our systems.
By late February/early March, invitations will be sent out to the Fellow community. We define this as anyone who was accepted to VFA as a Fellow and did Training Camp, and has not been off-boarded for moral or ethical reasons. There will be a request process for anyone who was not on that list.
On March 6, the March newsletter will reaffirm the move to the new Slack. We will attempt to set up an auto-ping to anyone that posts in the old VFA Slack to encourage them to move to the new space
Why we’re doing this: Our intent is to continue to maintain similar values and offerings—that people can easily post jobs/opportunities, asks, find other Fellows in other cities, collaborate, ask questions, and more. After much reflection, we have chosen to stick with Slack as a platform because there is a free option**, and it's familiar to the community already and relatively easy-to-use. We feel strongly that our community has benefited from this space and should continue to do so: we want to continue having a free, accessible, easy-to-use space---a homing beacon where our community knows how to easily find each other, connect, create value, and share opportunities.
Action item: nothing right now, but we want to make sure we’re creating sapce for others to weigh in, so we have a super short one-question survey (do you agree/vibe/+1 this plan, yes/no) with the option to share comments. Click here to fill out the 1-question survey and to see the live results of the poll.
**The paid version, for the number of people we have, is quoted at over $10,000/a year (i.e. how much it would cost to maintain the premium version of the original VFA Fellows Slack). If someone has a connect at Salesforce / Slack and wants to hook us up, that’d be dope but we are unlikely to try and fund a premium version at this time.