Peter Thiel famously loves founders who skip (or drop out of) college. Devon Gethers and Karlton Haney are taking a different approach: solely targeting entrepreneurs who have earned, or are earning, an MBA. The duo launched Meridian Ventures in 2023 before they were even students at Harvard Business School. Their tactic: target founders from 10 powerhouse MBA programs in the U.S.—including Stanford, Harvard and Wharton. While these schools are powerful feeders into finance and consulting, Gethers and Haney think more of their grads could be starting their own businesses. “It’s kind of a contrarian take,” Haney says. “There are a lot of venture capitalists out there that think business school graduates don’t make for good founders.” Meridian has a portfolio of 45 investments, including tech companies like Cast AI ($900 million valuation) and OneImaging ($250 million valuation). It’s currently deploying a $25 million fund II to co-invest with top firms such as Bessemer, Khosla and Bain Capital Ventures. “The vision is not to build a fund, but to build a durable investment firm,” Gethers says.<br /><br />Read the full story on Forbes: <br /><br />Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1<br /><br />Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:<br /><br />https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript<br /><br />Stay Connected<br />Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com<br />Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes<br />Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes<br />Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes<br />More From Forbes: http://forbes.com<br /><br />Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
