Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs (HAE) created the Venture Scout Program to extend its deal‑sourcing reach while giving members practical exposure to early‑stage investing. Scouts are trusted connectors—often founders, operators or domain experts—who surface promising startups to HAE’s venture team and Harvard‑affiliated investor community.

The experience is flexible and entirely remote. Scouts attend an onboarding webinar that reviews HAE’s investment criteria, screening questionnaire and referral workflow. From there they operate independently: identifying founders, holding first‑look calls, completing a short online submission and, when appropriate, making warm introductions to the HAE diligence team. Scouts can invest as little as one hour a month or engage much more deeply depending on bandwidth and network strength.

HAE supports scouts with resources and community touch‑points. Quarterly virtual meet‑ups feature guest talks from alumni VCs, portfolio updates and peer Q&A. Scouts gain access to an exclusive Slack channel for real‑time deal chatter and a curated library of term‑sheet templates, due‑diligence checklists and market‑mapping tools. Outstanding contributors are spotlighted in the HAE newsletter and may be invited to co‑invest through special‑purpose vehicles.

The program is volunteer‑driven—no fees, tuition or guaranteed carry. Instead, value comes from learning, networking and the reputational capital of helping high‑potential founders secure early backing from Harvard’s global entrepreneurial network.

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HAE’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship among Harvard alumni worldwide by providing community, education and access to capital, thereby accelerating the creation and scale‑up of innovative ventures.