This course will examine the world of entrepreneurship, venture capital, and private equity from the fresh and contemporary lens and perspective of women. The goal of the course is to provide candid insight and purview into the personal and professional lives of leading women entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and private equity executives, what has helped catapult or has hampered their ability to lead organizations worldwide.
Attention will also be paid to the legal, cultural (e.g. #MeToo) and regulatory dynamics that define the ecosystem of entrepreneurship, venture capital, private equity, and board service, discussing any unique benefits provided to women in this context (e.g. California’s recent law mandating equal representative of female Corporate directors.)
Alyssa Rapp serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Healthwell Acquisition Corp. I. Ms. Rapp served as Chief Executive Officer of Surgical Solutions, a B2b healthcare services business providing non-clinical surgical services to hospitals, from 2018-2021. As CEO, Ms. Rapp led a successful turnaround of the enterprise, driving 21% sales growth with 90% customer retention. Ms. Rapp has also served as an independent director of Elevate Women’s Health, a portfolio company of Shore Capital Partners, since October 2020. From 2015-2018, Ms. Rapp served as the founder & CEO of Bottlenotes, Inc., a leading interactive media company. Starting in 2015, Ms. Rapp served as the Managing Partner of A JR Ventures, a strategic advisory firm for family offices and private equity firms on market development, digital and e-commerce strategies for select portfolio companies. Ms. Rapp has served as a lecturer-in-management at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business since 2014 and Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago’s Booth Business School since 2019. Ms. Rapp earned a B.A. in Political Science and the History of Art from Yale University in 2000 and an M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in 2005. She is the author of Amazon Bestseller, Leadership and Life Hacks: Insights from a Mom, Wife, Entrepreneur & Executive (ForbesBooks, October 2019).
