Members of the Undergraduate Startup and Venture Capital (VC) Club have landed some of the most sought-after internships available -- with venture capitalists -- who are notoriously busy and have few opportunities available, especially for undergraduates.

By taking full advantage of Cornell's network of alumni venture capitalists, seven members of the club are working on projects with three venture capitalists this semester. Those projects include compiling mergers and acquisitions data, defining future trends in the engineering space and testing a VC firm's investment thesis, said Alexandria Sun '11, an economics and English major and project leader for the club's venture capital intern program.

"It's really rare to even be able to talk to a venture capitalist," Sun said. "The whole industry is very secretive, so unless you're the next Google founder or you already have a successful business, it's hard to know these people."

But for venture capitalists, the Cornell intern arrangement offers well-qualified students with an outside perspective who can help with back-burner projects or broader research.

"Many of these projects would be delegated to associates [in a VC firm]," Sun said. "But they don't have the time to do them."

The Cornell interns aren't paid for their work, but the experience is worth it, Sun said.

"A lot of the time they're easy on us because they don't know what to expect from undergraduates," Sun said. "So we'll go more in-depth and make our presentations extra professional. We've had good results from that because word has gotten out to other VCs."

Yunyun Cai '11 said the real-world business problems he's worked on "can be fairly complex compared to the theoretical problems that I encounter in academics.

"There is never a standard way to solve the problem," she said. "We have to be innovative and open-minded when formulating problems and processing information."

Along with the projects, the group has invited venture capitalists to campus for meetings and presentations. And Zach Shulman, director of Entrepreneurship@Johnson and the adviser for the club, has offered training sessions for club members on topics ranging from due diligence to deal structuring. Shulman has direct professional relationships with all participating VCs.

"It was great to source VCs to participate in the club's VC internship program," Shulman said. "All the VCs participating are Cornell graduates and know the quality of work that undergraduates can produce. I am looking forward to building the base of participating VC firms in the future."

Sun said the VC intern program gives students a glimpse of what life is like as a venture capitalist. "I want to be a VC one day, but it's a career path we can't even think of until we're 40," Sun said. "This way, we get a taste of what it's like."

The Undergraduate Startup and Venture Capital Club offers other services for students interested in business creation, including guest speakers, campus resources, connections to professors and inspiration for their businesses.

Kathy Hovis is a writer/editor for Entrepreneurship@Cornell.