“Today, we are proud to announce Apfelschuss Fund B. Just like William Tell had a second arrow in his quiver, the one he would have fired at the evil governor if he’d missed the apple on his son’s head, so too we are preparing our second fund, our second arrow, with even bigger targets.”
This was my pitch to our investors on the second morning of IMD’s Venture Capital Asset Management (VCAM) Simulation, hosted by Jim Pulcrano, Scott Newton, and Christian Rangen – and a big highlight of the MBA year so far.
Over 48 hours, nine IMD MBAs and 21 external executives and investors joined forces to simulate the full lifecycle of a VC fund: from raising capital and pitching LPs, to deploying funds, navigating market shocks, supporting portfolio companies, and finally managing exits and returns.
For many of us, it was the first time sitting on the “other side of the table,” looking at the world from the investor perspective rather than as operators inside startups. We went from barely knowing what pre–money valuation meant to negotiating term sheets, syndicating deals, debating whether to invest $10m at a $70m valuation, calculating MOIC, DPI, and TVPI, and worrying about dilution, convertibles, and drag–along rights.
We had been exposed to venture capital theory in our Entrepreneurship module (and the 21 investors we were joining had been through a solid two days of classroom discussions), but as the weekend proved, it’s one thing to read about VC in books or hear about it from experts; it’s another to experience it under pressure.
Day 1: Let the games begin
To kick things off, each team started by picking a name, a thesis, and a target fund size. Inspired by William Tell, my team called ourselves Apfelschuss (“apple shot”), playing on the theme of the accuracy with which we made our investment decisions (or so we hoped).
Even more important, we had to decide who did what. I volunteered for fund management (tracking the money), fellow MBA Ezgi Gani stepped up as managing director, and our three teammates from the PIF and the US took on deal sourcing and fundraising from limited partners (LPs for short).
From there, the race was on.
Scott and Chris announced bursts of market news:
- “Bust! All FinTech startups just lost 30% of their value.”
- “Boom! The Financial Times just reported Asia-based startups outperforming, increasing valuations by 20%.”
- Team-specific news: “Lucky day, you just secured a $100m commitment from a generous LP.”
Even though the numbers came fast, and it was difficult to keep tabs on all the moving pieces, I seriously enjoyed the fund manager role: logging deals, tracking cash, and keeping the portfolio in balance.
A typical scenario: our deal team decided whether to invest in a Singapore AI startup, trade that card with another team for a music app in Africa, or hold dry powder for the next deal. My job was to book the transactions. For example, invest $10m at a $70m pre-money valuation. Post-money, the company is worth $80m, meaning we own an eighth of the startup (12.5%). From there, anything could happen: markups, markdowns, new rounds of funding (Seed, Series A, Series B), and, of course, dilution (basically, you own less of the company unless you put down more money again and participate in the next round).
The real fun started when syndication came into play – a defining feature of VC. Unlike PE firms that often compete to buy companies outright, VCs frequently collaborate. Our team co-invested with others in an AI startup. Combining our capital (and some credibility), we drove the company’s value from modest multiples to a 360x return – a unicorn in the making and a huge win for our LPs.
After a long day of trading deals and tracking valuations, we prepared for what awaited us the next morning… the LPpresentation.
Day 2: Finding our rhythm
The second day opened with investor meetings, where fund managers reported back to LPs. They wanted updates on our thesis (were we sticking to it?), our geographical focus (US, Europe, and some Asia), and most importantly, the metrics:
- MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital)
- TVPI (Total Value to Paid In)
- DPI (Distributed to Paid In)
As we quickly learned, DPI mattered most: how much cash had actually been returned to LPs, net of fees and their initial commitments.
This session was even more real because we pitched to actual investors, including Enrique Alvarado Hablutzel from Chi Capital.
We proudly presented our 4x, 10x, and 360x exits, but the LPs were tough: they applauded our results yet pushed us to prove we’d stick to their mandate. Despite my best efforts (and some storytelling with William Tell and Apfelschuss’ “second arrow”), we couldn’t get them to commit to Fund B. A setback for our fundraising team, but also a reminder of something that would happen in real life as well… no money to invest… no startups invested in… opportunities lost.
Still, we pressed on. By afternoon, we landed generous new LPs and doubled down on syndications. One of these exits produced a 400x return. The numbers sounded absurd, but as the AI company Anthropic’s trajectory shows (valued at $4bn in April 2022, now $183bn in 2025), such multiples aren’t purely fictional.
By this point, our team ran like a well-oiled machine. Where on Day 1 we stumbled through booking deals and tracking commitments (sometimes losing deal cards and forgetting how much we agreed to buy of each company), by Day 2, we spoke fluent VC. We knew the lingo, anticipated each other’s moves, and processed deals and LP commitments on autopilot.
Other teams soared, too. Alpha Fund, led by MBAs Julian Ritzi and Janine Pereyra, ended with an astonishing 672x DPI.
Julian, who played the managing director of Alpha, reflected on the experience. “As much as this return is nearly impossible to replicate in real life, it shows how important it is to have potential stars in a portfolio that can deliver outstanding results,” he said.
Their team’s “winning moves” came down to playing to strengths (putting people in the right seats and supporting them) and a willingness to double down when a true star emerged. This transformed their startup, SpotVerse, into the kind of legendary unicorn that VCs dream of.
As the clock wound down on the second day, we scrambled to squeeze in last-minute exits and IPOs (taking a company public), to return and distribute more money (and increase our DPI), but Alpha’s lead was untouchable. They claimed the deserved honors as VCAM Legendary Investors.
Learnings and reflections
For me, the steepest learning curve was moving from “book knowledge” to practice. It was a strong reminder of IMD’s experiential learning philosophy: that the best way to learn leadership is not in theory, but in practice, under real pressure, with real stakes.
In just 48 hours, we learned:
- How dilution works on a cap table, and how anti-dilution provisions protect investors.
- Why LPs care more about DPI (actual cash returned) than the more notional TVPI.
- How quickly startups can go boom or bustwith market cycles.
- How syndicating with other funds can de-risk positions and build credibility.
- How to judge deals in minutes (“raising X at Y pre-money”) while weighing dilution.
- How to present convincingly to LPs, showing MOIC, TVPI, and DPI, then asking for re-ups into Fund B.
- Why you should aim for outsized returns and have the discipline not to exit too soon.
As my MBA classmate Ashton Songer Ferguson put it, “It was intense, it was packed with real-life learning, and it was fun! So much of what I’ve been picking up, mostly piecemeal over the years, really began to crystallize. My VC excitement is validated, and there’s (always) still work to be done. One way or another, I’m here for it.”
Jim, Chris, and Scott emphasized from the start that team dynamics often matter more than spreadsheets. This proved true: once we aligned across roles (fund manager, deal sourcer, performance tracker), our collaboration and communication worked, and our fund soared.
For me, the simulation also demystified the “black box” of venture capital. I came in with operational experience from startups, most recently at a Munich AI company, but little sense of what it looks like on the other side of the table. The weekend stripped away the mystery: VC isn’t a secret, elite club where you need to speak their funny language or know the hottest founders to fit in; it’s accessible and easy to learn (to be fair, it helps to know the lingo!).
Beyond the numbers, the weekend was about people. Our mixed teams (MBAs alongside senior professionals from family offices, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and VC firms) made the simulation richer and more unpredictable. It showed how we could achieve the best results with a mix of energy and experience. The executives brought sophisticated financial tricks, while Ezgi and I leaned into our financial modeling and presentation skills.
As Janine reminded us, “Study and learn how others succeed. On my way to IMD, I kept thinking about how the other groups cracked it and how we can push our strategy even further.”
None of this would have been possible without the organizers and facilitators who gave up their weekends to put us through our paces. Jim Pulcrano for bringing VCAM to IMD. Aysun Abibula for flawless organization. Christian Rangen and Scott Newton for calm guidance and patient answers, even as the simulation grew frantic. Enrique Alvarado Hablutzel for bringing the LP perspective to life. And of course, my teammates (Blair, Reem, Ezgi, and Dan), for making the long hours not just productive, but fun.
As we left the Executive Learning Centre on Sunday night, exhausted but smiling, one thing was clear: the apple had been shot, and many of us would be aiming our arrows at VC roles in the future.
