Frequently Asked Questions
What are the startups?
Our startups are industry agnostic, pre-seed and seed stage and have a founder, partner, or board member affiliated with a liberal arts school. These schools are primarily but not exclusively Amherst, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams.
Who are the investors?
Successful liberal arts-affiliated accredited investors with a variety of resources and experiences passionate about supporting the next generation, curating lucrative angel investments, and networking with each other.
What is your diligence approach?
We look for driven founders with strong liberal arts backgrounds and companies that have found product market fit. We provide the details, but it is up to our accredited investors to make investment decisions.
How do investment deals, SAFEs and SPVs work?
Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) is a separate legal entity created to isolate financial risk and hold specific assets and liabilities for a defined purpose. A Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) is a contract that allows our investor members (limited partners) to provide funding to a startup in exchange for the right to receive equity in the company at a future date, typically when a priced equity round or liquidity event occurs. We work with SeedLabs (Seedlabs.co) to create and track all our SPVs. Startups and investors may negotiate the SAFE. Trivium’s founder is the designated General Partner of each fund.
What does it cost and how does Trivium make money?
Trivium is 100% free for all startups and investors. Trivium generates revenue through an industry average 2% management fee and 20% carry on all SPV investments into startups we source for our investment network. Investors are allowed to contribute directly to startups with Trivium’s written consent.
Why "Trivium" as a name?
Our logo and name represent the classical foundation of a liberal arts education: logic, rhetoric and grammar. Our liberal arts educated founders posses heightened critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills necessary to make their companies succeed. We’re just here to make it faster and easier.
Who is running Trivium Venture Network?
Jacob Shulman, a senior and student-athlete at Hamilton College, founded Trivium Venture Network in July, 2025. He holds a FINRA Series 7 license and currently serves as the General Partner of Trivium’s investments. Jacob is fortunate to be supported by an amazing team of venture sourcing interns and advisors from multiple liberal arts schools.
Payment Portal
Trivium Venture Network has no required fee for companies or investors. We do accept contributions. If you feel that Trivium has added value to your work, please help us to improve our operations. Thank you for your support.
