James Murdoch-backed Human Ventures is launching a program to seek the next health- and wellness unicorn

• Human Ventures, a $50 million VC fund and startup studio founded by Heather Hartnett and Joe Marchese, which focuses on early-stage companies, is starting an entrepreneur-in-residence program.
• It's looking for 10 to 15 founders who want to start companies in the area of health and wellness.
• The program is being run by Evan Cohen, formerly of Lyft and Foursquare, who was brought on as an operating partner.
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Human Ventures, a $50 million VC fund and startup studio founded by Heather Hartnett and Joe Marchese, which focuses on early-stage companies, is starting an entrepreneur-in-residence program.

Newly hired operating partner Evan Cohen, formerly of Lyft and Foursquare, will run the program, called Humans in the Wild, with COO and general partner Michael Letta.

Entrepreneur and former Fox Networks executive Joe Marchese and investor Heather Hartnett started Human Ventures four years ago. It's backed by big names like former 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch and media executive Bob Pittman.

Hartnett told Business Insider the idea of the new program is to bring on 10 to 15 founders at a time - for 100-day periods - who are looking to start their next company in health and wellness. Human Ventures isn't giving them financing, but they'll get space in Human Ventures' offices, other founders to network with, and access to experts, guest speakers, and Human Ventures' operations staff.

Human Ventures isn't promising to invest in any future company either, but it's also not asking for anything in return such as equity.

Human Ventures isn't looking for the next Mark Zuckerberg

At a time when tech-based companies like Facebook and Uber are coming under a harsh spotlight for causing societal harm, Human Ventures has been focused on companies with a community and wellness bent, such as Girlboss and Tiny Organics. In terms of criteria for the program, Human Ventures will be looking for people whose ideas fit its own investment thesis of trying to solve human needs while thinking of the company's impact on society. Think Lyft or Airbnb, not Facebook or Uber.

Marchese is also CEO of Attention Capital, a sibling company that's investing in later-stage media and tech companies that are designed to promote healthy ways of spending time and attention.

"You have to think about culture and business and your effect on the environment around you," Hartnett said. "You're not looking for Mark Zuckerberg 15 years ago. Airbnb has done a good job. They from the beginning thought about their hosts as shareholders. It won't just be tech, vilified. If you're conscious of how you build a company, you won't build fast and break things."

With so much venture capital available to founders these days, entrepreneur-in-residence programs have been a common way for venture capital firms to try to establish relationships with founders early on.

Hartnett contended Human Ventures' program is notable for its emphasis on nurturing in-person community.

"One of the biggest pain points we see is not having that community, an extensive network to get to the right people, category experts, and the office space," she said. "This stage, it's either their living room, or other funds will bring in entrepreneur-in-residence, and it's one person at a time in a sterile office they have to create in."