So… do we have a deal? VCIC Kickoff!
Fall 2015 marks the launch of an exciting new entrepreneurship activity for BU’s Questrom School of Business, the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC). The VCIC is being headed up by Gregory Stoller, and is sponsored by BU’s BUzz Lab, which supports entrepreneurship at BU. Greg is new to Questrom but not to the VCIC, having led the program at Boston College for several years. The VCIC also benefits from industry mentors who have generously offered their time to assist the students as they get ready for the competition.
The program will kick off in November with an internal BU competition. One team will be chosen as the winning team for bragging rights and five individuals will be chosen to represent BU at the regional competition in Dartmouth in February 2016. In this unique competition, the traditional start-up competition is flipped on its head as students act as venture capitalists, working as a team to negotiate a mock term sheet with an entrepreneur. Students are sent pitch decks before the competition and have two days to review and prepare before negotiating directly with their selected entrepreneur live in front of judges and other participants.
Although the competition does not kick off until November, the students are already gearing up for the competition by brushing up on valuation metrics, practicing negotiation skills, and dividing their teams based on skill set to best be prepared to tackle the competition. Together, the VCIC team has some impressive work, school and personal stories.
For example, seven participants have lived in another country; together they have an impressive 96 years of work experience and they hold advanced degrees and certifications ranging from CFA licensure to FINRA Series 7 to PhDs. They have worked for consulting firms, a game development company, the US Army, banks, biotech companies, financial services companies, and in one case, as a professional poker play.
VCIC Quick Facts
70 MBA programs
6 Undergraduate programs
50 events
12 regions, 40 internals
2 sister events
uVCIC (undergraduate)
SVCIC (sustainable, now Invest for Impact)
1,250 MBA participants worldwide
175 VCs and 125 entrepreneurs annually
Website: 4,000 users and 20,000 page views/month
(Blog entry written by BU MBA candidate Jennifer Fessler).
