Editors: Reporters are invited to attend Feb. 5 and can report on the competition and the process but cannot report on details of the business plans.
CU-Boulder students will evaluate real business plans to determine which ones are worthy of funding at the Feb. 5 western regional Venture Capital Investment Competition in Boulder.
The CU students will compete with students from five other universities. Professional venture capitalists will select the winning team.
CU-Boulder is hosting one of four regional competitions showcasing 26 schools students.
"This is an outstanding, yet intense, challenge for our students. Being able to experience the venture capital process is a great opportunity," said Professor Chris Leach. "Our students will be competing with teams from UCLA, the University of Arizona, San Diego State and the University of Washington. It will be a great experience."
Teams comprised of five students are placed in the role of venture capitalists and charged with allocating a mock investment pool among real companies. The MBA teams evaluate five companies that are currently seeking venture capital financing, prepare written term sheets for their proposed investments and present their analyses of each company to a panel of real venture capitalists.
The competition will be held at the CU-Boulder College of Business.
Students will present their findings to the professional venture capitalist judges from 1 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
"The Deming Center is eager to play a role in this event as the venture capital industry nationwide and in Colorado continues its rapid growth," said Denis Nock, director of the Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. "As a host, we can promote CUs MBA program and the strength of its relations with the local business community."
CU-Boulders hosting was made possible due to the involvement of the local venture capital community, which sponsored the event. Sponsors include The Wallach Co., Sequel Venture Partners, KPMG and Boulder Ventures Ltd.
The expert panel of judges includes: Rand Lewis of Centennial Ventures, Peter Van Genderen of Stolberg Equity Partners, LLC, Kyle Lefkoff of Boulder Ventures, Ltd, Tom Washing of Sequel Venture Partners and a founder of the competition, Bruce Boehm of North Carolina.
The top two teams from each region will advance to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on March 23-25 to vie for the $34,000 in prize money.
The CU team features MBA students Scott Heinemann, Nathan Foran, Chris Dietz, Andrew Wilson, Robbin Crane and faculty adviser Professor Chris Leach.