December 2004

Haas Venture Capital Competition Finalist Teams Selected

The second annual UC Berkeley Venture Capital Investment Competition attracted over 90 students from 18 teams interested in competing for the right to represent UC Berkeley in the national VCICTM finals at the University of North Carolina. Entrant teams were composed of students from both the day and evening/week-end MBA programs at Haas as well as selected Ph.D. candidates from the biological sciences and the College of Engineering.

This unique competition gives participants the opportunity to act as venture capitalists for a day, evaluating and selecting from real life early stage companies, then structuring an investment in the selected firm. Throughout the process, the teams are evaluated by volunteer judges from the venture capital community. The winning team is selected based on choosing the right firm to invest in and developing the most appropriate term sheet for the investment.

Based on a combination of academic training, experience, and technical expertise, six teams have been selected to compete in the Haas competition in January. The teams represent the MBA Class of ’06 (First Year Force), the Evening/Weekend MBA classes (Ebben Assoicates)), and the MBA Class of ’05 (Epoch Ventures, Jeans Capital, Oski Ventures). The Golden Bear Capital team is composed of both MBA ’05 and Evening/Weekend students. The Jeans Capital team also includes two Ph.D. candidates from the College of Engineering.

These teams are participating in two preliminary events where they learn the basics of the competition and have a chance to practice their new skills before the actual competition. In a workshop on December 1 Sam Angus of Fenwick & West LLP discussed the formation of term sheets. On December 8 the teams worked with Kim Lopez, founder of Remedy Interactive, who made a typical presentation and was then questioned by the contestants.

The competition itself will begin on January 19, when the competing teams will receive the business plans for analysis. Following a day of interviews and evaluations, the presentations of the team investment decisions will take place in the Wells Fargo Room at the Haas School on the afternoon of January 21, 2005. The winning team will then compete in the Regional Finals at University of Colorado, Boulder, on February 3-5, 2005. National Finals will be held at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, April 7-9. 2005.

Best of luck to all of our finalists.

Photos by Nathan Dintenfass.

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