Venture Capital Investment Competition

The UC Berkeley VCIC is, in essence, a "reverse business plan competition". Compared to a traditional business plan competition where teams participate as entrepreneurs seeking Venture Captial funding, the teams in the VCIC competition take on the role of a Venture Capitalist firm to evaluate and "fund" investment opportunities.

One team is selected from the participating Berkeley teams to proceed to the Regionals of the National VCIC competition in Los Angeles in March, and possibly to the VCIC National finals in North Carolina in April.

The purpose of the UC Berkeley VCIC is twofold: to educate business leaders and entrepreneurs, and to experience the VC process firsthand. The first goal of the VCIC is to educate and expose MBA students to the venture capital process and the intricate selection requirements of a VC-fundable business opportunity. By exposing future VCs and entrepreneurs to the venture capital process early on, the Competition aims to enhance both their appreciation of opportunity recognition and entrepreneurs' levels of sophistication in VC interactions.

Potential venture capitalist candidates have limited opportunites to experience the "day in the life of a VC" because of the selective nature and criteria of VC recruiting. The competition aims to allow students to apply the art and science of venture investing to try their hand at selecting real business opportunites using strategic investment criteria, valuation, capitalization tables, term sheets, and other tools of the trade.

By stimulating deep student understanding and appreciation for VC, the Competition also aims to foster interaction and communication between the next generation of business leaders with VCs in Silicon Valley who would like to "give back" to the student community.

To compete in this years 2007-2008 competition complete the application by Friday, November 16, 2007. For a complete list of dates and FAQ's visit the VCIC 2007-2008 information page.

To learn more about the competition, Haas Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC™), visit the article on VCIC in Innovation.

The Lester Center and the student organizers wish to thank Dow Jones/Venture Source, Woodside Fund, Aurora Equity, Partech International, BlueRun Ventures and Nickle & Nickel for their support of the competition.