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SOM Students Take the Cake
First-time entrants triumph in venture-cap comp
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Business New Haven
4/30/2001
By: BNH
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The 2001 Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC), which prepares M.B.A. students across the nation to be responsible venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs, earlier this month announced that a team from Yale, a first-time participant in the event, won its national finals competition - and a check for $10,000.
The VCIC took place March 29-31 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
A team from the University of Maryland second-place honors, earning $5,000. Washington University in St. Louis came in third, winning $3,000.
This was the fourth annual competition. In the winners circle Yale joins previous winners Carnegie Mellon, Duke University and host UNC.
The M.B.A. student teams evaluated five start-up companies. Companies receiving feedback on their business plans were ZeroChaos Inc., cipherOptics, Kyma Technologies, Porivo Technologies and ZOOM CULTURE.
The VCIC brings start-up companies and venture capitalists together with M.B.A. students, who play the role of venture-capital firms. Students evaluate actual start-up companies for funding by reviewing business plans, listening to company presentations, engaging in question-and-answer sessions with the management teams, and performing additional due-diligence. They structure potential investment terms to mitigate risk and present their analyses to real venture capitalists, who serve as judges and select the top teams to win cash prizes.
For students, the competition represents an opportunity to gain a more sophisticated understanding of the venture process and network with potential employers. For their part, the start-ups receive comprehensive feedback on their business plans and exposure to prominent venture capital firms. Venture capitalists benefit from previewing the work of promising start-up companies and from scouting M.B.A. talent.
The five Yale participants - Cebra Graves, Andrea Goldman, Eugene Podkaminer, Oded Sten and Claire Hughes - are second-year students at the School of Management (SOM).
“The most valuable aspects of the competition are the real-life investment situations and the evaluation of business plans presented by true entrepreneurs,” said SOM's Hughes. “The extensive feedback from the judges also significantly augmented our business school experience.
“This is a one-of-a-kind learning experience,” Hughes added. “It provides us with the skills we need to succeed in the world of venture finance and entrepreneurship.”
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