A team of five MBA students from Leeds School of Business took 7th place in the MBA Global Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) Finals on April 12-13, where 16 teams competed at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. The winning team from Georgetown University took home $5K in prize money.
The Global VCIC is not a business plan competition鈥攊t鈥檚 a highly interactive simulation of the venture capital process, where business students play the role of investors for a day. Real startups pitch to student teams of investors who choose those with home-run potential, then pitch their investment decisions to a panel of real venture capitalists.
Journey to the finals
Leading up to the finals, the Leeds MBA team placed 2nd in the VCIC Super Regionals in San Francisco back in February, making them the 10th team from Leeds in the last 18 competitions to qualify for the finals (with a first-place win in 2012). In addition, the team won the Entrepreneur鈥檚 Choice Award for their ability to build rapport with startups and produce an entrepreneur-friendly term sheet.
Reflecting on their win at the regionals, team member Sandy MacDonnell said, 鈥淭here's no question that the exposure to the robust VC and startup community in Boulder is the reason we were so successful. Jason Mendelson's assistance during our preparation was one of the keys to our success.鈥� Mendelson, an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado, member of the Leeds Board, and managing director of the Foundry Group, coached the MBA team every step of the way.
In preparation for the finals, MacDonnell said the team practiced due diligence sessions with local entrepreneurs and mock partner meetings with Mendelson and VCIC alumni. The biggest challenge: 鈥淥ur strategy will need to change so we can adapt to working more efficiently with even less time,鈥� she said.
Moment of truth
Indeed, making a careful, informed investment decision within a time crunch at the finals was tough: 鈥淭he challenges we faced this weekend focused on getting smart on health tech and ad tech in a short period of time,鈥� says Matt Haughom. Research was critical in order to evaluate a location-based marketing and analytics startup versus a听life sciences and healthcare information-management platform.
鈥淭he high level of competition required us to really make sure our investment story was thought through and鈥ur investment decision fully supported our fund size, provided good returns for our LPs and provided adequate runway for the company to grow to a series as equity raises,鈥� said Haughom.
They ended up choosing to invest in the ad tech startup based on its experienced team, market size and current customer traction. They also recognized the substantial exit opportunity for mobile relationship-marketing.
A win for all
As the world鈥檚 largest venture capital competition with over 70 universities, the Global VCIC is a convergence of three elite groups: top students, visionary entrepreneurs and successful VCs, each of whom has much to learn from the others.
鈥淥ne of the best parts of the final competition for me was seeing participants from the other schools again after鈥he regional competition in San Francisco. It shows the value of the VCIC network,鈥� says MacDonnell.
Congratulations to this year鈥檚 MBA team and to all previous Leeds teams, who consistently make us a top contender at VCIC year after year.
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