Your goal is to get as many term sheets as possible from the student teams.

Pre-Event Materials

  • An extended “leave-behind” deck: sometimes called the “investor deck.” This should not be the same as the tight 10-minute pitch you give at the event.
  • Financial projections: The more detail, the better, but high level projections at the least. Feel free to doctor the numbers if you are concerned about releasing the real thing (this can be summarized on a slide in the pitch deck or a separate spreadsheet file).
  • An equity ask: including the funding requested and your valuation expectations (this can be on a slide in the pitch deck).
    • If you are currently raising a convertible note or a SAFE, please switch to an equity round for the purposes of this competition.
    • This will greatly increase  your probability of receiving term sheets, and it will make your due diligence sessions more targeted and productive.
  • Anything else: if you have anything that would help a VC firm condense their due diligence into 36 hours, please include it! Students will receive your materials at 5PM two days prior to the event. The more you give them, the less they need to find on their own. This could include: product demo videos, market and/or report(s), customer reviews, testimonials, letters of intent, etc.

8:30am: 10-Minute Startup Pitch

We kick off the event with 10-minute venture pitches first thing. You may email your PPT or bring a thumb drive or laptop (if Mac, bring dongle). Please arrive by 8:30am to test technology. Note that this audience will have done their homework; so you may want to tailor your pitch to be more like a second meeting than a first. Please be prepared to share confidential information that will help teams get to a term sheet today. The students have all consented to the VCIC non-disclosure agreement.

9:50am: Due Diligence Sessions

You’ll have 14 minutes with each team. Here are some guidelines:

  • Please actively try to get as many term sheets as you can get. If you stick to that agenda, you will be behaving like a normal startup in front of a normal VC, and the exercise will be most beneficial for everyone.
  • Please be prepared to share CONFIDENTIAL information. Students will sign NDAs. They will likely as about prior investors and capitalization structure so that they will be able to offer a term sheet later in the day. Some founders prefer to bring this information on printouts that we can collect and destroy at the end of the day.
  • Please be consistent – treat the last team just as you treated the first. Be careful not to start answering things differently as the day wears on.
  • Please be NATURAL – some teams will be better at getting good information. You do not have to give the exact same reaction to every team, though your data should remain consistent.
  • Please be CONCISE – teams are under immense time pressure.
  • Feel free to ask them questions, too. You will have to choose an investor, just as they are choosing investments.
  • You may bring handouts. If you do, bring enough for all teams in case they all ask for it. It is okay to give handouts only to teams that ask or that ask in a certain way.

Noon’ish: Lunch with Investors

We’ll end your portion of the day with a casual lunch with the investors.

4:30pm: Awards Ceremony

Return at 4:35 to see who won the Most VC-Backable Startup for the region as well as the top student VC team. .