Spring 2012 General Business Venture Category: Teams competing in the general category are encouraged to work with a mentor and participate in crash courses offered by the Silicon Flatirons Center prior to submitting a business plan.
After NVC Bootcamp on January 18, the Silicon Flatirons Center will conduct a series of four crash courses. Each of the first three crash courses will have a mini-competition with $500 in prizes for each crash course! The fourth crash course will culminate in the General Business Venture finals.
Schedule (dates and course/submission specifics subject to change):
- Module 1: Getting Started (1.26 to 2.3) [Camilo Lopez: Influential Force]
- Course held on Thursday, 1.26 in room 207 at CU Law, 6 pm.
- During this phase, each team should plan the basics for its business.
- Idea generation
- Industry + market + financial analysis
- Meet with your mentor at least once
- Submission at conclusion of Module 1
- Lean canvas from www.leancanvas.com
- Submit by 11:59 pm on Friday, 2.3 to itnewventure@gmail.com
- Prize: $500 prize pool; winner selected by Wednesday, 2.8.
- Module 2: Get out of the Building (2.8 to 2.20) [Zach Nies: Rally Software]
- Course held Wednesday, 2.8 in room 204 at CU Law, 6 pm.
- Discover and validate customer segments and what pain they are experiencing – figure out the problem before the solution.
- Propose a solution to the problem and validate it with potential customers.
- Get feedback from potential customers on a demo or prototype.
- Submission at conclusion of Module 2:
- Your problem validation interview script
- Video of team conducting a problem interview with someone from your customer segment
- Your solution validation interview script
- Video of team conducting a solution validation interview with a potential customer
- Submit by 11:59 pm on Monday, 2.20 (email to itnewventure@gmail.com)
- Prize: $500 prize pool; winner selected by Friday, 2.24.
- Register here: http://nvcittrack2.eventbrite.com/
- Module 3: Presenting (2.21 to 2.29) [Tim Wolters - Round Pegg]
- Course held Wednesday 2.22 at 6:15 pm in Room 204 of Wolf Law.
- Register here: http://nvccrashcourse3.eventbrite.com/
- Submission at conclusion of Module 3:
- 5 minute video of the team’s investor pitch (you can use YouTube, DropBox or another video site)
- Submit by 11:59 pm on Wednesday, 2.29.
- Prize: $500 prize pool; winner selected by Sunday, 3.4.
- Minimally Viable Product/Service (Module 4: General Business Venture Finals): Course held Wednesday, February 29.
- Module 4 course: preparing for General Business Track finals; refining your business product/service.
- Submission at conclusion of Module 4:
- Product/service demo (what you want it to look like; samples; sketches).
- Deck for an investor pitch: no more than 10 slides + 2 page executive summary (due March 15)
- Presentation = 5 minutes with 5 minute Q&A with judges (in-person presentation on Mar. 20)
The Winner of the General Business Track will go onto NVC Finals (open to all tracks), held in the afternoon/evening of Thursday, April 5.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Jacqui Dietrich (jacquelyn.dietrich@colorado.edu) or Dave Mangum (dcmangum@gmail.com).
Note: Dates and course specifics are subject to revision as the semester progresses. Each course will be taught by a professional entrepreneur and we will work to accommodate their schedules and course/judging specifics.
