EVC Newsletter | January 31, 2016
Congratulations to our EVC members moving forward to the semi-finals of the Michigan Business Challenge. To read about the eight teams moving on (and the four going to Social Impact finals), check out the Zell Lurie blog. Also, if you missed last week's Center for Engineering + ZLI pitch event (where technical teams with prototyped technologies pitched their needs for business talent) and you are interested in hearing about the teams and possibly helping out, email Holly Price to get a recap. There were some really interesting pitches and most teams need help with market sizing, business plan creation, pitch deck creation, and general market research. It's a good opportunity to build experience without a big commitment.
This newsletter contains information for those looking to get more involved in the entrepreneurship and venture capital ecosystem throughout the Michigan community and beyond. Reply to evc-board-15-16@umich.edu with any feedback or suggestions. As a reminder, there are a few ways that you can stay looped in with EVC between events:
- Join Honey. Honey is a resource sharing platform EVC is pilot testing this year. You should have received an invite via email, reply to this message if you need a new one. The EVC board recommends checking out the Honey Chrome Extension to make posting easier.
- Follow EVC on Twitter.
- Add the EVC calendar to your Google account. Go to your calendar, select add Calendar by URL and drop this link: http://ross.campusgroups.com/ics?type=group&eid=df33ab9eca1c0a01cc922b03d19b8d13
In this issue:
Chicago Startup Trek - THIS FRIDAY 2/5!!!
All day Friday - RSVP Link
What are you doing Friday? Consider canceling and going to Chicago with your EVC friends to meet with some impressive startups instead. Akashay Agarwal has done a great job planning a full day: members will travel to and from Chicago on Friday via Amtrak. While in Chicago, the plan is to visit four start-ups: Matter Chicago, Reverb.com, Civic Analytics, and Zest Health. You will learn about the startup, the vision behind it, current operations, and funding status. Networking opportunities will be possible for internship/full-time positions, if you're still on the market. Spots are limited and going on a first-come, first-serve basis!
#PITCHAUSTIN MBA Business Plan Competiton
Saturday 3/12 - application deadline extended until Wednesday, email Lana!
University of Texas at Austin
Everyone should have received an email last Friday with details about the 3rd Annual SXSW MBA Pitch Competition. Up to $10,000 are available in prizes. We need a team to represent EVC and bring home bragging rights! Email Lana Ji if you are interested. For more information, see the email sent on Friday and visit pitchaustin.strinkingly.com. Applications are due by EOD Wednesday.
No education updates this week...you have enough going on!
ZLI's Mingle ‘n’ Match
Tuesday, 2/2, 5:30-7:00 p.m., Colloquium (6th Floor), Ross School of Business
Join us at the Winter 2016 Mingle ‘n’ Match event, co-hosted by the Zell Lurie Institute and EVC, to meet prospective team members and to build your entrepreneurial network.10 teams have signed up to do a mini-pitch on Tuesday who are looking for help on their start-up idea. At last check, 18 grad students (MBA, MSW, MPH, MUP, PhD), 3 undergrads (BBA/BA/BS, SPH), and 2 Alumni (MSI, MsE) were registered. Have an idea for a start-up or already a founder? Looking to partner with team members who have specific skills to help grow your venture? This “mixer” will kick off with informal mingling, followed by a series of one-minute pitches by those interested in finding team members, concluding with more targeted networking. If nothing else, it's interesting to hear some of the ideas people are working on, even if you don't find your "match." Pizza will be served. Event is free. E-mail Drea Shipp-Caldwell with any questions. RSVP to participate!
A2 Brew Tech Drinkup (Mezzevino Edition)
Wednesday 2/3, 6:00-8:00PM, Mezzevino (120 E. Liberty)
Everyone needs some time to relax and have a couple beers -- especially entrepreneurs! Roughly two weeks after A2 New Tech Meetup events, this group hosts A2 Brew Tech Drinkup events. Come talk startups and entrepreneurship, have some drinks, and make new friends! More information here.
Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo coming to UM
Thursday 2/4, 4:00PM, Rackham Auditorium
Entrepreneur, former Twitter CEO, and UM grad Dick Costolo will be in Ann Arbor discussing how UM and his liberal arts degree helped shape his philosophy of leadership. A Q&A will follow. This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts and TEDxUofM. For more information, contact annehart@umich.edu or 734.615.6449.
Women Who Launch presents: Financing a New Venture
Tuesday 2/8, 5:00PM-6:30pm, Innovatrium (601 E. University)
Financing is an important component of any entrepreneurial venture, yet women-led ventures lag behind men in attracting this funding. We have brought together a panel of female investors to both share what they look for in their investments, as well as their own career paths towards becoming investors. Panelists include: Jan Garfinkle (Founder and Managing Director of Arboretum Ventures), Lee Gorman (Angel Investor), and Angela Barbash (Founder of ReConsider). Free event, register here.
LAUNCH Festival
Spring Break, Wednesday 3/2 – Friday 3/4,
San Francisco, CA
EVC Members have been granted free tickets to the LAUNCH Festival, occurring March 2-4th in San Francisco. EVC members will need to apply directly at http://www.launchfestival.com/founders. Enter your student information and the LAUNCH team will grant you tickets. "The LAUNCH Festival is the greatest startup conference in the world, with 15,000 attendees, four stages, and 250 speakers focused on helping founders build, scale, and fund the next generation of outstanding companies. We are a mission-driven, benefit company, with the mission of “supporting founders & inspiring innovation. Founders attend our event for free thanks to the support of our like-minded partners." Register here. Shout out to Kenji for hooking this up, reach out to him directly with questions: kkaneko@umich.edu. Let us know if you sign up!
Intel Diversity Case Competition
Submissions due 2/5 @ 5PM, finalists present 2/12 12-2pm
EVC is joining many other Ross student groups to sponsor the Intel Diversity Case Competition during Ross' Diversity Week (Feb 8-14). Diversity issues affect entrepreneurs and startups as much as any other industry (arguably more in many cases) and this case competition seeks to get at the heart of some of those issues: how do you retain diverse talent? An email was sent out on Jan 26 with the competition details. To enter, your team needs to create a brief slide deck (no more than 15 slides) and submit by 2/5. Prizes will be award to the top 3 teams ($600 - $1500, not bad!). We would love for a team to represent EVC in this competition. If you are interested in joining a team, please email Holly Price.
ETF Global Portfolio Challenge
Enrollment closes 2/12
The ETF Global Portfolio Challenge is a virtual investment competition in which participants engage in a real-life investing experience, construct a hypothetical portfolio of ETFs, and compete on their portfolio’s performance. Having already reached thousands of students from five continents and over one hundred academic institutions, the near-term goal is to achieve one million participants by 2018. Open to all undergraduate and graduate students from any university worldwide. Participants are given a virtual balance of $100,000 to construct a portfolio of between 4-10 ETFs. Semester-long contest with several opportunities to rebalance their portfolios. All participants are entitled to a free trial to etfg.com to help them diligence their portfolio selections. More information here.
Internship: VC Summer Associate - Kapor Capital
Rolling application, 2nd round deadline 3/1
Application Link
Rolling application is open for a summer internship at Kapor Capital an early stage venture capital firm based in Oakland that invests in seed stage information technology companies that aspire to generate economic value and positive social impact. The firm has over 100 companies in its portfolio, including Class Dojo, Clever, PayNearMe, LendUp, Pigeonly, Unitiive, Jopwell, Interviewing.io, and Uber. From a current MBA2: "Personally, I worked there the summer before business school and it was quite literally the best job I ever had!! The team is excellent and it's a great springboard for anyone interested in impact investing or VC."
2016 Rice Business Plan Competition
April 14-16 in Houston, TX (application deadline: February 19 5:00PM)
RBPC is seeking teams that are committed to launch their ventures to compete in this year's competition. Past RBPC competitors have raised more than $1.2 billion in funding or have successfully exited. This year RBPC teams will compete for more than $1.5 million, including 8 prizes of $100,000 or more to help them launch their companies. Prizes will be awarded for the best ventures including these broad categories:
- Energy/Cleantech
- IT/Web
- Life Science
- Other Tech Innovation
- Internet of Everything
- Commercial Space Technology
- Women-led Entrepreneurs
Competing teams will have a chance to network with over 250+ investors and other judges over the three-day competition in Houston. To apply, teams only need to submit their contact and team information and a 3-5 page Executive Summary, and optionally upload a link to a one-minute video pitch. All teams that are accepted to compete are guaranteed to win cash prize money. More information here.
"As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French writer, journalist, pioneering aviator and author of "The Little Prince."
Start enabling!
-- EVC Board