Business students to compete in venture capital event

A new wrinkle in the entrepreneurship program at the School of Business will give students the opportunity to evaluate businesses through the eyes of venture capitalists.

On Feb. 6-7, five teams from the school’s Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship will receive business plans from two businesses seeking venture capital.

Students are expected to stay up all night examining the plans and deciding how, and at what level, they would recommend funding at least one of the businesses. On Saturday morning, the teams will each get a 15-minute pitch from each of the entrepreneurs. In the afternoon, each team will present its funding solution to a panel of real-world venture capitalists.

The students will be judged based on their ability to evaluate and value a venture and then propose a funding strategy that is appropriate by venture capital standards. The winning team wins $100 and a trophy.

This new School of Business event is sponsored by the law firm of Michael Best & Friedrich and is intended to provide more depth to the entrepreneurial skills of students.

“Venture Capital Spring Training is designed to give students the chance to look at the business plan from an investor’s viewpoint,” Larry Cox, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship, says. “Whether our students go on to be entrepreneurs or work in the area of business development, this competition develops skills they will find useful.”

The businesses that will make their pitches for venture capital are Precision Information and Lucigen. Precision Information’s founder, Joe Saari, is a former competitor in the school’s popular G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition, which is another feature of Wisconsin’s multi-faceted entrepreneurship program.