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A team of five Chicago GSB students placed in the top-tier of the 2005 Venture Capital Investment Competition. Second-year students Pat Basu, Holbrook Forusz, Justin Marcucci, and Peter Shannon, and first-year student Ori Eyal finished first in the Central Region and third in the National Finals.
The VCIC allows MBA students to play the role of venture capitalists in an intense investment competition. Students are allowed 48 hours to evaluate actual entrepreneurs’ business plans, determine whether the business is a viable investment, and present their recommended investment terms to judges, who are professional venture capitalists. The contest was coordinated by the University of North Carolina. Cash prizes were awarded to the top four teams.
Separately, a team of GSB entrepreneurship students was awarded fifth place in the Rice University Business Plan Competition.
The Midway Pharmaceuticals team of Ana-Maria Nicolau, Robert Durden, and Dhiren Jhaveri, all second-year students, received a portion of the $200,000 in cash awards that were given to the seven finalists. Team members also received free software from Microsoft, and free Web site and hosting services for a year.
Midway Pharmaceuticals is a biotech company working on commercializing preventive treatments for several diseases. Earlier the team won first place in the 2004 Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge at the GSB.
Winners of the Rice University contest were selected by a panel of more than 130 judges with expertise in investing and entrepreneurship, and their interest in supporting early stage entrepreneurs.
Chicago GSB’s entry in the competition was sponsored by the Chicago GSB Alumni Club of Houston.
The Rice University Business Plan Competition is reported to be the largest university-based intercollegiate business plan competition in the world.
Allan Friedman