Colorado State’s College of Business Hosts 16 Universities for Venture Adventure Business Competition April 21-22

The Center for Entrepreneurship at Colorado State University’s College of Business will host Venture Adventure, a two-day business plan competition April 21-22. Sixteen universities from the United States and Canada will compete for cash prizes at the sixth annual Venture Adventure.

Universities competing include Bradley University, Brock University, Carnegie Mellon University, College of Charleston, Colorado State University, Duke, Simon Fraser, Syracuse University, United States Air Force Academy, University of Arizona, University of Houston, University of Michigan, University of the Pacific, University of Portland, University of Pittsburgh and University of San Francisco.

Colorado State’s Venture Adventure competition gives undergraduate students the opportunity to present their ideas and plans for realistic new business ventures to a panel of judges made up of entrepreneurs and investors. Teams will receive valuable feedback from the judging panel that will offer insight

into real-world entrepreneurial challenges and allow contestants to sharpen their business planning and presentation skills.

In March, each team submitted a complete business plan to the judges who reviewed them prior to the competition and scored them based on the executive summary, company overview, product or service, market analysis, management team, operating strategies, financials, viability and innovation. There are four round-one competition tracks with four sets of judges on April 21. Based on competitor’s written plans and oral presentations, the first-place winner for each track will be selected for the finals on April 22. In addition, an elevator speech competition will select a fifth finalist. The second-place winners from each track will engage in a three minute elevator pitch, and the judges will pick one of them to join the first-place winners in the Saturday final competition.

The five finalists will compete based on just their oral presentation on Saturday morning to determine the winners. Winners will be announced at an awards lunch at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins at noon on April 22.

The College of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurship focuses on creating real-world learning experiences for students who aspire to become entrepreneurs through academic programs, entrepreneurial mentoring and trying to launch businesses. The center hosts programs like the Great Entrepreneur Speakers Series, Entrepreneur Rotating Dinner and the Venture Adventure competition.

For more information, contact Yolanda Sarason or Venture Adventure managers, Lindsey Sielaff, Alyssa Westfall and Deanna Camell, at (970) 491-6876 or visit www.biz.colostate.edu/ecenter.

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