DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS

The Wildcat Seed Fund provides early stage funding for student and faculty business concepts and new ventures that helps progress businesses forward to the next milestone(s). Interested entrepreneurs may submit an application directly below for initial review. If an applicant is selected to move forward, they will be invited to make a seven-minute pitch to an audience and judging panel who will collectively decide if and how much funding will be awarded to each entrepreneur. That amount could equal a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand. The funding is not a loan and the University does not take equity in applicant's ventures. Applicants may apply and pitch multiple times depending on their progress and needs.

At the pitch events, the selected applicants will present their business concepts to a live audience. Tantamount to the TV show American Idol, the audience will vote on whether the idea should be funded or not. The judges of the event, including MBA scholarship recipients, will then decide how much each successful pitch should be awarded. For example, a crowd may determine that a pitch should be funded; and the judges, at their discretion, may fully fund the pitch for the requested amount or at a lesser amount. There are no stipulations on what kind of business opportunity is submitted, other than it has proved or or with evidence shows strong possiblity of becoming a reveune-generating business.

Competitive applications include:

• A reasonable value proposition;
• Identified and reasonable customer segments for the value proposition
• Describes market validation including preliminary research, reviews of prior art (intellectual property), customer surveys; and
• Specifies the next business milestone, which is reasonbaly achievable for th eamount of funding being requested and is a logical step towards successful commercialization

SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO PRESENT

 

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS & SPONSORS

 

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