A Call to WAR: the AUTM Venture Pitch Competition

By Alan Bentley posted 09-05-2012 14:11

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Dulce bellum inexpertis – war is sweet to those who have never fought

The AUTM 2013 Venture Pitch Competition is set for Friday March 1st at the upcoming AUTM Annual Meeting, and we are hoping that all you AUTM members will help get the word out to your university-related startup companies.

The Venture Pitch Competition has consistently grown in popularity, and we have moved the competition to an Ed Track slot in the Annual Meeting program to increase accessibility for conference attendees. This year’s competition will be interactive – a panel of seasoned venture investors will review with the audience what they look for in an investable company, and the audience then gets to hear the pitches and rank the competitors using an electronic voting system at each seat. At the risk of getting all “America’s Got Talent” on you, we’ll be able to compare the judges selections with the audience’s when crowing the 2013 Champion.

As always, the Competition Champion (nulli secundus – second to none) will receive a $10,000 prize and a featured press release. All finalists will receive complimentary air and hotel for the Annual Meeting, as well as a complimentary meeting registration. And new for this year’s event, a member of the affiliated institution gets to introduce the contestants.

The application process is now open – go to www.autm.net/2013 and follow the link for the Venture Forum to apply for the venture pitch competition. The deadline for applications is the first week of November, which will be here sooner than we all expect. Contact me at alan.bentley@vanderbilt.edu for more information about the competition or if you would like to receive our Venture Pitch Competition flyer with all the relevant application information. Please pass the word – carpe diem!!!

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