NEWS

UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School wins national Venture Capital Investment Competition

CHAPEL HILL -- A team of Kenan-Flagler Business School students won the national Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) held April 10-12 at the business school.

Team members Ron DiFelice, Lizz Pawlson, Reed Toole, Susie Criscione and Paul Kuebler, who are all master's of business administration students, won the $10,000 first prize. They competed in the national finals against San Diego State University (second place), Harvard (third place), Wharton, Columbia, Texas, Duke and UCLA.

VCIC is the nation's premier entrepreneurial strategy competition. It was created and is hosted annually at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by Kenan-Flagler's Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Venturing (CETV).

Despite the "bursting of the bubble," which led to a severe downturn in the venture capital industry, the competition has continued to grow since it began in 1998. It attracted a record number of schools this year, including 34 of the nation's top business schools, which competed in regional competitions throughout the country in order to advance to the finals.

In the unique strategy competition, teams of students analyze business plans from real businesses that are attempting to raise money. Chief executive officers from those businesses pitch to students and answer their questions. At the end of the day, students integrate everything they have seen and heard into a coherent investment strategy. The next day, teams present their conclusions to real venture capitalists, who judge which team has "the right stuff."

Businesses seeking funding love the VCIC because it gives them the opportunity to get feedback from bright young minds before pitching to real venture capitalists

Students love the VCIC because it takes everything they have learned in business school and applies it to a real-life situation. The first- and second-place winners from regional competitions advanced to the final competition. The Kenan-Flagler team won second place in the Western regional competition, held in Colorado.

Master's of business administration student Amanda Deerhake led an extensive 10-week training program for the Kenan-Flagler team, involving numerous tutorial sessions with local venture capital professionals and presentation experts. The preparation paid off.

"The UNC team showed a remarkable understanding of venture capital and exhibited amazing overall communication skills," said Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association.

VCIC is made possible by CETV and national, regional and local sponsors, including NASDAQ, the Kauffman Foundation and the National Venture Capital Association. CETV is a part of the business school's Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, which works with business, government, nonprofit and academic partners to create knowledge and practical solutions for business and community success.
For more information, visit http://www.vcic.unc.edu.

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Media contacts: Jeff Reid, executive director of CETV, (919) 962-2031, jr@unc.edu; Kim Weaver Spurr, Communications office, (919) 962-8951, spurrk@unc.edu