Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC)

Global VCIC is the world's largest venture capital competition in which students play the role of investors and real startups pitch to them. This event is open to all USC students!

PLEASE NOTE:
**Progressive Degree Students
Progressive Degree Students are considered undergrads until they begin taking graduate-level courses and earn credit towards a Master's degree while still working on their Bachelor's degree.

To Apply:

UNDERGRADUATES: https://cglink.me/2nB/s1438

GRADUATES: https://cglink.me/2nB/s1445
 

Key Information for Participants:

ELIGIBILITY: 

Undergraduate Students
The undergraduate team is chosen by a competitive application process. Six students will be chosen and one alternate.
PRIZE: First Place: $1,000 at the Undergraduate West Coast Regionals.

Graduate Students
The graduate team is chosen by a process run by the Entrepreneur in Venture Management Association (EVMA) at a competition on 11/15 or 11/22.  Six students will be chosen and one alternate. The team chosen to represent USC is not necessarily the team that wins the internal competition. 
PRIZE: First Place: $1,000 at the Silicon Valley Regionals.

Progressive Degree Students
Progressive Degree Students are considered undergrads until they begin taking graduate-level courses and earn credit towards a Master's degree while still working on their Bachelor's degree.

TRAINING SESSIONS available to all students (including those not interested in the competition): 
Friday, October 17, 1-3PM 
Friday, October 24,, 1-3PM 
Friday, October 31, 1-3PM

QUESTIONS? CONTACT:
Undergraduates
Monica Dean, Managing Director, deanm@marshall.usc.edu

Graduates
Nathan Sutrismo at Nathanael.Sutrisno.2026@marshall.usc.edu

Important Dates
Undergraduate Students
Applications must be completed by no later than Friday, November 14, 2024, by 11:59 PM PST. Students may make changes to/resubmit the application until the deadline.
Undergraduate team notification is Friday, November 21, at 5:00 PM PST
Team chosen is required to attend simulation/training sessions in preparation of the West Coast Regional Finals. Failure of the ENTIRE TEAM to attend these sessions will result in disqualification. The simulation/training will take place tentatively 1/16, 23, 30 in 2026 at 12:00 - 1:30 PM. Location TBD.
Team chosen will participate in the West Coast Regionals on February 7 at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Greif Center will pay for all travel expenses. 
Undergraduate Team Preparatory Meeting will take place 2/3 or 2/4 in 2026 @12-1:00 PM.

Graduate Students
Students will participate in the EVMA Internal VCIC Competition on November 14 or 21, at 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM where a team will be determined.  The winning team will not necessarily be chosen as the team to represent USC in the VCIC Silicon Valley Regional Competition.  The team will be chosen by EVMA leadership.
Team chosen is required to attend simulation/training sessions in preparation of the Silicon Valley Regional Finals. Failure of the ENTIRE TEAM to attend these sessions will result in disqualification. The simulation/training will take place tentatively 1/16, 23, 30 in 2026 at 12:00 - 1:30 PM. Location TBD.
Team chosen will participate in the West Coast Regionals on February 27 at Silicon Valley Regionals at Cal State East Bay in Hayward, California. Greif Center will pay for all travel expenses.
Graduate Team Preparatory Meeting will take place 2/23 or 2/24 in 2026 @12-1:00 PM.

RULES
Participation Requirements
No Repeat Rule for Regional Winners Only: If a team wins their regional event, only one teammate may return to compete in a region in a later year.

Faculty/Staff/Outside Advisors: Teams may seek advice from pretty much anyone (see Outside Contact below). Up to two advisors per team may attend the event. These can be faculty, staff and/or outside coaches designated by your school, but no students. Greif Center will provide advisor(s). Advisors must register themselves separately to attend the event and will be listed on the event web page. Advisors attending the event MAY NOT HAVE ANY CONTACT WITH THEIR TEAM between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the day of the event.

Outside Contact / Getting Help:
During event, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., teams may have ZERO CONTACT WITH ANYONE, including any attending advisor or coach. If a team is caught communicating with anyone during the event, the team will forfeit. Teams must work entirely independently during the day of the event.

Prior to the 8:30 a.m. on the day of the event, teams are free to seek advice from pretty much anyone who is not directly related to the startups. Teams may not contact anyone directly related to any of the participating startups (customers, employees, investors, etc.). Teams MAY NOT SHARE the pitch deck or any other materials or any proprietary information except as explained below under NDA.

NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement): All participating students are required to consent to the VCIC NDA and MAY NOT share startup materials with anyone outside of their team, except up to three faculty and staff advisors and coaches with @marshall.edu or @usc.edu in their email addresses. 

Code Names: Teams will be assigned a tree name. Students should make every effort not to disclose their school identity to judges. Note: school anonymity is mostly for fun. Don’t get all worked up about it. We’ve experimented with real and code names, and folks slightly prefer code names.

Substitutes/Replacing Team Members: Teams may substitute or replace team members anytime up to receiving startup pitch decks two days prior to the day of the event. After receiving pitch decks, teams must get approval from VCIC HQ for an emergency to replace a team member (email vcic@unc.edu). The same individuals who competed at a regional finals are not required to compete at the global finals. Whenever a team replaces a team member, the team should re-register with updated information, including a new photo mashup.

Prize Money: It is the responsibility of the winning team to follow up within 60 days with host school organizers to initiate prize money payments, or prize money may be forfeited. Checks are mailed by the host school after the event to individuals designated by winning teams. Expect 6-8 weeks to process prize money payments, and taxes may be withheld, depending on policies at the host university. Often a social security number is necessary for processing payment, again depending on the policies of the host school. Prize money for all 2026 Undergraduate U.S. Regional Finals is 1st place–$1,000. For Global Finals: 1st place-$10,000. 

It is worth repeating, it is the winning team’s responsibility to follow up with the host school within 60 days. If you forget, for example, until the middle of your summer internship, you will likely forfeit the prize money as universities have moved into the next fiscal year.

USC DISCLOSURES AND AGREEMENTS
Due to the nature of the Competition, no one involved (judges, reviewers, sponsors, staff or the audience) will be subject to confidentiality. By participating in the Competition, competitors agree that USC, nor members of the judging panels; sponsors, nor their designate organizations; assume any liability for any disclosures of business plan information which may be made (whether inadvertently or otherwise) by any judge, reviewer, staff member, audience member, or other individual connected with, participating in, viewing, hearing, or receiving information from the competition.

By participating in the Competition, competitors acknowledge and agree to filming, recording, and public posting of the Competition agree to allow USC, and organizations designated by them, the unlimited right to videotape, photograph, audiotape, transcribe, or otherwise record all public sessions of the competition; including, but not limited to, oral presentations and question-and-answer sessions. Competitors also agree that USC and/or their designate organizations may use any such transcriptions and/or recording(s) (in whole or part) for such publicity and marketing purposes as their organizations may see fit, including those which may result in remuneration.
The final round of the Competition is open to the public. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by competitors should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm (including print or broadcast through media, including the Internet), and competitors should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged or presented in these sessions. Neither USC, judges, sponsors, nor their designate organizations, assume any duty to screen or otherwise control the identity of those attending, viewing or hearing all or part of these public sessions. Competitors agree that, by entering the Competition, they have been made aware that such attendees, viewers and recipients may include members of the media and potential competitors in addition to members of the business, education, and financial communities, students, and faculty.
Not every circumstance can be anticipated. USC and participating institutions reserve the right to disqualify any team that violates the rules, regulations, or the spirit of the Competition.
The Competition is presented by USC. USC is not liable for the contest, rules, prizes, events, or any decisions made by the judges or as part of the competition.

Dress code: Dress like a VC. This may differ by region.

Distribution of Pitch Decks: Decks are distributed two days prior to the event (Thursday for Saturday events), by email at 5 PM of the time zone of the event. Students may NOT share pitch decks with ANYONE (see NDA above).

Familiarity with a Judge or Founder: If you happen to know one of the VC judges or one of the founders at the event, please pretend you do not know them until the end of the day. This helps mitigate the perception of unfairness by other participants.

Inside Information: If you happen to be familiar with one of the startups pitching at your event, you should focus on the materials and information available for this event and not introduce any information not available to current participants. Be careful that you are not working off of old assumptions that may have changed. Also, note that judges may not be familiar with information outside of the context of the event.

Due Diligence with Entrepreneurs: There are no restrictions on what teams may ask of entrepreneurs during the sessions. However, no contact is allowed between teams and entrepreneurs at any other time. For example, you cannot call the startup before the event, and during the event, entrepreneurs cannot follow up by email to provide additional materials. Teams may quickly introduce themselves to the entrepreneurs (not to judges) upon entering the room before the timer starts. When the timer expires, the session must immediately end.

Written Deliverables:  Each team must submit one file only to include a one-page executive summary and a one-page term sheet summary, two pages total, template encouraged. Teams may add up to three pages of additional information to communicate their decision-making process to the judges. Teams may use the supplied templates or bring their own.

Panel Partner Meetings: These meetings simulate investment committee or partner meetings in which a junior partner (the team) is explaining an investment opportunity to the senior partners (judges). Judges will have just received written deliverables and will be looking at them for the first time in the meeting. Teams have the floor but should expect interruptions to further explain your written deliverables. There is no specific time carved out for Q&A. PowerPoint presentations are not allowed as we are focused on the written deliverables.

Individual Partner Meetings: These meetings simulate more informal one-on-one meetings with senior partners. Judges may provide any combination of the following:

Provide feedback: share what they think you did well or could have done better.
Ask questions: clarify any earlier performance issues to make sure they have all they need to vote for their top 3 teams.
Share their perspective: talk about how they would have handled this challenge (which startup they would have chosen, what terms they would have offered, what they would have focused on in due diligence…).

Local Teams: Local teams are expected to operate under the same facility restrictions as all other teams. Teams may not take advantage of libraries, computer facilities or other assets that could potentially provide an unfair advantage over visiting teams.

Publicity: All participants agree to allow VCIC to use their names and likenesses for the purpose of promoting VCIC in the future. Your photo will remain on the VCIC website unless you request otherwise.

Honor Code: It shall be the responsibility of each student to obey and support the enforcement of these rules.

Dispute Resolution: All decisions by judges and the VCIC Organizational Team are final. For complaints, questions, concerns or to report possible rules violations, contact the regional VCIC coordinator. These rules may be revised at any time if the purpose of the revision is made in the interest of fairness for all competitors. Revisions will be communicated to all participants as quickly and fairly as possible.

PRIZE MONEY DISTRIBUTION
Prize money will be equally distributed among team members. As a current USC student, federal law requires that award payments are processed as scholarships. If you are currently receiving financial aid, the award payment will impact your financial aid; we will reach out to each student in that situation, to clarify the impact and then determine how to best pay out an award. 
Prize money will be equally distributed among team members. As a current USC student, federal law requires that award payments are processed as scholarships. If you are currently receiving financial aid, the award payment will impact your financial aid; we will reach out to each student in that situation, to clarify the impact and then determine how to best pay out an award. 

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