Values and Ventures Competition

DESCRIPTION:
The Values and Ventures Competition is one of the nation’s premier undergraduate business competitions. The competition boasts distinguished collection of judges and mentors including seasoned entrepreneurs, investment professionals, CEOs, and others. Throughout the two-day event, students have opportunities to network with other like-minded students, faculty from across the globe, and successful entrepreneurs and business professionals. This international competition epitomizes the Neeley School’s mission – to develop ethical leaders with a global perspective who help shape the business environment – by encouraging student entrepreneurs to develop for-profit enterprises that impact society in meaningful ways. The participants truly have a head for business and heart for humanity.

Fees and Expenses

We do not charge a fee to participate and we cover lodging and transportation within Fort Worth to and from competition venues.

• We cover lodging for each team up to three rooms for three days in a Fort Worth hotel.
• We provide transportation for the entire two-day competition, to and from the off-campus dinner on Saturday night.
• Participants are responsible for air/ground transportation to and from Fort Worth, Texas, and transportation between the airport and hotel.

ELIGIBILITY: Undergraduate Students Only

This competition is limited to undergraduate college students only, as defined below.

• Eligible U.S. Students and International Students: Only currently enrolled undergraduate college students taking classes during the 2024-25 academic school year (August 2023 – May 2024) are eligible. Students who completed their studies and will graduate in December 2023 are also eligible, provided they have not started graduate school or are taking graduate-level courses at the time of the competition.
• Ineligible Students: Undergraduate students who completed courses and graduated prior to December 2023, are enrolled in a graduate program, or are taking graduate courses are ineligible to compete. They may be listed on the team, provided there are at least two undergraduate students from the same school also on the team. Graduate and graduated students on the teams may attend the competition, but will not be permitted to pitch, present or take part in any Q&A.
• Ventures that have participated and won money in previous Values and Ventures Competitions are not eligible.
• TCU’s Values and Ventures events, activities, and presentations are open to the public. TCU cannot assume any responsibilities or provide any guarantees with respect to confidentiality of contestant team proprietary information. And while the judges will be expected to exercise discretion and respect with respect to proprietary information, they cannot guarantee non-disclosure. All participants must acknowledge the public nature of the competition and assume all risk associated with any disclosure during the competition.
•  All submissions must be the original work of the students. Proposals and plans that constitute “academic dishonesty” will be disqualified even if discovered after the competition ends. 
• Teams will be disqualified and all prizes revoked if the recipients are found to have violated any of the competition’s rules, regulations and guidelines.

Team Composition and Participation

• A university may have as many applications/ventures as they would like, but a maximum of only 1 team/plan per university will be selected for the competition.
• Teams are to be comprised of a minimum of 2 undergraduate members but may have more.
• At least 2 undergraduate team members must participate in the presentation. More may do so.
• Team members may represent any discipline of study and are not limited to the business school.
• Teams must have a faculty/staff sponsor who will authenticate that the business plan was prepared under faculty supervision or as part of regular university coursework. ** Faculty/Staff sponsor is not required to travel with the team, but is encouraged to do so.

Criteria for a Values-Centered Venture

A values-centered venture contributes to the well-being of specific internal or external stakeholders through products, services and/or profits.

• Ventures submitted for the Values and Ventures® competition must be for-profit, values-centered enterprises. Nonprofit ventures are not allowed.
• Plans must demonstrate a societal or environmental need to be filled, as well as the profitability of the business.

Examples:

• For-profit businesses that also support the social or economic goals of customers, communities, employees, suppliers and/or the environment 
• Contributions to sustainability
• Innovations in health, life, or energy
• Opportunities for underrepresented groups in business 
• For more information on common components and approaches of values-centered ventures, click here.
• See past winners here.

About the Competition

• Round 1:          All determined eligible teams-Compete Virtually
• Round 2:          Top 40 teams invited compete on TCU's Campus
• Investor Challenge: Top 40 teams will take part - virtually and in person
• Lightning Rd:   5 teams—top 2 move to finals (2nd place in each flight) on TCU's Campus
• Round 3:          Final 7 ventures pitch on TCU's Campus

Pitch presentations will be made at 20-minute intervals with the following time limits strictly enforced:

• 8 minutes for presentation with visual aids
• 8 minutes to respond to questions and answers from judges
• 4 minutes for judges’ evaluations, discussions, breaks

Pre-Competition (Friday, March 22, 2024)

• Top 40 Teams arrive in Fort Worth and check in at hotel by 4:30 PM
• Keynote Speaker
• Evening Welcome Reception

Day One (March 23, 2024)

• Concurrent Presentations: All teams grouped by flight. Top team from each flight advances.
• Lightning Round: Second-place teams from each flight compete consecutively. Top two advance.
• Finalists Announced: Dinner off campus and announcement of finalists.

Day Two (March 24, 2024)

• Finalist Presentations: Consecutive presentations by all finalists.
• Bolin Innovation Forum: Transformational thought leaders share their innovative insights.
• Awards Ceremony on the TCU campus.

How to Apply

1. Read and follow all rules. Click here to download the rules document.
2. Ready to apply? Submit Application, executive summary, pitch deck, and 90 second video pitch by 11:59p.m. CST, February 1, 2024.
3. Universities may submit more than one application, but only one team/plan per university is allowed for the competition.
4. All venture concepts must meet eligibility criteria and abide by the Values and Ventures® Competition rules.
5. Not all who apply will be invited to participate. Participants will be selected based on the strength of the application, executive summary of the venture concept, short answer questions and 90 second pitch video. 
6. Universities selected to compete on TCU's Campus will be notified by February 16, 2024.

Rules

All participants must abide by the official rules. Click here to download the rules document.