Stu Clark New Venture Championships

• This competition is for full time or part time graduate level students enrolled in the current academic year.
• Teams are allowed to have 1 - 5 students. (Individual entries are allowed.)
• Students from all graduate programs (not just MBA's) and PhD's are eligible to participate.
• Remember – your team is representing your school, and therefore each team MUST have the endorsement of a faculty or staff advisor at their school and must provide contact information for the advisor regardless of whether the advisor will participate with the team at the NVC.
• The faculty advisor may be contacted to attest to the eligibility of the team and is responsible the participating team adheres to the rules and guidelines, and acknowledges potential penalties for violations and infractions.
• Undergraduate students are permitted to compete on the team as long as the majority of students are at the graduate level.
• In the scenario where a team consists of individuals from various universities, it is necessary to select the name of a single university to apply and present with.
• Students are not allowed to compete at the NVC in multiple academic years using the same idea.
• All members of the team must have been students at some point during the current academic year, which is most Universities is September – August.

• This competition is for full time or part time undergraduate level students enrolled in the current academic year.
• Teams are allowed to have 1 - 5 students. (Individual entries are allowed.)
• Students played a major role in conceiving the venture.
• Students from all undergraduate programs are eligible to participate.
• Each team MUST have the endorsement of a faculty or staff advisor at their school and must provide contact information for the advisor regardless of whether the advisor will participate with the team at the NVC.
• The faculty advisor may be contacted to attest to the eligibility of the team and is responsible the participating team adheres to the rules and guidelines, and acknowledges potential penalties for violations and infractions.
• In the scenario where a team consists of individuals from various universities, it is necessary to select the name of a single university to apply and present with.
• Students are not allowed to compete at the NVC in multiple academic years using the same idea.
• All members of the team must have been students at some point during the current academic year, which is most Universities is September – August.

• Final Decisions: Not every circumstance can be anticipated therefore The NVC Competition Director reserves the right to disqualify or penalize any team that violates the rules, regulations, or the spirit of the competition. Any unique circumstance regarding applications or the competition will be adjudicated by the NVC Competition Director.
• Penalty for Team Withdrawal: In the event that a team decides to withdraw from the competition prior to March 15th, 2024, the university will face disqualification from participating in the NVC for a duration of one year. Additionally, a formal notification will be sent to the Dean and faculty advisors to inform them of this breach.
• Use of Materials: The Stu Clark Centre for Entrepreneurship may use photocopies, photographs, video recordings including business plans, video pitches for promotional and educational purposes only, and by participating in the NVC you are giving your explicit permission for this.
• Privacy Policy: As some aspects of this competition are open to the public, data or information discussed or divulged throughout the competition is considered information that will enter the public domain, therefore teams requiring non-disclosure agreements (NDA’s) should not participate. The NVC Judges are also prepped to not share or distribute any information or ideas they review. Any footage of the event can be used to marketing, PR and promotional materials.
• Nature of Ventures: Ventures must intend to be operating companies with corporate structures and financial statements that reflect real operation revenues and expenses. This is intended to exclude investment vehicles, partnerships, franchise, licensing and other pass through entities where returns are measured for investment value versus operating earnings.
• Other: The competition focuses on new, independent ventures in the seed, startup or early growth stages. Ventures cannot be buy-outs, expansions of existing companies, roll-ups, real estate syndications, tax shelters, franchise-based outlets, licensing agreements for distribution in a different geographical area and spin-outs from existing corporations.
• University Licensed Technology: Licensing technologies from universities or research labs is encouraged assuming there has been no previous commercialization. The key to this type of technology is demonstrating significant added value to the technology.
• Faculty Advisor: The faculty advisor may be contacted to attest to the eligibility of the team and is responsible the participating team adheres to the rules and guidelines and acknowledges potential penalties for violations and infractions.
• Special Notices: If a team needs to request approval for a special situation or exception to these rules or guidelines, the team point of contact should submit in writing explaining the situation to amy.jones@umanitoba.ca for review.
• Eligibility Questions: Teams that have any questions about their eligibility should contact amy.jones@umanitoba.ca.

All teams will present their business plan at the competition in front of a set of judges in a business plan presentation format. Teams will be required to sent their slide deck prior to the competition. 

• 15 minute presentation hard stop
• 10 minute Q & A hard stop & feedback from the judges
• See full official rule document here.

Rules

• Written business plans from accepted teams are due to amy.jones@umanitoba.ca by April 8, 2024 (11:59 PM CT)
• Please carefully review the NVC Official Rule Document for all the rules 
• Cover page to include venture name, student names and university
• Cannot be longer than 21 pages following these limitations:
  • 1 page - Cover page
  • 1 page - Table of contents
  • 1 - 2 pages - Executive summary
  • Up to 10 pages - main report
  • Up to 6 pages - appendices
  • 1 page - citations

Additional Resources:

• Click here to view the NVC Business Plan Rubric that will be used at the competition.
• To help get you started on a business plan check out these templates on the Tory Burch Foundation website 
• For further guidance on business plan development, download What to Include in a Business Plan 

The purpose of a video pitch is to succinctly and effectively communicate a compelling message about a product or service within one minute. It serves as a concise and persuasive summary that grabs the attention of the judges and leaves a lasting impression. The goal is to convey key information, generate interest, and initiate further conversation or engagement. 

NVC participants will send in a video prior to the competition. All the video pitches will be shown in a video montage at the Welcome Reception at the competition in April.

Video Pitch Rules 

• Remember first and foremost it's about your content.
  • Are you clearly stating your problem, solution and is there a market?
  • Are you leaving the judges wanting to know more?
• Secondly it's about creativity. 
  • You can get creative by using images, videos, prototype demonstrations, music, testimonials etc.
• Time Limit:
  • 1 minute pitch hard stop. Any additional footage extending past the one minute mark will not be viewed by the judges.
• Format: 
  • Video must be shot in landscape format and in .mp4 or .mov file format. 
• Student Involvement:
  • It is required to visually show at least one student in the video speaking about the venture. Additionally, a team with multiple members speaking is also permitted. 
• No Voiceovers:
  • Judges must be able to visually see a student and voiceovers are not allowed. 
• Professional Attire:
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​While not mandatory, dressing in business attire is recommended to present a professional image during the elevator pitch.

Additional Resources:

Video Pitch Evaluation Rubric

Example of a great video pitch

Privacy disclaimers

Privacy Notice: This event may be recorded for documentation and promotional purposes. By attending the event, you acknowledge that you may appear in such recordings, and grant permission for them to be used by the event organizers. Please inform the organizers if you do not wish to be recorded. Additionally, please be mindful of any personal information you choose to share during the event and take appropriate precautions to protect your privacy. Teams requiring non-disclosure agreements (NDA's) should not participate. 

Please ensure to read the whole NVC Official Rule Document.

For any questions please contact amy.jones@umanitoba.ca 

The Stu Clark New Venture Championships was started in 2005 and has handed out over $1, 500,000 in cash prizes to entrepreneurs from around the world.

Access the complete Stu Clark New Venture Championship Hall of Fame

Steps

1. All applications must be submitted online through the Startup Tree portal by clicking on the corresponding (undergraduate or graduate) yellow button below. 
2. Each venture is required to create an account before submitting their application and executive summary. 
3. Create a 1-2 page executive summary plus a cover page. Any pages after the 3 page limit won't be considered.
4. The cover page should include:
   • Venture Name
   • Name of University 
   • Student name(s) and contact information 
   • Advisor name and contact information 
5. Submit application form by February 20, 2024 (11:59 PM CT)
6. For any questions please contact amy.jones@umanitoba.ca
7.  

Application requirements

Executive summaries will be judged on the aspects below. Failure to include one of the items below will resort to a score of 0. 

• Outline of the magnitude of the problem
• Outline of the solution
• Market validation
• Financial projections
• Scalability

Executive summaries should be:

• 1 - 2 pages in length plus a cover page. Any pages after the 3 page limit will not be considered. 
• The cover page should include:
  • Venture Name
  • Name of University
  • Student name(s) and contact information 
  • Advisor name and contact information
• Font and formatting:
  • Format is 1.5 line spacing with 1 inch top, bottom, left and right margins and 12 point font. 
  • Line spacing only refers to the textual concept o the document and not to any graphs / worksheets / tables / pictures.