Social Impact New Venture Challenge
Social Impact New Venture Challenge
Social Impact New Venture Challenge (SINVC)
The Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative hosts this offshoot of NVC, where teams can win up to $5,000. First and second place teams have automatic acceptance into the July SEA Change Social Enterprise Accelerator Cohort.
What is a Social Enterprise? A social enterprise is an organization that operates with the primary goal of addressing a social, environmental, or community issue through its business activities. Unlike traditional businesses that prioritize profit, social enterprises aim to generate revenue while simultaneously creating positive social impact. These organizations often reinvest a significant portion of their profits back into their mission to further their social goals. Social enterprises can take various forms, including for-profit companies, non-profit organizations with income-generating activities, or hybrid models. The key characteristic of a social enterprise is its commitment to balancing financial sustainability with social responsibility.
⚠Registration for the 2025 competition opens on Dec. 1.
2024-25 Social Impact NVC Competition Eligibility, Details and Deadlines
- 2024-25 Dates & Deadlines
- Eligibility
- Competition Format
- Prize Pool
- Submission Guidelines
- General Notices
- Judging Rubric
- Registration
- FAQs and Help
2024-25 Dates & Deadlines
- Dec. 1: Social Impact New Venture Challenge RegistrationOpens
- Feb. 8,3:00 p.m. MT:Deadline to register ventures
- Feb. 19, 6:30 p.m.: Company Formation Workshop*
- Feb. 20, 5:30 p.m.: Mentor Matching Session*
- Feb. 26: Intellectual Property Workshop*
- Feb. 26: Social Impact New Venture Challenge Rubric and How to Build Your Pitch*†
- March 5, 6:30 p.m.:Social Impact New Venture Challenge Rubric and How to Build Your Pitch*†
- March11, 6 p.m.:Pitch Practice Workshop*†
- March12, 6 p.m.:Pitch Practice Workshop*†
- March13, 6 p.m.:Pitch Practice Workshop*†
- March 19, 3:30p.m.: Funding Workshop*†
- April 3, 3:00 p.m.: Round One Live Pitch Competition (5-minute pitch; 10 minute Q&A)
- April 7: Final Pitch Competition (5-minute pitch; 10 minute Q&A)
* optional events and opportunities
†each workshop in these series is a standalone event;attendees should choose one to attend
Eligibility
Outside Funding Limitations
Ventures can be non-profit or for-profit entities. Ventures that have raised more than $500,000 in equity capital from sources other than the members of the CU team or their friends and families before August 1, 2024 are excluded. Equity funding awarded as part of an accelerator/incubator program counts toward funding limits. Startup teams may have raisedanylevel of equity fundingafterAugust 1, 2024.
The following do not count toward the funding limit: Competition winnings, traditional loansand any friends and family funding.
Revenue Limitations
Ventures with more than $100,000 in revenue in prior academic years (before August 1, 2024) are excluded.
Prior Activity
Both student and other team members may have worked on an idea or new technology in previous academic years, or in the case of the student team members, even prior to entering CU, provided that their venture’s revenues and equity capital raised do not exceed the above limits.
Team Composition
As of Feb. 8, 2025, at least one founding team member (at least 25% equity owner*) must:
- be a current student or employee of Ҵýƽ,
- orgraduated from Ҵýƽ after Nov. 1, 2024.
*We recognize that the equity structure of some new university-based ventures may not exist for non-profit ventures, or not yet be established for for-profit ventures; the 25% equity ownership rule may be waived in this situation. This waiver will be examined on a case-by-case basis.
Team Size
There is no team size requirement – minimum or maximum.
Mentor Involvement
Every team MUST have a mentor.
Teamsdo not have to have a mentorto initially registerby the Feb. 8 deadline, but must have worked with a mentor prior to competing in April.
Each teammust submit a mentor endorsement with their applicationby the deadline.
Each teammusthave the endorsement of a mentor. Mentors can be acquired through theplatform. A faculty member who is actively teaching a class in which you are enrolled does not qualify as a mentor.
Nature of Ventures
The competition is for new, independent ventures in the seed, start-upor early growth stages. Generally excluded are the following: buy-outs, expansions of existing companies, real estate syndications, tax shelters, franchises, licensing agreements for distribution in a different geographical areaand spinouts from existing corporations.
Attendance
To be considered for any award, teams must present, in person, at the required competition times and locations. Failure to show up for the designated “pitch time” will result in disqualification.
Copyrights andPermissions
If a team uses copyrighted materials and/or images from a third party in their submissions or presentations, they must obtain permission and authorization in advance from the owners to use this material.
Information presented by the company in theSENVC competition is the company's sole responsibility. Ҵýƽ and the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative have not taken, and do not intend to take, any steps to verify the adequacy, accuracy or completeness of any information, materials or statements presented by the company. The company, and not SENVC, is responsible for ensuring the company’s compliance with all applicable federal, state and other securities laws, and it is solely the company’s responsibility to comply with any of such laws that are applicable. SENVC does not give investment advice, endorsement, analysis or recommendations with respect to any securities and is not a broker, venture fund or investment advisor.
Required Forms
To compete in the SINVC Finals, you will have to provide a founders’ agreement. No prizes will be awarded without the required forms submitted.
Competition Format
The Social Impact New Venture Challenge is an investment pitch competition consisting of the following components:
Round 1 Competition
Each venture will submit a 2-minute video pitch and an executive summary during the first round. A panel of judges will assess all video pitches and executive summaries. Each venture will also present a live 5-minute in-person presentation and 5-minute Q&A to a different panel of judges. The two scores will be combined to determine the semifinal ventures.
Every team must have a mentor to compete in the first round.
Teams may not observe other teams presenting during the first and semifinal rounds.
Semifinal Competition
Ventures will submit a 5-minute video pitch and executive summary. Ventures will also have an in-person 5-minute presentation and Q&A session.
Every semi-final team must attend the “funding” workshop to compete.
Teams may not observe other teams presenting during the first and semifinal rounds.
Social Impact New Venture Challenge Finals
The fivetop ventures will be asked to compete in the 2025 Finals on April 7. Each venture will have a 5-minute in-person pitch and 7-minute Q&A.
Every finals team must have a founders’ agreement in place to compete.
Prize Pool
The Grand Prize Pool will be awarded as follows at the Social Impact New Venture Challenge Finals:
1st Place | $3,000 and automatic acceptance into the July SEA Change Accelerator Cohort |
2nd Place | $2,000 and automatic acceptance into the July SEA Change Accelerator Cohort |
Submission Guidelines
The first round of the Social Impact New Venture Challenge Competition will involve the submission of:
- Executive Summary
- 2-minute video pitch
- Slide deck for your in-person 5-minute pitch (must be in PowerPoint)
- Mentor endorsement
All other elements of the competition will consist of in-person presentations at Ҵýƽ. All documents and presentations must be in English.
Executive Summary
Files must be submitted as a PDF and named as follows: ES_VentureName.pdf. Executive Summaries should be submitted as part of the team’s online application.
Format:
- Executive Summaries should be a minimum of 1 and not more than 3 pages.
- Cover page and table of contents do not count toward page total.
- An appendix of up to 2 pages may also be included, as long as it is used to provide detailed financial information or to include materials that support the findings, statements, and observations in the plan.
- Format is 1.5 line spacing with 1-inch top, bottom, left and right margins and 12-point font. This line spacing and font requirement applies to the textual content of the document and not to titles and descriptions accompanying pictures, graphs, tables or worksheets.
- Startup name, team members, and contact information should be listed in the document.
We recommend including the following information in the Executive Summary:
- Opportunity summary: In 1-2 paragraphs, describe the problem the company is addressing, the size and growth rate of the marketand your solution.
- Product or service: Describe in more detail what your product does/how it works, the current state of developmentand any technology validation to date (i.e., the evidence you have that the technology works) and your competitive advantage.
- Competitive differentiation: Explain the competition and show what makes this company better than competitive alternatives.
- Market and customer analysis: Describe trends in the market, targeted customer segments, identified customers, and the value proposition to customers. Describe any customer/market validation (i.e., evidence you have that customers will pay for this product).
- Intellectual property: Provide a status of patents, licenses, or other IP (if applicable)
- Management team/advisors: Show how this team has the expertise to successfully launch this startup.
- Financials: Show 3-5 year projections of revenue, profit and cash. If your team is generating revenue or has received outside funding, please be specific on where your funding has come from (see Section III for funding/revenue limitations).
- Investment: Describe what you would do with the winning investment funds ($50,000) and any additional investment funding you would seek.
Video Pitch
The video pitch should be saved to a Google Drive or another platform, and the file link should be submitted in StartupTree. Be sure to include the venture name in the file name.
Format:
- Be sure you have good lighting and sound.
Slide Deck
Format:
- Your deck must be in PowerPoint
- File name: Venturename.PPT
- We do not recommend using any embedded video or internet functionality in your presentation. Wi-Fi access is not guaranteed during your presentation.
- All presentation technology will be provided—you are not allowed to use your own computer to present.
Mentor Endorsement
Format: File format should be mentor_VentureName.pdf.
- Have your mentorwrite a brief paragraph that outlines the approximate time spent mentoring your venture and the areas in which mentorship was provided (product development, marketing, etc.).
- Submit this as a PDF in StartupTree.
- You need to submit only one mentor endorsement. If you are working with multiple mentors, pick one.
General Notices
Use of Competition Materials
The University of Colorado, and the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative and their agents may make photocopies, photographs, video recordings and/or audio recordings of the presentations, including the business plan and other documents, charts, media or other material prepared for use in presentation at the Social Impact New Venture Challenge. The above entities may use the materials in any book or other printed materials and any videotape or other medium that they may produce for promotional and/or educational purposes only. These entities have non-exclusive world rights in all languages, and in all media, to use or to publish the materials in any book, other printed materials, videotapes or other medium, and to use the materials in future editions thereof and derivative products.
Intellectual Property
Teams requiring non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) may not want to participate. NDAs can be signed by first and semifinal rounds if needed. The finals are open to the public. The competition may be broadcast to interested people through media, which may include radio, television and the Internet. Any data or information discussed or divulged throughout the competition should be considered information that will enter the public domain. If you have questions, you should seek the counsel of an IP attorney
Decisions Regarding the Competition and the Winners
All decisions regarding the competition rules, procedures, and processes are at the sole discretion of the Social Impact New Venture Challenge organizers. Changes and/or interpretations of these rules may be made by the organizers at any time even though they may be (or may appear to be) in conflict with previously published information. The selection of the teams to compete and the selection of the winners are at the sole discretion of the judges and the organizers. Best efforts will be made to make decisions in accordance with this Official Rules document.
- Severity of the social problem addressed
- Impact the enterprise will have on the problem
- Sustainability of the business model
- Founder’s personal story
- Traction or progress toward enterprise development
Registration
⚠Registration for the 2025 competition is open.
The Social Impact New Venture Challenge uses the Startup Tree platform to manage applications. To enter, each of your team members must create a user profile on the platform. Then, your main point of contact will create the venture profile on the platform and invite all team members to the venture profile.
There is no cost to apply or to compete.
Feb. 8 Deadline
At this point, you are only submitting venture information. This must be completed by 3:00 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2025.
Youdo not have to have a mentor to register. If you do not have a mentor yet, just type "Looking" in the registration form where it asks for your mentor.
Later in February, you will be invited to submit the next round of information for the competition.
March 21 Deadline
You will need to upload the following:
- Executive Summary
- 2-minute video pitch
- Slide deck for your in-person 5-minute pitch – Must be in PowerPoint
- - You need to submit onlyonementor endorsement.
All material must be submitted by3:00 p.m. onMarch 21, 2025.
Step 1: Review competition rules and dates
Ensure you have reviewedallthe eligibility requirements, competition rulesand dates.
Step 2: Create your user profile
- .
- Input your name and Identikey email address and create a password. The password selected must be at least 8 characters long and have one symbol, one lowercase letter and one uppercase letter.
- Upload a profile picture and specify your gender identity (optional) and your location (optional).
- Select your affiliation with Ҵýƽ. If you select alumni or student, you will see an additional input area appear, allowing you to specify your graduation year, college and degree type.
- Input any applicable skills.These will appear on your profile, allowing other users to find and understand your background.
- Input your bio. This will help your profile stand out and provide helpful information to users and mentors.
- Please answer the additional questions for the NVC operations team.
Step 3: Create a Venture Profile
- .
- We recommend Bookmarking this link for future use as you participate in this year's NVC.
- Once you have created your personal profile in StartupTree, you will need to create a Venture Profile, .
Step 4: Add your team members to the venture profile
- Use the .
- All team members must create a StartUp Tree
Step 5: Register your new venture for the Social Impact New Venture Challenge
- .
Need Help?
Teams that have any questions about their eligibility should contact Stan Hickory, director of the New Venture Challenge at hickorys@colorado.edu.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to register for NVC to compete in either the Women Founders or Social Impact NVC competitions?
No, each competition is a standalone opportunity. Please check the eligibility of each competition before registering.
Can non-profit organizations or ventures compete in the NVC, Women Founders or SINVC competitions?
Yes! We encourage non-profit organizations and ventures to compete in the Women Foundersand Social Impact NVC competitions, but not the NVC. If you have any questions—for example, about eligibility, company structure, how prizes are awarded—please do not hesitate to contactNVC director Stan Hickory at hickorys@colorado.edufor help.
Are there legal requirements or best practices for drafting a Founders' Agreement?
It is important for a company’s founders to have an agreement among themselves even before creating an entity. Founders’ agreements are the product of conversations that should take place among a company’s founders at the early stages of formation rather than later in the life of a company.
Join a venture or find partners
Are you interested in joining a venture that is competing or looking for partners to join your competing venture?
Learn more about how to build your team.
Find a mentor
Ҵýƽ'sentrepreneurial mentor networksupports innovative activity on campus led by students, faculty and staff. Ҵýƽentrepreneurs at any stageof development—from ideato launch—need experienced professionals to help them on their journey.