Schedule
USC Pitch Competitions
New Venture Seed Competition
Put on by the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrpreneurial Studies at USC’s Marshall School of Business, the New Venture Seed Competition offers a total of $50,000 in awards. All applicants have the opportunity to attend workshops where they will be guided to refine their business concept leading to their presentation including their pitch decks for the semi-final judging round. New ventures can be from any industry. Entering teams must either have at least one current USC student (graduate or undergraduate), or a current USC faculty member or a USC alum less than 5 years from graduation.
GWIB – Graduate Womens In Business Pitch
In conjunction with the Marshall Women’s Conference, GWiB holds the New Venture Pitch Competition, inviting teams of up to three women to submit pitch decks and compete for $40,000 in prize money. Pitch decks must propose a new business idea or venture, rather than one that is already established. Teams must be made up of all women who are currently enrolled as Marshall MBA students.
Stevens Innovator Showcase
Held annually and Trojan Family Weekend in the fall, the USC Stevens Student Innovator Showcase promotes young entrepreneurs and their cutting-edge business ideas in all disciplines ranging from the arts and social sciences to engineering and medicine. During the daylong event held at USC’s University Park Campus, student teams present and pitch their startup ideas and prototypes to expert judges, competing for cash awards that can help to develop their ideas further.
MEPC – Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition
The MEPC is designed to support both the ideas and the innovators working to solve the most complex scientific and engineering problems in the world. The competition offers a combination of mentoring by seasoned investors and business professionals, entrepreneurial educational sessions developed in conjunction with the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurship at USC that features a $50K grand prize. The MEPC’s goal is to both make engineering innovators more business-savvy while at the same time, empowering them with refined business plans that define an effective go-to-market strategy for their ideas and inventions. The MEPC is exclusively open to VSoE students and faculty but teams can also have members from other schools, universities, and the community at large.
The Min Family Engineering Social Entrepreneurship Challenge
The Min Family Engineering Social Entrepreneurship Challenge is a competition that provides USC students (both undergraduates and graduates) with the opportunity to use innovations in engineering and technology to develop sustainable and effective solutions to global problems and to positively affect the greater global society. In particular, it aims to address the development of solutions to problems and challenges faced by underprivileged parts of our society or in underdeveloped countries worldwide. This yearly competition offers entrepreneurial educational sessions and mentoring to the participating teams as well as funds for customer discovery and project implementation.
Innovation Coast Conference & Competition
Each Year, the USC Marshall Center for Global Innovation hosts the Innovation Coast Conference & Competition, Connecting Innovative Companies Large and Small. $45,000 in prizes will be awarded for Winning Innovations. This year, Competition Semi-Finals are May 16, 2016, Popovich Hall, USC Campus, Los Angeles, CA. Pitch your innovation to a panel of industry experts in consumer products, digital media, software or medical devices. Submit your innovation application for consideration by March 31, 2016. 25 semi-finalists will be announced April 18. Network with innovation experts from companies of all sizes. Attend sessions led by industry experts from consumer products, digital media, software and medical devices to learn how they innovate and partner with emerging companies. Featured keynote presenters on innovation. Witness finalists compete for $45,000 in prizes.
Venturewell – E-Team Grant Program
If you’re part of a university-based, student-led team developing an innovative technology that solves an important problem and want to move it into the market, consider applying to our E-Team Grant Program. The E-Team Program cultivates opportunities for collegiate entrepreneurs like yourself by providing early-stage funding, training, coaching, and investment. The E-Team Program offers: Up to $25k in grant funding, $50k matching investment opportunity for select teams, Experiential training and coaching on how to develop your venture, Initial validation of your venture, Entry into a network of like-minded student entrepreneurs, Access to mentors, Opportunity to participate in our Open Minds event, a national showcase of student innovation.
Legacy Competitions
The Real Deal @ USC
Pitch your technology startup at “The Real Deal @ USC” for funding. Apply to “The Real Deal @ USC” to compete for a chance to pitch your technology startup to startup investor Gen. (ret.) David Petraeus and other leaders in the community. A small number of quality startups from the USC ecosystem will be selected for one-on-one coaching by some of LA’s leading angel investors, followed by the opportunity to present their business model and funding needs to investment leaders. Deadline for applications is January 24th, 2016 (midnight).Read about last fall’s inaugural session featured in USC News.
Silicon Beach Awards
In conjunction with the Silicon Beach @USC event, USC is providing a very special opportunity for startups. Led by the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Institute for Communication Technology Management (CTM), USC’s Marshall School of Business will host the third annual Silicon Beach Awards, a $50,000 venture competition focused on innovation in technology & entertainment. The Awards are a key part of the Silicon Beach @USC event which is co-sponsored by USC’s Marshall School of Business, School of Cinematic Arts, and Viterbi School of Engineering. New ventures focused on technology or entertainment are welcome to compete. Entering teams must have at least one current USC student (graduate or undergraduate), USC faculty member or at least one USC alum less than 5 years from graduation. PRIZES: Significant cash prizes will be awarded to the top 3 teams: First place: $25,000, Second place: $15,000, Third place: $10,000.
1000 Pitches @ USC
1000 Pitches is an annual entrepreneurial competition that is meant to be a platform for students to let their ideas be heard. In this competition, we collect simple video business pitches in any of nine categories from students all over campus, and the winner of each category is awarded $1000.