Hopkins business students to compete in venture capital contest in Boston

A team of five graduate students from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School will compete this Friday in the world's largest venture capital competition for students.

The Venture Capital Investment Competition features teams representing more than 70 business schools from around the world. The Hopkins team placed second in the Mid-Atlantic regional event last month and advanced to compete at Boston University against teams from Cornell, Georgetown, Miami, Notre Dame, and Virginia. The global finals will be held in April at UNC Chapel Hill's Keenan-Flagler Business School.

In the VCIC competition, real start-up companies pitch their business plans to the student teams, who act as investors. Team members conduct interviews, gathering as much information about the start-ups as possible in order to make informed investment decisions. They then negotiate a deal based on their assessments of the business plans and projected success of the companies. Judges observe each step of this process, scoring each team on their intelligence-gathering and investment strategy. A vote by the panel of judges determines the winner, and a round-robin follow-up allows student teams to ask for feedback on their strategies.

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