Student Eligibility: All enrolled graduate students, not just MBA candidates, are eligible, including executive MBA, excluding students who are current full– or half–time paid employees of a venture capital firm.

No Repeat Rule: Students can only compete in a regional VCIC once. Internal competitions are excluded from this rule. For example, if you compete and lose in your school’s internal event, you may compete again the following year and go on to a region.

Team Size: Except in cases of emergency (to be determined by the VCIC Organizational Team), teams must have five members.

Alternates: Teams may not bring a student alternate or observer to the event.

Substitutes: Teams may substitute members any time before an event begins. Teams are free to substitute for future rounds. No substitutes may be made during an event.

Advisors/Observers: Teams are encouraged to bring a faculty or staff person as an observer. Advisors are welcome to observe all aspects of the event, including judging sessions. Advisors cannot assist the team in any way after the team has received business plans and must avoid communicating with the team until after the competition. Student observers are prohibited.

Outside Contact: After receiving business plans and through the entire event, students may not receive any help from faculty advisors, coaches, acquaintances in the industry, or anybody else. No emails, no phone calls, no visits. You may not consult or contact ANY individual outside of your five-member team for any reason. Failure to abide by this rule could result in forfeiture.

Research: Teams are allowed to use only free publicly available resources on the internet, and are prohibited from using proprietary databases unless provided to all teams by VCIC. A proprietary resource is defined as one that requires a paid subscription for use, including those paid for by your university. Teams may bring books and other printed materials with them. Teams are not allowed to contact any individuals for help (see above, Outside Contact).

Prize Money: Checks are mailed after the event to individuals designated by winning teams. University accounting can take upwards of 8 weeks to process payments and taxes may be withheld, depending on policies at the host university. Often a social security number is necessary for processing payment. Prize money for VCIC 2008 Finals: 1st–$5,000, 2nd–$3,000, 3rd–$1,000, Entrepreneurs’ Choice–$1,000; VCIC 2008 Regions: 1st–$1,500, 2nd–$1,000, EC–$500.

School Anonymity: Teams may not indicate their school affiliation to the judges during the competition, including but not limited to emblems on clothing, computer bags, etc. Teams are free to tell each other their schools.

Dress code: Business casual.

Non–Disclosure of Business Plans: Participants are required to sign a general non–disclosure agreement (NDAs), see p. 14 of the VCIC Player Handbook if you would like to read it before you arrive. These NDAs help us ensure a culture of respect for our entrepreneurs, without whom we would not have an event. True, VCs do not sign NDAs. Also true, you are not a VC. If you are a VC, please recuse yourself and allow another student from your school to learn from this unique event.

Inside Information: Upon receiving business plans by email, any student with prior information about a venture must inform the event coordinator before the kick-off meeting. Failing to do so could result in forfeiture. Generally, you will be asked to show no familiarity during the event. Our experience has shown that inside information is not necessarily helpful, and indeed is often detrimental, to a team’s performance. However, the organizers may deem it necessary to recruit a replacement venture.

Entrepreneur Presentations: No questions are allowed during presentations. Slides are not distributed.

Due Diligence with Entrepreneurs: There are no restrictions on what teams may ask of entrepreneurs during the sessions. However, no contact is allowed between teams and entrepreneurs at any other time during the competition. Teams may quickly introduce themselves to the entrepreneur (not to judges) upon entering the room before the timer starts. When the timer expires, the session must immediately end, even if in mid–sentence, and the team should quickly thank the entrepreneur and leave the room.

Written Deliverables:  Each team must submit a one-page executive summary and a one-page term sheet summary. Teams may submit up to three pages of additional information to communicate their decision-making process to the judges. Teams may use the supplied templates or bring their own.

Team Presentations: Teams will be cut off if they have not finished when the timer expires. Teams may use supplied templates or bring their own.

Local Teams: Local teams are expected to operate under the same facility restrictions as all other teams. Teams may not take advantage of libraries, computer facilities or other assets that could potentially provide an unfair advantage over visiting teams.

Publicity: All participants agree to allow VCIC to use their names and likenesses for the purpose of promoting VCIC in the future.

Honor Code: It shall be the responsibility of each student to obey and support the enforcement of these rules. All team members must sign a copy of these rules at the kick–off meeting indicating their agreement to be bound by these rules.