In January 132 students across 34 teams entered this competition and they are now down to 8 finalists.

Students will solve a real-world issue by developing a fantasy venture idea, presenting that plan to students posing as investors, and negotiate financing. Leaders in the venture capital, engineering, and entrepreneur industries will be present and will give direct feedback to the contestants.

Students can compete as either venture capitalist teams or entrepreneur teams. Entrepreneurs will be given an engineering focused problem, out of which they need to form a fantasy start-up. The entrepreneur teams will pitch to the Venture Capitalist (VC) students outlining their business plan: the technology they wish to implement, how they plan to implement it and basic projected financials. The VC’s will then evaluate each presentation and offer financing with a set amount of capital. There will be two rounds of negotiations between teams.

Organized by the UBC Venture Capital Private Equity Club, the Competition and Forum is an all-day event taking place from 10:30am – 6:00pm on March 20th at the Middlefield Group Lecture Theatre (HA 098) inside the Sauder School of Business in UBC .

The event is a unique opportunity for students to improve their general business acumen and knowledge of venture capital financing while networking with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

Tickets are still available for $15 and available online.

On behalf of the Discovery Foundation Education Program, ACETECH is delivering a Market Entry Program for very early stage technology companies. Taught by Ralph Turfus, the program provides a structured process and one-on-one mentoring from an experienced technology CEO to help you get to market faster with less risk.

The program includes:

• 3 full-day interactive, educational sessions ( April 13th, May 11th, and June 9th)
• 3 one-on-one mentoring sessions with an experienced technology CEO (one session per month – April to June – to be scheduled with the mentor)

You leave with:

• A completed positioning statement and value proposition
• A strategy to go to market
• Priorities identified to achieve early adopter customers
• Training to sell to early adopters
• Actionable tools and templates
• Access to contacts and resources

The program leader, Ralph Turfus, is the founder and past CEO of Class Software, a company he grew to 130 employees over 28 years and sold in 2004 as sole shareholder. Ralph has invested in more than 60 tech companies and he’s seen patterns emerge between those who succeed and those who fail.  He is a recognized leader in the BC technology industry as a member of the Premiers Technology Council and the leader of the ACETECH Growth Strategy Program.

The mentors in the program are all experienced technology CEOs. They will ensure the adoption of the best practices that are delivered through the program, and hold you accountable for results while providing a sounding board for business ideas. Mentors include Paulin Laberge, Phil Holland,  Theresa Carbonneau, and Roy Leahy.

The Market Entry Program is valued at $1,795 however the cost to participate is only $295 as $1,500 is subsidized by the Discovery Foundation Education Program.

If you’re interested, the application deadline is April 2nd but apply online now as there are only 20 spots available.

“We got far more out of the competition than we expected—in terms of connections to venture capitalists, business knowledge, just everything,” says Andrew Ross, business partner.

Traction, set up to commercialize innovative transportation technologies, was a spin-off of Forensic Dynamics, a forensic engineering consulting firm. Traction entered the competition with a unique air-winch system for securing flatbed loads on tractor-trailers. It was a timely invention because the new North American Cargo Securement Act mandated new auto-tensioning cargo securement devices.

After raising approximately $1 million in financing and experiencing some initial success with the product, the company has refocused its business on consulting because of the heavy costs of research and development.

Ross attributes much of the company’s current success to lessons learned during the competition.

“It was an invaluable experience for helping us become more confident in running a business.”

The Angel Forum is calling for company applications to present and exhibit to pre-screened private equity investors at the 27th Angel Forum on May 18th in Vancouver.

“The Angel Forum was one of the more valuable events we’ve been part of this year. It gave us direct access to active investors and the opportunity to have real and honest discussions with them about our business.” Natalie Sisson Co-Founder, FundRazr – a 2009 New Ventures BC Competitor

At the 26th Angel Forum on November 24th of last year, 32 selected companies were selected from 60+ applicants and nearly 90 investors registered from Seattle, Bellingham, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Kelowna, Victoria and Vancouver.

Final deadline to register is April 30th.

Today, almost 30,000 teams, primarily in the U.S. and Canada, use TeamPages’ online tools to post their teams’ game and event schedules, track game scores and records, arrange carpools and volunteer schedules, and e-mail team members.

Since winning the competition, the company has moved from Victoria to Vancouver, grown from three to six employees and raised almost $1 million in financing. The company has also increased its services, offering league and club packages and online registration tools.

Company CEO Mike Tan says TeamPages should become profitable early this year. Revenues grew 10-fold in 2009 over 2008 and he expects to attract a further 50,000-100,000 teams this year.

Some of that growth will come from English-speaking countries around the world. Says Tan, “We’ve already had some potential international partners come knocking on our door to help bring TeamPages overseas.”

Much of TeamPages success, says Tan, “can be attributed to sticking to, and executing, our business plan, which was reconstructed, shaped, and improved with the help and advice of our NVBC mentors and the judges.”

Highlights over past two years:

• Employee growth: from 3 to 6
• Investment: $1 million
• Customers: 30,000
• Revenue growth 2008-2009: 10-fold
• Expected customer growth in 2010: 50,000-100,000

The contest will continue to have the two Business Plan based award categories, the Business Concept Award and the Business Growth Award. A judging panel will review all business plan submissions that meet the eligibility requirements and select the top business plan in each of the two categories. One winner selected per Award.

New this year, there will be two Nomination based award categories, the Company of the Year Award and the Small Business Champion Award. A judging panel will review all nominations that meet the eligibility requirements. One winner selected per Award.

The submission deadline for entries is noon on March 31st and the awards ceremony will be in June 2010.

New Ventures BC’s own Bob de Wit and Elisabeth Maurer of LightIntegra Technology will be presenting Assessing the Opportunity and the seminar promises to answer a lot of the questions entrepreneurs ask themselves when running with a new business idea.

So you say you’re an entrepreneur?  Now that you’ve convinced yourself that your venture will be viable, how do you go about convincing others?  And how do you avoid the many hidden mines that could stop you from polishing your gem?

Assessing the Opportunity will be an interactive seminar that will review the basics of putting together an elevator pitch or business opportunity statement and delve deeper into how to better understand:

• Investor Math;
• Appropriate capital structures;
• Industry standard investor materials and terms; Investor expectations for go-to-market strategies; and
• How to put together a capital plan.

As an added bonus, participants will walk through a step-by-step guide on how to put their best foot forward in the 2010 New Ventures BC competition, and more importantly, advance their corporate development.

Assessing the Opportunity takes place on Tuesday, April 6th at the SFU Segal School of Business at Granville and Pender. Networking and registration open at 6:30pm and the seminar will begin at 7:00pm.

NVBC’s business-education seminars are available to anyone. Seminars are $20 each or $100 for all nine seminars plus a networking event. and the fee may also be applied toward your $200 NVBC competition entry fee.

REGISTER

Lungpacer Medical picked up the New Ventures BC 3rd Place prize last year and founder Dr. Andy Hoffer was honoured with the Innovation & Achievement Award by LifeSciences BC earlier today.

These awards are presented annually by LifeSciences British Columbia to recognize individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the development of British Columbia’s life sciences industry across all sub-sectors, from biopharmaceuticals and medical devices to bioproducts and bioenergy – sectors which are critical to the economic future of the province and country.

Congrats to Dr. Hoffer who will receive his award at a gala ceremony on Wednesday, April 14th in front of an audience of approximately 600 biopharmaceutical, medical device, bioproducts, bioenergy and greater life sciences community and public policy leaders at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

Lungpacer Medical Inc. was founded in May 2009 and is Hoffer’s third SFU spin-off company.

You will learn how to take advantage of cloud computing to do things you could not do before, to save money, to be more flexible and agile. You can get your questions answered about security, privacy, and compliance. You can learn about and understand the differences between public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid clouds. Hear from your peers who are building and developing on the cloud about how they have stopped buying and installing and maintaining physical servers.

If you’re interested in attending, be sure to register online. Coffee and lunch are provided and the full-day event gets underway at 9:00am.

Remember that NVBC’s business-education seminars are available to anyone. Seminars are $20 each or $100 for all nine seminars plus a networking event. and the fee may also be applied toward your $200 NVBC competition entry fee.

April 6 – Seminar 1: Assessing the Opportunity

• Speaker: Bob de Wit, New Ventures BC & Elisabeth Maurer, LightIntegra Technology
• Networking & Registration: 6:30pm, Seminar: 7:00pm
• Location: SFU Segal School of Business

April 13 – Seminar 2: Managing your Intellectual Property

• Speakers: Roger Kuypers and Doran Ingalls, Fasken Martineau
• Networking & Registration: 6:30pm, Seminar: 7:00pm
• Location: SFU Segal School of Business

April 20 – NVBC Networking Event

• Location TBA, 5:30pm
• Registration to open shortly.

April 27 – Seminar 3: Market Research and Product Marketing

• Speaker: Dave Thomas, Rocket Builders
• Networking & Registration: 6:30pm, Seminar: 7:00pm
• Location: SFU Segal School of Business

May 4 – Seminar 4: The Business Plan

• Speaker: Mike Volker, SFU UILO & WUTIF
• Networking & Registration: 6:30pm, Seminar: 7:00pm
• Location: SFU Segal School of Business

May 11 – Seminar 5: Corporate Structure

• Speakers: Steven Lukas, Fasken Martineau & Sean Hodgins, QC Docs
• Networking & Registration: 6:30pm, Seminar: 7:00pm
• Location: SFU Segal School of Business

May 18 – Seminar 6: Social Networking for Start-ups

• Speaker: Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo, Capulet Communications
• Networking & Registration: 6:30pm, Seminar: 7:00pm
• Location: SFU Segal School of Business

May 25 – Seminar 7 – All about Funding: Friends & Family, Angels, VCs

• Speakers: Roger Killen and Tanner Philp, Lions Capital
• Networking & Registration: 5:30pm, Seminar: 6:00pm
• Location: SFU Segal School of Business

June 1 – Seminar 8: Perfecting your Pitch

• Speakers: David Shore, Stirling Mercantile & Jonathan Bixby, Strangeloop Networks
• Networking & Registration: 6:30pm, Seminar: 7:00pm
• Location: SFU Segal School of Business

June 8 – Seminar 9: Start at the end: exit strategy

• Speaker: Basil Peters, Fundamental Technologies II
• Networking & Registration: 6:30pm, Seminar: 7:00pm
• Location: SFU Segal School of Business

Speakers, locations and dates may change on short notice. Please check the NVBC site for updates before each event.

If you’re outside of Vancouver, please check the Regional Seminar Schedule here.