The New Ventures BC Competition Jury is composed of experienced members of the business community and could include venture capitalists, bankers, CEOs, Angel investors, and content experts from universities and industry.

The jury will evaluate all submissions that meet the criteria for each round of the competition. The names of jury members will be announced once they have completed their duties.

The jury duties have been divided between two groups for two reasons: to allow competitors to pursue financial backing over the course of the competition, and to avoid potential conflict of interest for both competitors and jury members.

The jury for round one and two is composed of approximately 25 industry experts, university, college and government agency experts, and Industry Liaison officers. The jury for round three and four is composed of venture capitalists, bankers, angel investors and senior business professionals. Ten members make up the round three and four jury panel

 

Instructions to the Jury

General

The purpose of the New Ventures BC Competition is to attract venture capital to British Columbia, stimulate employment and wealth creation, motivate researchers and developers to commercialize their ideas, build business skills by bringing entrepreneurs together, and create a diverse investment community by increasing the supply of venture proposals.

In the words of NVBC Board Member Michael Volker, the jury's job is to "Pick the most likely to be commercially viable with the greatest value".

Judging Criteria
In no particular order:
Product/Service
Intellectual Property
Technological Development
Technical Team
Barriers to competition
Market Need
Market Scope
Distribution Channels
Competitive Differentiation
Management Team's Ability to Execute
Financial
Quality of Business Plan

Jury members should be aware that the jury's belief in the participants' ability to execute grows increasingly importance with each round of the competition.

The idea must involve a new technology or a unique application of existing technologies. NVBC broadly defines technology as the application of a practical system of knowledge concerning the physical world and its phenomena.

The clear intent of the idea must be an economically viable new business. Selection should focus on the potential economic opportunity of a technology, as opposed to a lifestyle business.

Please remember that the NVBC competition is a business competition, not a business plan competition.