Congrats to Kent on the VCIC Competition in North Carolina!!

I am a little late posting this news....but I definitely wanted to brag on Kent! His team won second place in the Venture Capital Investment Competition International Championship!! They beat teams from MIT, Chicago, Harvard, and over 140 others... and they only missed out on first by ONE point! http://www.vcic.unc.edu/

Just after his parents were here, Kent was off to North Carolina (UNC Chapel Hill to be exact....grrrr) from April 15-20. Similar to the previous rounds here at Oxford and at the European championship at London Business School (they won first place at both), the competition included an intense 3 days of work reviewing 4 business plans and acting as the VC firm to "make a deal." The press release explained it better:

During the competition each team played the role of venture
capitalist and was asked to evaluate business plans from entrepreneurs actively
seeking early stage funding and collectively decide which company to invest
with. The team was evaluated by industry practitioners on their ability
to: indentify superior business models, perform effective due diligence, propose
an investment and negotiate the deal structure with entrepreneurs.

Kent has learned so much during this series of competitions and the team they put together really works well together. They are actually going to use the prize money they won to fund work with some the entrepreneurs they have met at the competitions. Very exciting! Congrats Kent!

Here's the Oxford team accepting their giant check for runner-up!

Kent also had a chance to meet up with my sister Jen after the competition was over....I wish I could have gone with him!

Official Press Release from the school:

Oxford MBAs runners up in prestigious international Venture Capital Investment Competition
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

A team of five Oxford MBAs from the Saïd Business School has secured second place in the prestigious international Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) now in its 12th year, held at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School in the US on 16-18 April. The Oxford team was comprised of Terry Beech, Kent Killough, Dominic Maffei, Karan Rai and David Webster.

In February 2009, the Oxford team won the European Final held at London Business School, competing against schools including Insead, HEC, IESE, and Cambridge among others, and were chosen to represent Europe at the International Finals. The International Final was contested by eight teams selected from 145 competitors. Oxford, the only non-US team in the final, achieved second place and set a precedent by becoming the first international school to place at the competition. The competition was won by UNC.

According to Patrick Vernon, Event Organizer and Associate Director Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, UNC while commenting on the team’s achievement: ‘Some said this could never happen, given the length of the programme and the geographic boundaries.’

Stephan Chambers, who lectures in entrepreneurial studies at Saïd Business School and is team advisor, said: ‘We are thrilled the team has performed so well in this high profile and highly-respected competition. During several months of preparation, the team met with a cadre of industry practitioners, worked with early stage entrepreneurs and immersed themselves in best practices of venture capital. The Saïd MBA programme places strong emphasis on entrepreneurial skills and thought-processes and therefore they were well-prepared and confident. The competition was a terrific experience for them and they all learned a great deal in the process.’

During the competition each team played the role of venture capitalist and was asked to evaluate business plans from entrepreneurs actively seeking early stage funding and collectively decide which company to invest with. The team was evaluated by industry practitioners on their ability to: indentify superior business models, perform effective due diligence, propose an investment and negotiate the deal structure with entrepreneurs.

Professor Colin Mayer, Dean of Saïd Business School said: ‘We are delighted by the team’s considerable achievement in the competition. It reflects both the hard work they put into this, the attention we pay to entrepreneurial activity and the expertise we are developing in Private Equity at the School. The MBA students experience a compulsory entrepreneurship project and can complete a further team-based 8 week long project within an external organisation. There are numerous other opportunities to develop their entrepreneurial insights and skills, through electives, student societies, our own venture fund and competitions, our flagship annual events “Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford” and “Oxford Private Equity Forum” and much more. It is tremendous to see some of our entrepreneurial focused students thriving in such stiff international competition.’

With the objective to establish themselves in the venture capital community, the team is actively pursuing opportunities to advise early stage entrepreneurs and has allocated the prize money from the competition to fund their start- up venture.

For further information or to speak to the Saïd MBA team please contact the press office:

Clare Fisher, Head of Public Relations, Saïd Business School
Direct telephone: +44 (0) 1865 422713 Email: clare.fisher@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Josie Powell, Public Relations Coordinator
Direct telephone: +44 (0) 1865 422573 Email: pressoffice@sbs.ox.ac.uk or josie.powell@sbs.ox.ac.uk

Notes to editors
1 About VCIC
For more information on VCIC please see: http://www.vcic.unc.edu/

2 About the Oxford Private Equity Forum
For further details please see http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/events/Private+Equity+Forum+2009.htm

3 About the Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Saïd Business School
Saïd Business School has rapidly become the focal point for entrepreneurship across Oxford University, bringing together academics, spinout- and student-entrepreneurs, for the study and practice of entrepreneurship. The Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation brings together innovators from across the world, from Silicon Valley and India, as well as the 2,000 high-tech companies based around Oxford, that form part of the innovation system centred on the School. Our faculty bring a distinct focus on the social and cultural dimensions of business in the twenty-first century to researching and teaching entrepreneurship, and use a range of non-traditional disciplinary lenses to look at techno-economic phenomena in their cultural contexts, in dialogue with discourses from other fields. Our researchers go beyond economic and management theory to look at issues such as the organisational practices that guide innovation, the institutional construction of markets, design, networks and how the cultural context for consumer demand co-exists with, and drives innovation. Students on the MBA and undergraduate programmes have a broad range of electives, project work, venture funds, student societies such as Oxford Entrepreneurs and open programmes to build up their understanding of entrepreneurship and innovation whilst studying at Saïd Business School.
Many MBA entrepreneurship projects evolve into successful new ventures, and Saïd Business School alumni companies now number over 100. These firms have collectively raised over US$1 billion in venture finance. There is a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and spinouts connected to the School that enriches our offerings for students and outside firms alike.

4 About Saïd Business School
Established in 1996 the Saïd Business School is one of Europe’s youngest and most entrepreneurial business schools with a reputation for innovative business education. An integral part of Oxford University, the School embodies the academic rigour and forward thinking that has made Oxford a world leader in education. The School has an established reputation for research in a wide range of areas, including finance and accounting, organisational analysis, international management, strategy and operations management. The School is dedicated to developing a new generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs and conducting research not only into the nature of business, but the connections between business and the wider world. It is ranked in the top 20 European Business Schools (Dec 08) and in the top 20 MBA programmes in the world (Jan 09) by the Financial Times. It is ranked in BusinessWeek’s top 10 business schools outside the USA (Nov 08). In the Wall Street Journal it is ranked in the top 25 business schools in the world (Nov 07). In the UK university league tables it has ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business for the past five years in The Guardian and in six of the last seven years in The Times. For more information, see www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/