Rules and Eligibility

Eligibility Requirements

• PNC employees and direct family members are ineligible to participate.
• Open only to UK undergraduate / graduate students.
• Two divisions: undergraduate & graduate
• All teams must have one current, degree-seeking student
  • “Current”: seeking a degree, enrolled on a full-time or part-time basis
  • “Recently graduated”: students who graduate in Dec 2024 are eligible to compete
• Teams may be compromised of students from various UK departments
• Teams with one or more graduate, or recently graduated, members must register for the “Graduate Division”
• Any major (undergraduate) or degree (graduate program) is welcome
• Teams may not have more than 5 members
• All team members must take an active role in the venture business plan
• Third-party equity funding awarded as part of an accelerator/incubator program does not count towards funding limits
• Research and other grants, competition winnings, traditional loans, and any friends and family funding do not count towards funding limit
• Not eligible: teams that previously presented or competed in the same division
• Not eligible: startup organization ideas that have competed in a prior UK competition in the same division
• Not eligible: Startups that have raised more than $10,000 in third-party equity capital from sources other than the students on the team or their friends and families prior to January 1, 2025
• Not eligible: Ventures with more than $10,000 in revenues in prior academic years (meaning before January 1, 2025)

April 1, 2025 - Intent to Compete Due

Fill out the appropriate form below to complete your intent to compete.

Undergraduate Team Registration 

Graduate Team Registration

April 8, 2025 - Business Plan Due

Upload Business Plan

• Your business plan should be between 2-5 pages of text. A cover page and appendices (for additional charts, graphs, images, etc) are allowed up to 2 pages such that the entire submission does not exceed 7 pages.
  • Company Summary: clearly and succinctly state the purpose of your company
    • Including the problem/community need your company is aiming to solve
    • The ways in which your company adds value
• Solution: this should include your value proposition, important features / benefits or your product/service, intellectual property position, and traction (what have you done so far, how have you validated your solution, etc)
  • Including target market
  • Including competing companies already in market
• Revenue model (how the venture will make money)
  • The undergraduate division will be required to project anticipated costs and expenses
  • The graduate division will be required to have financials which should include revenue lines, revenue projection, projected financial burn rate
  • The graduate division will be required to state your “ask”: what type of investment are you asking for from investors (space, technology, financial, etc)

April 15, 2025 - Final Slide Deck Due

Upload Slide Deck

April 26, 2025 - Oral Pitch Competition

• Teams will be notified of their competing order and logistics the week of the competition.
• Top 3 teams selected from each division will advance to a finals round in their respective divisions.
• Undergraduate teams will have a maximum of 10 minutes of presentation time followed by 5 min of questions from the judges.
• Graduate teams will have a maximum of 10 minutes of presentation time followed by 5 min of questions from the judges.
• 5 min of transition time in between each pitch to allow for judges to make any final comments, submit scores, and transition to the next team.

April 26, 2025 - Schedule 

8:00 am - 12:00 pm, Undergraduate team preliminary pitch in Gatton College, Room 291

8:00 am - 12:00 pm, Graduate team preliminary pitch in Gatton College, Room 299

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm, Final Competition for Undergraduate and Graduate Teams in Gatton College, Room 299

Prizes

• First place for graduate team: $5,000
• Second place for graduate team: $3,000
• Third place for graduate team: $2,000
• First place for undergraduate team: $5,000
• Second place for undergraduate team: $3,000
• Third place for undergraduate team: $2,000

Disclaimer

Sponsor/Organizer are not responsible for late, lost, misdirected, corrupted, mislabeled, or unintelligible entries, or incorrect contact information for any team member, in any round, including entries or notifications not received because of interrupted or unavailable network servers, failed communications networks or equipment, computer hardware or software, or other errors or malfunctions whether human, mechanical, or electronic.  Any team suspected of tampering with or disrupting any aspect of the competition will be disqualified.  All decisions of Sponsor/Organizer are final.