Haas Re-vamps LAUNCH Competition
The Haas School of Business has revamped its LAUNCH start-up competition. The program now has new eligibility requirements, and has been developed from a startup idea competition into a four-month accelerator designed to transform early-stage startups into fundable ventures.
Top Berkeley-Haas leaders and faculty, including serial entrepreneur and Berkeley-Haas Lecturer Steve Blank, Lester Center for Entrepreneurship Executive Director André Marquis, and the newly appointed Lester Center Associate Director, Rhonda Shrader, will teach the LAUNCH accelerator.
Last year’s winning teams were awarded more than $50,000 in prizes. This year’s organizers expect substantial prize money for this year’s competition as well.
Under the new eligibility requirements for the program, teams applying for LAUNCH should have completed market validation and developed a prototype or Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Teams that have completed the Lean LaunchPad curriculum or the Bay Area National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps program run by the Lester Center are a good fit for the LAUNCH program.
Also under the new requirements, at least one team member must be a current student, faculty member or staff member, or an alumnus of any University of California campus.
The accelerator begins with a two-day kickoff boot camp in early February that introduces topics including “Getting to Fundable,” “Advanced Customer Discovery,” and “Agile Development.” Five sessions will follow, covering topics such as “Scalable Business Model Design,” “Startup Law: Incorporation, Intellectual Property, HR,” and “Startup Finance.”
Team selection for LAUNCH will be announced December 8, and boot camps and sessions will kick-off in February 2015. The program wraps up with a final one-day boot camp on April 29. The LAUNCH semi-final and final round events will take place April 30 at Haas.
Application details for the program are available online. Executive summaries for teams participating in LAUNCH are due by Thursday, November 20, 2014.
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Erin Purcell
Staff Writer, covering MetroMBA's news beat for New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.
