Student Features for April 2018

Stefano Caprirolo, senior; Hunter Ford, senior; Saajan Sappal, junior; School of Business

The team of students won the fourth annual National Undergraduate Venture Cup at the University of Virginia on April 14.

Teams were charged with emulating a venture capital firm, by meeting with and evaluating different real-world start-ups to consider investment opportunities.

After the meetings, teams submitted a term sheet and market research for the start-up they selected for investment, then presented to the investment committee — in this case, the panel of judges — followed by a question-and-answer session. Teams were judged on what questions they asked the founders, quality and fairness of the term sheet and their presentation and Q&As.

“You can feel the drive and passion these entrepreneurs have for their businesses, and that adds a new dimension that is rarely covered in academia: the psychology of negotiation and due diligence,” Caprirolo said.