Three McGuire Program New Venture Teams to Compete in ACVC Friday

Three McGuire Entrepreneurship Program new venture teams will compete in a head-to-head pitch competition with teams from three other Arizona universities in the fourth annual Arizona Collegiate Venture Competition (ACVC) on April 8. Teams from the University of Arizona’s McGuire Program, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and Grand Canyon University are vying for a piece of $60,000 in cash prizes and scholarships, along with bragging rights and the Startup Territorial Cup trophy.

Students in the McGuire Program receive a year of intensive experiential education that engages them in the process of moving innovation from an early-stage idea to a sustainable investor-ready venture. Sending students to regional and national competitions is part of the McGuire Program's goal to provide experiential educational opportunities. 

ACVC judges will evaluate teams at on seven criteria: problem and proposed solution, strength of team and advisors, market opportunity, go-to-market strategy, budget, progress made toward launch, and overall quality.  

ACVC sponsors, Hool Coury Law and MAC⁶, have partnered with Draper University to provide funding and scholarship prize awards. The winning team will receive $5,500 in funding, two $10,000 scholarships and the Startup Territorial Cup trophy. A second-place Gold Award winning team receives $4,500 in funding and a $10,000 scholarship. Four Silver Award winners will each earn $3,500, and four Copper Award recipients receive $1,500 each.  

Each participant also receives valuable mentoring during the process and participates in a Conscious Capitalism/Conscious Investment Workshop hosted by MAC⁶ and Conscious Capitalism of Arizona.

This year’s McGuire Program teams:

Bailiwic

Non-profits can spend more time doing what matters when they use Bailiwic, the simple, powerful donor analytics software solution. Engage your donors. Change the world. Bailiwic is an undergraduate team: Fernando Garcia, business management; Madeline Blank, marketing; Will Zandler, information science technology. 

Defiiant Technologies

Defiiant Technologies introduces an immersive, 3D social media experience through our mobile virtual reality app and Vidi, our wearable VR camera. Defiiant Technologies is an undergraduate team: Kramer Kutschko, finance; Clayton Jeanette, systems engineering; Zachary Kane, marketing; Brian Herrera, optical sciences and engineering.

WorkSphere

Improve employee accountability, communication and productivity while reducing costs with WorkSphere's secure and user-friendly mobile management software.  WorkSphere is an undergraduate team (from left): Dante Egger, business management; Ivan Mendez, MIS; Daniel Dicochea, business management; Timothy Wolfe, business economics; Chaoying Yan, MIS. 

A 2015 McGuire Program new venture team received the top prize and $10,000 in seed funding at last year's ACVC. 

About the 2016 ACVC sponsors and partners:

MAC⁶ is Building Better Communities to Eliminate Extreme Poverty. We Advocate Capitalism as a Force for Good. Our niche is conscious business leaders with company revenue of $250K to $30M that are in need of one or more of the following to grow their business; financial capital, intellectual capital, office / light industrial space. We are self-funded investors, a Leadership Academy for High Performing Teams and advocates of Conscious Capitalism®. For more information visit www.mac6.com.

Hool Coury Law represents entrepreneurs and investors in Arizona's most prolific fast growing companies. The firm provides comprehensive support for entrepreneurs and investors in launching and scaling companies with big ideas. For more information visit www.hoolcourylaw.com.

Draper University provides an unconventional world-class program for the brightest young entrepreneurs from around the world. Draper University accepts select entrepreneurs between the ages of 18-28. The Draper University curriculum offers an immersive seven week program for entrepreneurs that combines lectures from all-stars in various fields, experiential and creative activities that challenge the student’s creativity and imagination, networking opportunities with classmates and mentors, and other surprises. To-date, Draper University has created over 250 startups that have raised more than $50 million, funded by some of the most prestigious investors, including Marc Andreessen, Tim Draper, and Marc Benioff. For more information visit www.draperuniversity.com.