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A team of Boston College graduate management students went up against some of the best teams in the world at the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) this month and came away with something to be proud of: a top 10 finish.
The Boston College Venture Capital team won the VCIC Northeast regionals in February to earn a spot in the global finals April 10-12 at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The BCVC made the first cut and finished sixth overall out of 66 teams from around the world. Placing first was Columbia University, followed by UNC Kenan-Flagler, and the University of Colorado.
“It is a great accomplishment and we’re definitely proud,” says team member Matthew Trainor, a first-year MBA student. “But it is a bit deflating just because we had so much success up until this point.”
In the VCIC, students play the role of investors, and real entrepreneurs pitch to them. Judges critique the team’s interaction with the entrepreneur, the quality of the questions posed, the accuracy of its valuation of the entrepreneur’s business, and the reasonability of the terms between team and entrepreneur.
“I think the winning teams were a bit firmer during the negotiation stage. But it’s not something we’re disappointed in,” says Trainor. “We had this philosophy throughout not to acquiesce but to work with the entrepreneur a bit more. But I think if we had been firmer with him during the process, we could have possibly placed in the top three.”