We are pleased to announce that a team of Cougar Capital members won the 2018 Global Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC). VCIC is a venture capital case competition where over 70 universities compete in a March Madness style bracket and are judged by industry professionals. This year, the BYU team bested teams from some of the top business schools in the world: including Chicago, Berkeley, MIT, Wharton, Kellogg, and Oxford.
Previous Cougar Capital teams won global VCIC in 2016 and placed 2nd in 2017. Also, this year a team of BYU undergrads won the National VCIC undergrad competition.
During the Global Finals, the team heard pitches from five entrepreneurs followed by a Q&A session with each. After deliberating, the team narrowed the field of investment choices and decided to proceed with a dietary supplements company. During partners meeting and negotiations with the entrepreneur, the team stood out to the judges in a number of ways. First, the team was the most fundamentally sound of any of the teams (according to a judge they later spoke to). This speaks to the quality of the Cougar Capital program. Second, the team acted extremely cohesively, likely owing to the hours of preparation the team has spent in the months before. Finally, one of the team members had worked at doTerra and brought a deep understanding of the challenges facing the health and wellness product industry. This understanding created an instant rapport with the entrepreneur.
The Cougar Capital team (from left to right in the picture above: Taylor Murphy, Corbin Coil, Rachel Whitlock, Sarah Wasden, Jared Fowler, and Matt Phillips) would like to thank all those who supported them during the competition.
Congratulations team!
