Entrepreneur Challenge 2018

Virginia Tech Entrepreneur Challenge May 23, 2018 The Lyric Theatre, Blacksburg

The Virginia Tech Entrepreneur Challenge is a campus-wide, student startup competition that brings together successful alumni-entrepreneurs, industry partners, and students to showcase the best new ventures. Interdisciplinary teams from across campus compete for the best business model and a chance to win up to $60,000! The competition was created to inspire entrepreneurial minds and provide significant startup support to student entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneur Challenge is open to graduate and undergraduate students from all colleges and majors and is focused on supporting concepts in their early stages of development. Therefore, applicants must not have received more than $100,000 in investments from private investors and/or government agencies before the Entrepreneur Challenge team registration deadline of February 9, 2018. Over 100 teams registered to compete this year. Finalists are selected through a phased judging program. Round 1 of the Entrepreneur Challenge consists of a pitch video competition, where teams record and submit 1-minute pitches. The Top 30 Teams (Semi- Finalists) move on to Round 2 where they submit investor-ready executive summaries, which are judged by a panel of faculty and industry experts. The Top 12 teams pitch live for $60,000 in prizes, including the $25,000 grand prize. The grand prize winner of the Entrepreneur Challenge will advance to the Virginia Tech Global Entrepreneur Challenge to compete on a world stage for the $30,000 grand prize, August 16-25, 2018, in Washington, D.C., and Blacksburg, Virginia.

Emcee & Speaker: Nathan Latka The VT Advantage: From Barringer Hall to $10.5m CEO

Nathan Latka studied Architecture and Business at Virginia Tech as part of the class of 2012. While studying he launched his first company which he grew to 10,000 paying customers, $5m in total revenue, and a $10.5m valuation before selling to a competitor in 2016.

He now:

• Buys and sells software companies like TheTopInbox.com and etools.io • Collects revenue information from private software companies in a database so other CEO's can learn at GetLatka.com • Runs the #1 business podcast on iTunes called The Top Entrepreneurs which features daily CEO interviews and passed 5m downloads • Signed the most lucrative book deal ever for a 27 year old first time author with the world's largest publishing company, Random House. Book will be released Jan 2019. • Signed reality show deal for "Instant Investor" which got 1.2m views in Season 1's first episode

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