Your journey through the entrepreneurial ecosystem has been an inspiring tale of perseverance and success. Now, there’s a unique opportunity to extend your legacy by guiding the next generation of trailblazers at Venture Lab.
How You Can Support
Your insights and expertise are invaluable assets to our aspiring student entrepreneurs. By signing up as a first-round judge, you not only contribute to shaping their futures but also continue to enrich your own journey with fresh perspectives and renewed purpose.
Reviewing pitch decks and short videos for 3 to 5 ventures.
Providing quantitative scores and qualitative feedback for those 3 to 5 ventures.
Being willing to view submissions for ventures of all types
(for-profit, nonprofit, hybrid), with all funding needs (revenue-funded, bootstrapped, grant funded, requiring institutional funding) and founded by all levels of students (undergraduate through PhD).
Questions about judging for the Startup Challenge? Contact Irina Yuen at iyuen@wharton.upenn.edu
Judging Criteria
Idea
• Value proposition
• Originality, innovation and thoughtfulness
• Impact on big problem
• Originality, innovation and thoughtfulness
• Impact on big problem
Product/Service
• Differentiation from the existing competition
• User experience
• Identification and addressing of major relevant risks, and inclusion of contingency plans
• User experience
• Identification and addressing of major relevant risks, and inclusion of contingency plans
Preparation For Launch
• Target market and customer identification and segmentation
• Pricing model
• Core revenue model and ancillary revenue streams
• Semifinalists and Finalists will be required to provide 3-5 year financial projections
• Pricing model
• Core revenue model and ancillary revenue streams
• Semifinalists and Finalists will be required to provide 3-5 year financial projections
Execution
• Marketing strategy
• Sales strategy
• Plan to scale
• Sales strategy
• Plan to scale
Progress/Traction
• Product development
• Traction-to-date (relationships with key market participants, sales, downloads, website traffic, etc.)
• Future measurable, achievable milestones
• Traction-to-date (relationships with key market participants, sales, downloads, website traffic, etc.)
• Future measurable, achievable milestones
Team
• Expertise of founding team
• Commitment and motivation of founding team
• Strategy to attract additional key people
• Commitment and motivation of founding team
• Strategy to attract additional key people
The Startup Challenge is Venture Lab’s premier yearly event, showcasing Penn’s most promising teams of student entrepreneurs,These motivated teams capture the spirit of Penn entrepreneurship—innovative, interdisciplinary, inclusive—and we offer our congratulations and our optimistic wishes for their futures!
Lori Rosenkopf, Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and Simon and Midge Palley Professor at the Wharton School.