Santa Clara University

A team of Santa Clara University School of Business MBA students received “The Entrepreneurs’ Choice” award during the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) held at Southern California University on March 4.

The students, all from the class of 2011, placed third in the overall competition, which included MBA teams from California and the western states. Kannan Anathanarayanan, Rosy Bagai, Kamal Koliya, Ravinder Kumar, and Ganesan Velajan, were the SCU team that had previously won in the internal business school “intramurals,” sponsored by the Entrepreneurs’ Connection (a graduate business student club),  and the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Similar to a business plan competition, the VCIC emphasizes the role of venture capitalists. Teams heard real-life pitches from entrepreneurs, and were scored on their analysis and evaluation of the plans. Team members said the biggest takeaway from the event was the emphasis on relationships—from picking a strong team at the start to developing relationships with the entrepreneurs. “VCs and entrepreneurs bet on the execution capability of the team, more than the idea or technology,” said the SCU team. “If the idea is good, but there is a poor fit between the entrepreneur and the VC, the deal might not go through.”

Alumni Steve Foster ‘84, Rocky Pimentel ‘77, and Andy Bartley MBA ‘10 were SCU team mentors, and Abhinav Talwar “11, president of the Entrepreneur Connection, coordinated the events.