Rice University 48hr Accelerator

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We invite Rice University MBA students, Graduate students, and Undergraduate students to apply for the Inaugural Rice University 48hr Accelerator: Start-Up Business Competition.

Over 3 days, you and a team (that you form the first night) will either pick a problem to solve or build a company around a student-pitched idea. You have ~48 hours to build a business model, prototype, and full pitch-deck and pitch to investors for a FIRST PLACE PRIZE OF $1,500!!

This event is for those students who wish to build and pitch a start-up business in a weekend. You don't need to have a business idea or team. In fact, you will apply as an individual and be accepted to participate and form teams the first night. Think of it as a rapid team-building, business-building accelerator event!

For those of you that DO have a business idea, we want to hear about it to see if it's a pitchable idea for this Accelerator Competition.

Why participate? You have a chance to learn how to work in a team, build a business, build a prototype, learn from industry experts (that we provide), and pitch to local Houston investors while competing for a $1,500 FIRST PLACE PRIZE!

Why are we hosting this event? Because the Rice community has a wealth of students with amazing knowledge and experience that can be capitalized upon to build Rice-centric start-ups, started by Rice students.

Date/Time: January 24, 2020 5pm until January 26, 2020 5pm. This event will likely take the entire weekend. We urge you to only apply if you can fully commit to the entirety of the weekend to be fair to your team, the judges, and competitors.

Location: Rice University McNair Hall. Final pitch will be presented in the Shell Auditorium
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Logistics/Rules:
1) You apply as an individual, NOT AS A TEAM. Each person will be accepted on an individual basis. This creates fairness for those that cannot form teams beforehand. You, as an individual, will be notified of your acceptance within 1 week of the closing of the application.
2) You may apply with or without a business idea. In fact, we need applicants who just want to participate and jump on a team to build out the start-up idea.
3) If you have a business idea, we may or may not accept your idea and we may accept you as an individual participant without accepting your idea. Providing your idea will not affect your individual application.
4) Teams will be formed the first night- January 24, 2020 and will be a max of 4 people per team.
5) We will bring in industry experts on Saturday, January 25, 2020 that we have pinpointed to help move your start-up along.
6) You must build a full pitch deck (slide templates will be provided) and a full prototype by Sunday, January 26, 2020 at 12pm.
7) The final pitch competition will begin on Sunday, January 26, 2020 at 2pm in front of local Houston investors and accelerator experts. See schedule below.
8) Each team's pitch presentation will be 5 minutes max.
9) Due to judges' time constraints, we will limit the competition to 10 teams.
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Schedule:
Friday, January 24, 2020
5pm- Welcome remarks
5:15pm- Problem space/business idea pitch
5:30pm- Teams formed and business building begins

Saturday, January 25, 2020
All Day- business building, prototyping, & pitch-deck building continues
4:00pm- Industry experts visit

Sunday, January 26, 2020
Morning- business building, prototyping, & pitch-deck building continues with the opportunity to practice pitching in the Shell Auditorium
12:00pm- Pitch-deck due
2:00pm- Pitch competition with 5-minute pitches
3:30pm- Judges deliberate
4:00pm- Judges results and post-event happy hour

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