Carnegie Mellon University
McGinnis Venutre Competition Final Round

McGinnis Venture Competition

The McGinnis Venture Competition, a platform exclusively for Carnegie Mellon University's community of student entrepreneurs, brings together Carnegie Mellon's best and brightest student entrepreneurs to compete for $60K in investments. All participants receive crucial interaction with alumni entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, an opportunity to raise capital and valuable feedback about ventures.

This multi-round competition kicks off in early January, starting with two virtual rounds and culminating in a final live round celebration at Carnegie Mellon University.

Direct any questions to Allyson Hince.


McGinnis Venture Competition

The 2023 McGinnis Venture Competition registration opens on Tuesday, November 1, 2022. The Round 1 submission deadline is on Wednesday, January 18, 2023 via our online platform, Pralent. Teams who create a profile, register for the competition and start their submission by Thursday, December 1, 2022 are guaranteed to be assigned a coach for the competition; for those who register after December 1, 2022, are not guaranteed a coach assignment.

The final round pitches will be held on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. 


Congratulations to our 2023 Winners

Graduate Track

D.Sole First Place: D.Sole is an accesible and affordable wearable device that utilizes early intervention technology to reduce the risk of peripheral neuropathy-induced amputation by 95% and significantly enhance the quality of life for diabetic patients. Team members include Saisri Akondi, Zilin Zhang, Aman Sinha, Je-han Yang and Dina Kaganer.
Edulis Therapeutics Second Place: Edulis Therapeutics is pioneering a breakthrough drug-delivery system to manage inflammation in the gut. Team members include Spencer Matonis and Vladimir Lamm.
ReRoad Robotics Third Place: ReRoad Robotics is a pavement maintenance company leveraging robotics technology to slash road repair costs. They are addressing the root cause of road degradation with unprecedented efficiency and simultaneously revolutionizing worker safety. Team members include John Harrington, Ryan Lee, Alex Pletta and Russell Wong.
Right One Third Place: Right One is an automated candidate sourcing using generative AI. Team members include Thomas Park and Erika Chao.

 Undergraduate Track

Clutch Car Management First Place: Clutch Car Management is the new age of roadside. Team members include Isaiah Rodgers and Zamir Rodgers.
ScOAPe Second Place: ScOAPe is looking to solve the issue of endoscopes becoming dirty and visualization being blocked mid-surgery due to accumulation of debris by creating an attachment that allows for on-demand clearing of the lens, eliminating the need for the surgeon to remove the endoscope, clean it and reinsert it every time the lens is occluded. Team members include Rohit Mantena, Brandon Lee, Kamil Nowicki, MD, PhD, Adi Mittal and Michael McDowell, MD.

Final Round Celebration

Help cheer the final round teams to victory by attending our in person event. Find our more and the full schedule of events.

Tuesday, March 21, 2023
1:00 - 5:00 p.m.        Final Round Team Presentations

5:30 - 7:00 p.m.        Award Ceremony & Networking Reception

Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
Carnegie Mellon University

Tepper Quad
, 3rd Level

4765 Forbes Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15213


Visitor parking available at the East Campus Garage

 

Prize Allocation

Brian Porter

Graduate Track

First Place

$25,000

Second Place

$15,000

Third Place

$10,000

Glow Up

Undergraduate Track

First Place

$4,000

Second Place

$2,500

Bonus

Undergraduate track winners are also awarded a place in the CMU Venture Challenge.

photo of McGinnis winners

*Investments are awarded in the form of a SAFE. The remaining $3,500 will sponsor the CMU Venture Challenge.

Additional Prizes For All Winners from Brex

Brex will give all winners a prize of $500 sign up bonus, $5K in AWS credits, VIP onboarding and an exclusive metal Brex card!

Plus Get

McGinnis judges

Coaching

The competition includes coaches for each team that declares participation in the McGinnis Venture Competition via our online platform. The Swartz Center staff will match the appropriate team with an appropriate coach. If a team is not registered by the deadline the Swartz Center cannot guarantee that a coach will be assigned.

McGinnis networking

Networking Opportunities

Meet and interact with peers who are also passionate about entrepreneurship, and gain access to Carnegie Mellon’s amazing entrepreneurial alumni network. Teams from all rounds enjoy access to exclusive networking events.

Little Moochi

Help Along the Way

CONNECTS events are held throughout the year to help teams prepare.

Here are a few video resources that we suggest to help with your video pitch: 

Partnering with the CMU's Entrepreneurship Librarian - Jimmy McKee

Intro to Secondary Market Research

Tuesday, December 6, 2022
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. EST
Virtual

All applicants will be sent the virtual invite to attend

Facilitated by CMU's Entrepreneurship Librarian - Jimmy McKee - in this session, attendees will receive a guided overview about the various business resources that the Libraries provides access to. These tools and databases enable you to undertake highly effective secondary market research, which will help McGinnis competitors save time and develop stronger pitches!

Important 2022-23 Dates and Deadlines

Tues, Nov 1, 2022
Registration opens via Pralent. 


Application requirements: Executive summary [pdf] and 5-minute video pitch.

Thurs, Dec 1, 2022
Create a log in via Pralent, register for the Competition via Pralent and start your application to receive a coach

If you create a log in via Pralent, register for the McGinnis Venture Competition and start your submission to include your team name, team description and team members by December 1 you will be guaranteed to be assigned a coach for the competition; for those who do this after December 1, we cannot guarantee that you will be assigned a coach for the competition.

Wed, Jan 18, 2023
Round 1 Submission Deadline at 11:59 pm EST.


Round 1 executive summary [pdf] and video pitch due via our online platform.

Fri, Jan 20, 2023
Round 1 judges can view team’s applications at 2 pm EST.

Tues, Jan 31, 2023
Round 1 judging ends at 11:59 pm EST.

Thurs, Feb 2, 2023
Teams notified. Round 2 begins at 2 pm EST.

Tues, February 14, 2023
Round 2 submission deadline at 11:59 pm EST.


Round 2 updated executive summary [pdf] and video pitch due via our online platform.

Wed, Feb 15, 2023
Round 2 judges can view team’s applications at 2 pm EST.

Tues, Feb 28, 2023
Round 2 judging ends at 11:59 pm EST.

Thurs, March 2, 2023
Teams notified. Round 3 Begins at 2 pm EST.

Tues, March 14, 2023
Round 3 Mini-Business Plan [pdf] due at 11:59 pm EST via our online platform.

Thurs, March 16, 2023
Round 3 judges can view team’s applications at 2 pm EST.

Tues, March 21, 2023
1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Final Round Team Presentations

5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Award Ceremony & Networking Reception

Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship
Carnegie Mellon University

Tepper Quad
, 3rd Level

4765 Forbes Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15213


Visitor parking available at the East Campus Garage.

View the full schedule.

Requirements & Guidelines

The McGinnis Venture Competition is open to all current Carnegie Mellon University undergraduate and graduate students who have created, managed and owned ventures.

A CMU student should be CEO, CTO or COO. Members of the student team should also own a significant majority of the equity allocated to all parties. Non-CMU students may be members of the venture’s management team and may participate; however, current CMU students should deliver the majority of the content in all of the rounds.

How to determine which track you are competing in:

  • If you have all undergraduate students on your team you will be considered in the undergraduate track.
  • If you have all graduate students on your team you will be considered in the graduate track.
  • If your team is made up of both graduate and undergraduate students you will be considered in the graduate track. You will not be eligible to compete in the undergraduate track.

**Please note that you will upload your Executive Summary and Video Pitch on our online platform.**

Deliverable: Executive Summary and Video Pitch*

The Executive Summary must be 3-5 pages in length. Please use the Executive Summary/Mini-Business Plan [pdf] for guidance.

A 5-minute Video Pitch targeted to investors is also required. You should pretend you are pitching to real investors and include all pertinent information. Record your Video Pitch and insert a link on our online platform.

The Executive Summary and Video Pitch must be submitted on our online platform.

The application submission deadline is Wednesday, January 18, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST via our online platform.

*If you need to borrow video equipment to make your video, visit Clusters Multimedia Lending.

**Please note that you will upload your updated Executive Summary and Video Pitch on our online platform as you did in Round 1.**

Deliverables: Updated Executive Summary and Video Pitch*

Submit via our online platform an updated Executive Summary and Video Pitch. Use the feedback that you received from Round 1 to improve.

The Round 2 submission deadline is Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST via our online platform.

*If you need to borrow video equipment to make your video, visit Clusters Multimedia Lending.

**Please note that you will upload your Mini Business Plan/Expanded Version of Executive Summary on our online platform as you did in Round 1 and 2.**

Deliverables: Mini Business Plan/Expanded Version of Executive Summary and Live Pitch

We suggest that you use the Executive Summary/Mini-Business Plan[pdf] as guidance when creating your business plan, which should be 5-10 pages. You can add additional information to your business plan.

The mini-business plan submission deadline is Tuesday, March 14, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST via our online platform.

The live presentations are varied based on the graduate and undergraduate tracks.  Graduate tracks are 6 minutes long followed by 5-minute Q&A from the judges, and undergraduate tracks are 5 minutes long followed by 5-minute Q&A from the judges. Time limits are strictly enforced. The live round will be held on Tuesday, March 21, 2023.

The authors of the executive summaries and mini business plans will retain all rights to the executive summaries and mini business plans regarding its use at all times prior to and following the competition except as stated below. Due to the nature of the competition, we will not ask judges, reviewers, staff or the audience to agree to or sign non-disclosure statements for any participant.

All public sessions of the competition, including, but not limited to, oral presentations and question/answer sessions, are open to the public at large. Any and all of these public sessions may be broadcast to interested persons through media that may include radio, television and the internet. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by entrants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged or presented in these sessions.

Carnegie Mellon University may make photocopies, photographs, videotapes and/or audiotapes of the presentations including the business plan and other documents, charts or material prepared for use in presentation at the McGinnis Venture Competition. Students retain all proprietary rights. The university may use the materials in any book or other printed materials and any videotape or other medium that it may produce, provided that any profits earned from the sale of such items is used by the university solely to defray the costs of future competitions. The university has non-exclusive world rights in all languages, and in all media, to use or to publish the materials in any book, other printed materials, videotapes or other medium, and to use the materials in future editions thereof and derivative products.

View our judging guidelines

View our coaching guidelines