The New Venture Challenge (NVC), a CU-Boulder campus-wide entrepreneurship competition, is entering its seventh year, and all campus community members are invited to attend the NVC Kick Off on Monday, Sept. 29.听
NVC acts as entrepreneurial "flight simulator," giving members of the CU community with an interest in starting a business a chance to give it a try while learning about the process through events, workshops and mentors. The NVC has become the best pipeline for campus entrepreneurial talent 鈥� faculty, undergrads, staff and grad students 鈥� to the area鈥檚 innovation community.
Teams may choose to enter the general NVC category or one of this year鈥檚 NVC tracks: research & development, information technology, music or social impact. Each track accepts submissions and holds a semi-final competition. Winners of each track can win cash prizes and move on to NVC Finals for a chance to take home additional cash prizes.
This year鈥檚 event, which will feature Julian Farrior of Backflip Studios, serves as an introduction to the program. This event is a great opportunity to galvanize interest in entrepreneurship and meet other like-minded individuals. It鈥檚 always a fun night and the room will be packed with energy. .
The NVC 7 Kick Off event will be held in the Wittemyer Courtroom, Wolf Law Building. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the program begins at 6 p.m. A reception will follow. Potential participants, members of the community, CU faculty and general fans of entrepreneurship should attend.
This year鈥檚 featured speaker, Julian Farrior, is the founder and CEO of , a Boulder, Colorado-based mobile game company focused on bringing innovative and thoughtful titles to an expanding group of casual gamers. Backflip has had numerous top ranked apps and seen more than 300 million downloads in their first five years of operation.
In 2011, Julian won the Esprit Entrepreneur of Distinction award from the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. In 2012 Backflip was chosen as a Colorado Company to watch, the same year that their game 鈥淒ragonVale鈥� was nominated for Best New Game of the Year and Best Game Design of the Year by industry peers at GDC Online. In 2013 Backflip won the ACG Emerging Growth Company Award. Julian was awarded Colgate University鈥檚 Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014 and Backflip has had three games so far this year selected by Apple as an 鈥淓ditors Choice.鈥�
Learn more about the New Venture Challenge and this year鈥檚 events at