The Texas Venture Labs Investment Compeition offers a wealth of prizes and services to its competitors.
The E. Craig Nemec Elevator Challenge Awards are given in memory of E. Craig Nemec. Craig began his entrepreneurial pursuits while completing his business degree at UT. Over the next 25 years, he grew it into the commercial real estate firm Pearson Group Capital Management, owners and operators of office and industrial properties. Along with his love of business and real estate, Craig most enjoyed mentoring and encouraging others to achieve their dreams. This award represents a way his family felt he could inspire and encourage others to work at reaching their goals. Three teams with the best three minute elevator pitch each win $1,000.
In 2015, the cofounders of RideScout set up an endowment to fund a cash prize for the top TVLIC team with one or more U.S. military veteran cofounders. The James D. Pippin Veteran Entrepreneurship Award is named after James D. Pippin, a Retired Command Sergeant Major with the U.S. Army who served with Joseph Kopser. Sergeant Major Pippin is the only active duty serviceman to have conducted three Airborne, Combat jumps; his last assignment with the 75th Ranger Regiment was Commandant of the Regiment’s training detachment. He had two deployments to Afghanistan and three to Iraq. The winner receives $1,000.
This year, we are introducing the Health Innovation Award for the best health related company. The winner receives $1,000 plus a six month ScaleHealth membership.
The First Place winner is crowned the Texas Champion and receives:
- $15,000
- A seat in the Company-in-Residence Program
- Golden Ticket to Capital Factory
- Access to the LeanStack.com tools and a personalized coaching session with the creator of the Lean Canvas, Ash Maurya$5,000 in Amazon Web Services Credits valid for two years; one year of AWS Business Support (up to $1,500).
Our second place Texas Superstar wins $5,000 and third place Texas Rising Star wins $2,500.
There are additional prize packages. One finalist receives six months mentoring through Austin Technology Incubator. One finalist receives a Golden Ticket to Blackstone Launchpad SEAL. All competitors are eligible for 80 credits for Amazon Web Services Self-Paced Labs.