The Competition

Judging Process & Criteria

Judging Process

The GSVC is divided into three rounds: Executive Summary, Regional and Final. Each of them develops as follows:

The First or Executive Summary Judging Round will take place at each of the partner schools: the Haas School of Business, Columbia Business School, London Business School, Indian School of Business, Thammasat University, ESSEC Business School, and at our Outreach Partner schools.  During this round, executive summaries will be screened by students and professional judges at each partner school.  The professional judging panel for this round will consist of an appropriate balance of venture philanthropists, social venture investors, angel investors, venture capitalists and social venture entrepreneurs with 5 to 10 years of experience in the field. Judges will provide all teams with written feedback on their business plans.

The Semi-final or Regional Judging Round will take place at each Regional Partner school. The judging panel for this round will also consist of an appropriate balance of experts in the social field with more than 10 years of experience and whose collective expertise spans a breadth of social, environmental and business subjects. Two finalist teams from each partner school will be selected during the semi-final judging round. All participating teams will receive extensive feedback on their business plans from the judges, and are encouraged to revise and re-submit their plans.

Additionally, one team from each Regional Semi-Final will be selected for the SIA judging round. The selected SIA teams may also be competing in the general round.

The Final Round of Judging will take place in April at the Haas School of Business, with public presentations by each of the finalists to the judging panel.  Plans will be judged on how well they demonstrate potential for social and financial returns; fundability; scalability; the strength of their management teams; and integration of financial and social goals. The judging panel will consist of 10 -12 outstanding experts in the social field representing all sectors (venture philanthropists, social venture investors, international development experts, angel investors, venture capitalists and social venture entrepreneurs) and with more than 15 years of expertise.

Judging Criteria

The GSVC does not "invest" in ventures entering the Competition. However, the panel of judges should consider themselves a panel of investors who award the ventures based on GSVC judging criteria. These judging criteria serve as a proxy for investment criteria and during the three rounds include:

Products/Services (Offering):

  • Clearly defined solution
  • Fulfills a customer need
  • Has resonance and desirability
  • Changes or significantly improves an existing process


Markets & Competition:

  • Clearly identified customer
  • Size of customer base
  • Scalability in both geography and solution
  • In depth competitive analysis


Team:

  • Relative domain & industry experience, business track record, education, etc.
  • Professional, persuasive and organized presentation format


Implementation:

  • Clearly defined vision and objectives
  • Roadmap for implementation
  • Feasibility of implementation
  • Perceived strategic advantage


Social Impact Assessment

  • Effectiveness of assessment
  • For more detail on SIA: Click Here