GEW - Spark Venture Competition

Join us for the Spark Venture Competition which is part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2022, presented by Western Health Advantage.

The Spark Venture Competition in Sacramento is an annual venture competition hosted by the Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for early-stage startups and social impact ventures during Global Entrepreneurship Week. A total of $20,000 in cash awards will be given out.

The competition is open to early-stage ventures aiming to operate in the Greater Sacramento Region. An application is required to be considered for Round 1 of judging. Finalists will be announced virtually and are invited to an optional pitch workshop to help prepare for the final round. In the final round, teams compete by presenting their pitches to a panel of judges (5 min presentation and 5 min Q&A) to win cash prizes.

The focus of this competition is to catalyze a group of early-stage ventures by elevating their startups at the Spark Venture Competition and having a select few of them walk away with cash awards to advance their venture. We are aiming to select startups with at least problem-solution fit and evidence around product-market fit*.

*Problem-Solution Fit - this occurs when you have evidence that customers care about certain jobs, pains, and gains. At this stage, you've proved the existence of a problem and have designed a value proposition that addresses your customers' jobs, pains and gains. Unfortunately, you still do not have clear evidence that your customer really care enough about your value proposition enough to buy it.

Product-Market Fit occurs when you have evidence that your value proposition is actually creating value for customers by alleviating their pains and creating the gains they desire. Your product or service is beginning to gain traction in the market and you've gone through the long and iterative process of running tests that have validated and invalidated the various assumptions underlying your value proposition. - Strategyzer, Nabila Amarsy 2014

The Demo Day event will be in person at the Carlsen Center.

Our Judges:

• Douglas Younger III - Founder and CEO of 3STEPS4WARD and Founder and Host of Twist of Fate Podcast
• Kim Box - Independent Board Director at McGrath RentCorp, Chair of the Board at the NACD Northern California Chapter, and Advisory Board Member of the Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• Sara Ledterman - Founder and Investor of 3+ Ventures

If you are interested in learning about additional events, workshops, and panel discussions for Global Entrepreneurship Week check the full list of activities HERE.