HEARTLAND CHALLENGE STARTUP COMPETITION
The Heartland Challenge is designed to simulate the process of raising venture capital for a high-growth venture. This graduate student competition allows students to gain valuable experience and networking opportunities, while developing new ventures that may be based on their own ideas/technologies or those developed by others.
2024 Heartland Challenge
April 11-13, 2024 - Bentonville, Arkansas
Important Dates
|
January 8, 2024 |
Applications open |
|
February 9, 2024 |
Deadline to apply |
|
March 4, 2024 |
Notify semifinalist teams of selection |
|
April 1, 2024 |
Business plans due |
COMPETITION INFORMATION
Purpose
The Heartland Challenge is designed to mimic the real-world process of raising capital for a high-growth venture. The competition allows students to gain valuable experience and networking opportunities, while developing and building new ventures and technologies or those developed by others. The spirit of the competition is to allow only ventures conceived and developed during the graduate school experience to participate. Competition directors and faculty advisers are responsible for ensuring and attesting that their teams meet these requirements. The teams are also responsible for ensuring their own eligibility.
Eligibility
The competition is for student-created, managed, and owned ventures. Students must play a major role in conceiving the venture by having key management roles and owning significant equity in the venture (50 percent or more of the equity allocated to the management team and key advisers). The objective of this rule is to exclude ventures formed and managed by non-students who have token student representation to compete. Read the official competition rules and policies HERE.
Team Composition
This is a competition for graduate students. Students from any graduate program (not just MBAs) are eligible to participate, including executive and evening format programs. Non-students may be members of the venture's management team and may participate in planning the venture. However, only students may participate in the competition.
The competition is overseen by the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.
To sign up for updates on competition rules and requirements, please email Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program Manager of Competitions, Madison Stricklen, at startup@uark.edu.
Read the official competition rules and policies HERE.
2023 COMPETITION RECAP
SPONSORSHIP
The Heartland Challenge is made possible by generous support from the Walton Family
Charitable Support Foundation. The Heartland Challenge is the first global student
startup competition held in the state of Arkansas.
For more information about sponsorships, contact Deb Williams (dswillia@uark.edu).