How To Apply

The New Venture Competition is open to all current GW students, with no prior business experience required. GW faculty, staff, recent alumni, and non-GW individuals may participate as long as they join a team led by a current GW student, meet the team composition requirements, and venture eligibility.

Eligible Participants

To be eligible, you must be:

• A current GW student (undergraduate or graduate, part-time or full-time, domestic or international), or
• A GW-affiliated team member, which includes:
  • Current GW faculty or staff
  • GW alumni who graduated no earlier than Fall 2024 / Spring 2025

Note: Alumni, faculty, staff, and non-GW individuals may only participate as part of a team that includes a current GW student.

Team Composition Requirements

• Your team must be at least 50% GW-affiliated (see definition above).
• Your team leader must be a current GW student.
• Maximum team size is 5.
  • Teams of 2: Must include at least 1 GW-affiliated member
  • Teams of 5: Must include at least 3 GW-affiliated members

Note: Only GW-affiliated members may pitch during live rounds (Semifinals, Finals, Awards). Non-GW teammates may assist behind the scenes or during Q&A.

Venture Eligibility

NVC is designed for early-stage ventures - pre-revenue to early traction is ideal, so your venture or idea must:

• Be no more than 4 years old at time of application
• Have less than $400,000 in total revenue

To participate in the New Venture Competition, you must select a track for your venture. Review the tracks below and choose the one that best aligns with your venture idea.

Explorer Track

Explorer

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The Explorer Track is designed for students who are new to innovation and entrepreneurship, with early-stage ideas that are still forming. 

Whether it's for a class project or a brand new idea you're excited to explore, this track offers a simplified application and judging process to encourage participation from those who may be just getting started.

Rather than focusing on revenue or scalability, judges will evaluate how well you've thought through your idea, your understanding of the problem you're trying to solve, and your curiosity to learn.

Winning teams are encouraged to keep working with the GW Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship and return next year with an evolved venture!

Vertical Tracks

Consumer Goods & Services

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This track is for ventures that offer everyday goods and services sold directly to individual consumers (B2C), not businesses, government or retailers. These ventures succeed primarily through product or service sales, even if the product has added sustainability, wellness, or lifestyle benefits.

Examples include:

• Convenience Goods: Groceries, toiletries, skincare, cosmetics, and personal care items or services.
• Personal Tech, Apparel & Lifestyle Services: Electronics, wearables (e.g., smart rings), clothing, fitness and wellness apps, luxury goods, travel planning tools, dating apps, and restaurant/event recommendation platforms.
• Other Personal Services: Real estate services, life insurance, legal assistance, and even burial planning services.

Business Goods & Services

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This track is for ventures that sell to other businesses, not directly to consumers. Even if the end user is a consumer, if your customer* is a business, then you are B2B.

Examples include:

• Services or software that help businesses improve operations (e.g., logistics, CRM tools, internal dashboards).
• Tools for specific industries like hospitality (e.g., a restaurant suggestion tool for hotel concierges).
• B2B products such as office supplies, industrial equipment, marketing solutions, or data platforms.

*As a general rule, your customer is the one who pays you directly or who shares revenues with you following a customer transaction. You may still need to understand the end user’s needs and behaviors, but your customer is a business. B2B buyers often think about return on investment (ROI) and how your solution can directly benefit its company, and this will be a significant part of how you will be judged in the competition.

Social Innovation

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This track is for ventures that are mission-driven and focused on addressing critical social or environmental challenges. These ventures aim to improve lives and communities through scalable, sustainable impact - not just charitable intentions. A social innovation venture will often be supported by grants or donations coming from donors and government support rather than sales revenue.

Social innovation ventures may operate as:

• Nonprofits
• Hybrid models (e.g., benefit corporations or social enterprises)
• For-profit companies with a core social mission

Examples include:

• Programs addressing education gaps, climate change, healthcare access, human rights, or economic mobility.
• Sustainable ventures focused on underserved populations or systemic change

Note: Simply donating a portion of profits to charity does not make a venture socially innovative. Teams will be evaluated on the measurable value their venture creates for its intended beneficiaries, their understanding of the problem and unique market position, and the financial sustainability of their business model - not just the mission statement.

Health & Life Sciences

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This track includes innovations that aim to improve health, extend life, or enhance well-being through medical and scientific discovery, technology, and service delivery.

Examples include:

• Services and platforms for healthcare providers (clinics, hospitals), insurers, or researchers.
• Medical devices, diagnostic and therapeutic solutions, health tech, healthcare IT, and scientific R&D tools.

Food Innovation

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The Food Innovation track supports ventures that seek to transform how things we eat and drink are cultivated, processed, produced, stored, distributed, consumed or upcycled/disposed. This track prioritizes mission-driven solutions that improve food security, nutritional quality, food safety, sustainability, and/or affordable healthy food access through innovative products, services, technologies, or business models.

Examples include:  

• New methods for reprocessing food production waste products  
• Improved agricultural or supply chain logistics for smallholder farmers in developing countries  
• Ingredient innovations that improve health and/or sustainability 
• Enhanced food distribution methods that reduce cost, waste, or spoilage  
• New business models that improve access to healthy foods in underserved communities

Take the time to carefully review the round requirements for your selected track to fully understand what is expected at each stage of the competition. This will help ensure you are well-prepared and can meet all necessary deadlines and criteria as you progress through the competition. Select your preferred track below to review the round requirements.