Thank You to Our In-Kind Sponsors!

2023 New Venture Competition

May 2, 2023

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This year, the New Venture Competition finalists received nearly $200,000 in in-kind prizes from various firms, ranging from strategy consulting to marketing services. We’d like to extend a special thank you to our donors for providing these amazing prizes; our students use these resources to further develop and expand their ventures. NVC would not be the nationally recognized program it is without your contributions!

Anact

Anact makes sustainable towels out of hemp and organic cotton that are better for ALL people and the planet. Anact is short for “an act” - i.e., the simple act of taking action and creating a positive impact. The founder, Brianna Kilcullen (GW BBA ‘11) is also a sustainability consultant and self-proclaimed “hemp hustler.”

 

Amazon Web Services 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, offering over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—are using AWS to lower costs, become more agile, and innovate faster.

 

Ballard Spahr

Ballard Spahr provides strategic counsel to entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses across the country and across various industries. We help them get established, connect to financing sources and strategic partners, protect their assets, and grow into market leaders. The attorneys in ur Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Group have decades of experience helping emerging companies thrive - from entity formation, angel and seed financing, preferred financing rounds, and ultimately through a sale or initial public offering. 

 

Blank Rome 

Blank Rome is an American Law 100 firm with 14 offices and more than 650 attorneys and principals who provide a full range of legal and advocacy services to clients operating in the United States and around the world. Their professionals are widely recognized for their leading knowledge and experience across a broad spectrum of industries, as well as their dedication to diversity and inclusion initiatives and pro bono work.

 

Design in DC

Design in DC is a full service digital marketing agency based in Washington DC. We specialize in web design, app development, videography and animation.

 

Draper University 

Draper University is a Silicon Valley-based pre-accelerator offering a combination of on-site and virtual programs designed to build understandings and foundations for the next generation of startup founders and entrepreneurs. With the aim to connect international startup ecosystems, Draper University has always worked towards building bridges between these ecosystems and Silicon Valley.

 

GW Office of Integrative Medicine And Health 

The Office of Integrative Medicine and Health (OIMH) at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) is a global leader in Integrative Medicine, focusing on professional development, education, scholarly activities, and community. 

 

Klo Marketing 

Klo Marketing is a social media agency that elevates brands' social media presence through impactful strategies, quality content and consistency. Katie Lopus is an award-winning social media professional with experience leading social media for global hospitality brands, eCommerce, and lifestyle companies. She has brought to life the world’s most recognizable brands through social media like Marriott Hotels, Michaels Crafts and Party City. With more than 10+ years of experience as a seasoned social media marketer, Katie is a trusted partner, educator, and adviser to her clients.

 

Martin A. Schultz 

Martin A. Schultz & Associates is a specialized commercial transactions practice that provides general and transaction counsel to clients who have included a family office, middle and lower market closely held and family-owned businesses, national and regional financial institutions, c-suite executives, and entrepreneurs. Mr. Schultz works closely with stakeholders, boards of directors, and executives on today-to-day matters such as corporate governance, fiduciary duties, executive engagement, creditor rights, and dispute resolution, as well as involvement in vetting opportunities, planning ventures, structuring, negotiating, documenting and closing deals large and small, complex and routine.

 

Laurel Nock Marketing Consulting 

Marketing consulting for entrepreneurial professionals who want to develop and implement marketing plans that matter – for their bottom line, and for the world at large.

 

NEXT Powered by Shulman Rogers 

NEXT is an award-winning, innovative platform for the delivery of legal services to startups and emerging growth companies. NEXT clients receive legal guidance and services through a high-touch, hands-on legal services team approach. We recognize the importance of regular access to seasoned attorneys with the experience to guide clients from both legal and strategic perspectives. As a result, each project is led by a Senior attorney and may include an associate and paralegal. Each client also receives a legal customer relationship manager, who is a member of the NEXT team and helps to coordinate legal needs. In addition, as a client of NEXT, you will always have regular access to one of the Chairs of the NEXT practice group.

 

Promenade

JT Liddell, the founder of Promenade,  worked in intelligence for U.S. Special Operations, solo piloted a helicopter through the Arizona mountains, spoke Pashto and drank chai tea with village elders in southern Afghanistan, and worked for multiple Fortune 50 companies in corporate America. He is currently building a social-impact-focused tech startup, Promenade. At Promenade, their mission is to match and connect military veterans to the resources that matter to them so they can navigate post-military life in a more seamless and purposeful way. 

 

SEED SPOT

SEED SPOT is on a mission to educate, accelerate, and invest in diverse, impact-driven ventures.

 

Story + Strategy 

We are boutique brand and storytelling consultancy focused on providing strategic guidance, marketing expertise and story-driven innovation to today's forward-thinking brands. With decades of creative and marketing leadership experience from several of the largest Fortune 500 portfolio companies in the world, we will serve as your partners in brand strategy and storytelling. Our process starts by immersing ourselves in your brand, company or idea to ensure you have a clear and purposeful foundation upon which to build your idea, brand or company's future actions and approach. From there, we'll help you think through a short and/or long-term go-to-market plan, identifying the most compelling and effective way to tell your story and endear your target audience to your offering.

 

ThinkNimble

ThinkNimble is a design and software development agency that turns clients into confident tech leaders who understand their customers and build better solutions.

 

Union Kitchen 

Union Kitchen is a Food Business Accelerator. We build successful food businesses by empowering founders with our Roadmap, Ecosystem, and Industry Expertise from launch to scale.

 

For more information on the specific prize packages, please visit our website.

 

Thank you again to all of our generous donors! If you would like to support the 2024 NVC with an in-kind gift, please reach out to us at [email protected].