Students across all majors, schools, and years are encouraged to participate. No prior experience is necessary!

Attend the information session to gain more insight about the competition and about impact investing in general (recordings will be made available). This will be followed by a Q&A session to answer any questions you might have. There will be two information sessions that will be taking place virtually on January 22nd, 2025 at 5:00pm EST and on February 5th, 2025 at 5:30pm EST.

Choose an existing startup or an early-stage company that addresses a social or environmental problem that could benefit from a hypothetical investment of $1 million. You may choose any type of startup but here are some suggested themes:

1. Health and Well-being: Promoting healthy lives and wellbeing across all ages, affordability, accessibility, etc.

2. Sustainable Fashion and Beauty: Sustainable materials, up-cycling, production, sourcing, design, waste management, etc.

3. Education: Access, retention, literacy, EdTech, student support, etc.

4. Climate Change and Renewable Energy: Climate mitigation tools, sustainable forestry, energy efficiency products, clean energy technologies, etc.

5. Food and Agriculture: Hunger alleviation, food security, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, organic food, clean water access and/or utilization, etc.

There are no restrictions on the company so feel free to pick any company!

Teams are to create a short pitch deck for their investment recommendation which could include some or all of the following:

• Investment Strategy

• Industry and Company Overview

• Competitive Landscape

• Growth Drivers

• Investment Risk and Mitigation

• Financial analysis

• Environmental/Social Impact

Teams should take on the role of analysts working for an impact investing firm pitching their investment idea to senior partners of the firm. Teams are to submit a 3-minute video of their pitch which will be reviewed by a panel of judges (senior partners) with expertise in the field of sustainability, entrepreneurship, and impact investing.

• The video should include a view of the person(s) pitching and the slide deck simultaneously

• The video should not include any mention of or images that would indicate your home university

While we strive to provide all teams constructive feedback on their pitches, only selected teams will advance to the next round.

The teams that advance to the final round will be paired up with experienced mentors who will help them prepare for the final presentation. The final round will take place during the Cornell Business Impact Symposium, on the Cornell University campus. Limited travel assistance will be available to non-Cornell finalists. We will work with finalists to make accommodations, so please do not let the in-person round discourage you from participating.