Startup Yale

The competition provides participants with constructive feedback from experienced professionals, mentorship from relevant experts, and chances to meet venture capital investors and industry leaders. This prize seeks to:

• Stimulate applications of entrepreneurship and innovation to address issues of sustainability
• Promote multi-disciplinary approaches to environmental/social problem solving
• Generate ideas that are scalable, achievable, quantifiable, and financeable
• Educate about how entrepreneurs turn a concept into a successful reality

Application Selection & Judging Criteria

• Opportunity: The problem the venture/organization/idea seeks to address is clearly defined, and there is evidence that there is a significant target population who considers it important.
• Viability: The team has developed a clear solution to the problem, has a realistic path for getting the solution to the end user, and can continue to deliver the solution in a way that is financially and operationally sustainable.
• Innovation: The idea is truly innovative. It presents a new model, product or service that fills a unique gap and/or applies an existing model to a new context.
• Team: The team has the knowledge, skills, passion, energy and ability to execute.
• Catalytic-ness: The prize will be meaningful in driving the team/project forward in ways that may otherwise not have been possible as quickly or at all.
• Impact: The venture contributes environmental benefits to society.