Veterans Business Battle

Happy Veterans Day! In celebration of our nation’s military veterans Rice Business invites you to apply to the 11th annual Veterans Business Battle, the nation’s largest veteran-focused business plan competition. Contestants will have the opportunity to pitch their start-up to investors, secure funding & compete for cash prizes! With more than $5 million of investment offers extended, the Veterans Business Battle is an excellent opportunity for you to make valuable connections, learn from other veteran entrepreneurs & move your business forward. If you support veterans, please share this wonderful event dedicated to veteran owned businesses! Click here to apply to compete: https://lnkd.in/g3ixkn8S Or click here to learn more about the event: https://lnkd.in/em2Z4dy

Happy Veterans Day! In celebration of our nation’s military veterans Rice Business invites you to apply to the 11th annual Veterans Business Battle, the nation’s largest veteran-focused business plan competition. Contestants will have the opportunity to pitch their start-up to investors, secure funding & compete for cash prizes! With more than $5 million of investment offers extended, the Veterans Business Battle is an excellent opportunity for you to make valuable connections, learn from other veteran entrepreneurs & move your business forward. If you support veterans, please share this wonderful event dedicated to veteran owned businesses! Click here to apply to compete: https://lnkd.in/g3ixkn8S Or click here to learn more about the event: https://lnkd.in/em2Z4dy

It was incredibly inspiring to see the support given to so many Veteran entrepreneurs at the 10th annual Rice Business - Jones Graduate School of Business Veterans Business Battle. It was a weekend of investor pitches, education panels, great speakers and networking topped off by a Saturday night gala. All impeccably executed by a student team led by Karen Verboski, Dana Vazquez, Jeremy Larus and Chris Frank.

Aside from providing a platform for our Veteran Entrepreneurs to highlight the amazing work they are doing the Veterans Business Battle also focuses on educating all those who attend. Thank you to our outstanding panelists who took the time to share their knowledge and experience with the audience. Our Entrepreneurship Panel was lead by Austin Hill Co-Founder and Managing Director of Seed Round Capital. The panel was able to bring experience directly from the field to share with our attendees. Danny Fields, President and Chairman of Holland Supply Company & Utility Solutions Group shared the realities of growing a business within a mature market and shared a quick primer on search-funds. T. Scott Patterson, Founder and CEO of Tumble shared with us how Tumble is reinventing laundry day and shared with us the process of raising venture capital and the importance of surrounding yourself with innovators. Kathleen Perley, Former Founder & CEO of DECODE and current Adjunct Professor of AI Rice Business - Jones Graduate School of Business shared with us how she was able to bootstrap a company from zero to a successful exit as well as the importance of taking bets on yourself as a entrepreneur.

Aside from providing a platform for our Veteran Entrepreneurs to highlight the amazing work they are doing the Veterans Business Battle also focuses on educating all those who attend. Thank you to our outstanding panelists who took the time to share their knowledge and experience with the audience. Our Equity Panel was lead by Nafisa Istami, Innovation Manager at Rice Office of Innovation. Joining her was Taylor Anne Adams, Chief of Staff at The Collectiv, shared the importance of selecting the right investors that will help take your company to the next level and the approach that venture capital firms take when evaluating companies. Stephen DiBartolomeo, Principal at Scout Ventures, he shared the focus of identifying dual-use technologies and how Scout Ventures is able to identify and accelerate the growth of both Veteran and Non-Veteran owned companies. Joshua Weed, General Partner at Veteran Ventures Capital shared the importance of building relationships within the venture capital space and the thesis of Veteran Ventures Capital to invest with Veteran-owned companies.

Aside from providing a platform for our Veteran Entrepreneurs to highlight the amazing work they are doing the Veterans Business Battle also focuses on educating all those who attend. Thank you to our outstanding panelists who took the time to share their knowledge and experience with the audience. Our Lending panel was lead by Mark Winchester, Director SBA Houston District Office. He was joined by James Parker, Co-Founder of LEONID shared how LEONID is working to provide lending options to support recipients of Government contracts including SBIR recipients. Danielle A Davis, Executive Director, SW Head of Diverse Businesses at JPMorgan Chase & Co. shared the Capital Connect Program which is bringing together entrepreneurs, VCs and LPs to support the growth of Venture backable firms. Steven Taylor, Senior SBA Advisor at Comerica Bank shared with us the processes banks have in place to support borrowers if they are to fall onto hard times and his experiences supporting SBA borrowers. Brian Barrow, Executive Director of Houston Business Banking Group at Texas Capital discussed the current interest rate environment and how that will affect lending options for borrowers.

Thank you to Rehydrate for joining us at the 2024 Veterans Business Battle. Rehydrate is developing a mobile and energy efficient water reuse system with the potential to significantly impact water scarcity challenges. Rehydrate's technology, originally inspired by NASA's water recovery systems, focuses on low-energy, high-purification processes ideal for military, disaster relief, and remote areas. The founding team is currently engaging in prototype development and seeking strategic partnerships to scale our solution and address the urgent need for sustainable water access. CEO Jake Sortor is a United States Air Force Veteran.

Thank you to Skoolies Phoenix Skool Buses for joining us at the 2024 Veterans Business Battle. Sabrina Bosserman, a US Navy Veteran, is the co-founder of Phoenix Skool Buses, a company that she and her husband, Jordan Bosserman own and operate out of Mount Pleasant, Texas. They help their clients fan the flames by converting their clients’ old, retired vehicles into mobile businesses.

Thank you to Mach1 Services for joining us at the 2024 Veterans Business Battle and for taking home the $500 Elevator Pitch Competition prize! Mach1 Services is the first on-demand platform to truly automate roadside assistance. Our integrated platforms work in realtime to dispatch the closest provider, allow providers and consumers to communicate, and harness GPS technology. CEO and co-founder Rick Narpaul is an United States Air Force Veteran. He and his wife are disrupting the roadside industry with their innovative software solution.

Thank you to JurisDeed for joining us at the 2024 Veterans Business Battle. JurisDeed is an AI-powered data and legal compliance platform that helps investors of financially distressed properties maximize profits, reduce risk and expedite outcomes without the slow, costly bottleneck of lawyers and title insurance. Founder and CEO Stephen Morel is a US Army Veteran.