Husky I+ Challenge (HIC) is an innovative startup competition designed to model entrepreneurship, grow entrepreneurs and facilitate the creation of early stage companies over the course of a semester. Through a series of five strategy development Boot Camps, students from across the university are able to engage in and learn the different aspects of starting a venture. Students will "graduate" with a prototype of their venture, financial projections, a realistic business model and a deep understanding of their customer.

We believe The Husky I+ Challenge is a significant improvement on the typical business plan competition because we teach students how to put knowledge to practice by starting a company. Through the Boot Camps, networking and collaboration events and hands on time with experienced entrepreneurs and mentors, the students learn the practical knowledge and skills necessary to start a company in the real world. Boot Camp topics range from how to perform in-depth market research, to creating a prototype and developing the right business model for your venture. Each session will be led by entrepreneurs, industry professionals and professors who specialize in the topic for each Boot Camp.

The competition culminates near the end of the Fall semester with an electric celebration called Demo Night. The event is an opportunity for the students to display all their hard work as they showcase their ventures to the Northeastern & Boston community, alumni and thought leaders. With food and drinks, the competing teams show off their prototypes and models and vie for the opportunity to win great prizes!

Pitching and presentation are very important for startups. You need to be able to sell your vision and get others to buy into your business. Now is the time to take a better look at where you are! Many of you have built up customer profiles, identified business constructs and found unique ways to prototype your ventures. But what's next? This boot camp will focus on helping you tie in your goals with the success of the venture as well as delve into some of the questions pertaining to next steps: Incorporation, Incubators, Business Plan Competitions, etc. We'll cap off this boot camp with a few words of advice from the HIC team from their experiences in the entrepreneurship scene.