The Lang Fund Process
Established in 1996 with a $1 million gift from Eugene M. Lang, MS ’40, the Eugene M. Lang Entrepreneurial Initiative Fund fosters an entrepreneurial environment at Columbia Business School by providing early stage investing opportunities to qualifying student business initiatives. It also allows the School to share in the success of funded ventures through negotiated equity or other participation.
The Lang Fund Process begins in the fall semester with The Annual Fall Venture Fair. The fair provides students with the opportunity to present their ideas and receive critical feedback from successful entrepreneurs and other knowledgeable practitioners from our entrepreneurial community in a fun and energized forum. Watch the Venture Fair Video.
The Spring Venture Showcase follows the Venture Fair and completes The Lang Fund Process. This spring term event brings a panel of judges together to help select which students will advance to present to the Lang Fund Board of Directors.
March 1, 2012
Spring Venture Showcase Info Session
12:30-2pm - Uris 303
Watch 2011 Video || Download 2012 Presentation (UPDATED)
April 3, 2012
Spring Venture Showcase Business Plans Due at midnight
Submit application to gust.com
Submission Guidelines
- Executive Summary- 3-5 pages, double spaced, 1 inch margins
- Full Business Plan- 25 pages max (including appendix for financials, diagrams, etc), double spaced, 1 inch margins
Eligibility & Criteria
All students enrolled in the MBA Program may submit business plans to participate in the spring term Venture Showcase event but only students in their last year of the MBA program are eligible for funding. Students may work individually or with a partner. The Lang Fund will consider investment proposals for all types of enterprises: small- or large-scale, high- or low-tech, start-ups or acquisitions and service, manufacturing, or retail operations.
The Lang Fund’s board of directors evaluates those selected from the Venture Showcase event pool according to the following criteria:
- Feasibility of the proposed venture and its prospects for success
- Strength of the student’s commitment to the venture and his/her qualifications to make it succeed
- Prospects for raising additional funding as may be required
- Technical or conceptual originality or social value
Conditions of Investment
The Lang Fund Board approved a change in its investment policy at its spring 2008 meeting for all future Fund investments.In order to provide more access to seed funding in a venture’s early stages, the Fund will make an immediate initial investment, typically in the amount of $25,000-50,000, in the form of a convertible demand note in ventures that meet its investment criteria. This criteria requires that ventures have a viable business plan with good chances of success and a full time commitment by the graduating student to the business as its owner or prime mover. The Fund retains the right to make an additional equity investment in the business when the business raises its first round of equity backed by professional investors.
The Board retains sole discretion for deciding which businesses it will fund each year and may decide in a given year to forgo the funding of any projects if none of the ventures presented meet its investment criteria.
