Crunchbase points out that early-stage startup funding decreased again in 2023. But, Big Sky Capital has invested aggressively and shown strong early success.
From GrubHub to Braintree, a look back at the Polsky Center’s legacy of supporting startups
Startups weren’t so sexy 25 years ago. It was pre-Google, pre-dot-com bubble, pre-unicorn. The University of Chicago’s business school, renowned for finance, didn’t offer an entrepreneurship concentration.
Steven Kaplan, a newly tenured professor in 1996, had just started teaching a class in entrepreneurial finance when a student, Jeff Meyers, MBA’97, popped his head into his office and suggested they hold a business plan competition. Kaplan told him to go ahead and organize it.
“I knew nothing about startups. Zero,” Kaplan recalled.
Kaplan rustled up a few judges and $25,000 in prize money, and the New Venture Challenge was born.