• The venture must have an HBS alumnus as a founder. The alum must be involved in the day-to-day operations in a leadership role and must be represented at all events and be the pitch lead. View the full list of programs that grant alumni status.
• Applicant must be a first or second-time founder/co-founder only.
• Must have business model validation, traction, revenue, or customer commitments.
• The alumni track is geared towards high growth ventures with viable business models that allow it to efficiently scale with the potential for significant financial returns.
• Ventures must have less than $2 million USD in revenue.
• Outside funding must be less than $2.5M total debt/invested equity capital. This amount includes money received through grants, awards, and other funding sources. Teams must meet both criteria. Invested capital is defined as funding appearing on the plan's balance sheet at the time of submission, which is no later than January 31, 2025 at 12pm noon ET (Boston time). Teams will disclose any prior funding received at the time of registration.
• HBS Investors are not eligible to submit companies unless they are identified as a founder and have an active daily leadership role in the company.
• Investment funds, acquisitions, and consulting services are not deemed "new ventures" and are not eligible.
• No subsidiary companies are permitted to apply.
• You can only apply to one region. That region must be aligned by location proximity or launch market.
• All applications/pitches must be submitted in English.
• The International Track is open to international applicants who live outside of the Asia-Pacific and Europe regions and will be part of the European and International Track regional competition.
• Cash and in-kind prizes are awarded solely to participating companies and not to any grant-funding institutions.
• Previous Regional Winners cannot reapply to the New Venture Competition.
• Winners of the student New Venture Competition must wait one year after graduation to apply to the aNVC.
• The HBS Rock Center for Entrepreneurship reserves the right to disqualify any entry that violates the rules or spirit of the competition. The decision of the Rock Center is final and binding.

Regional Competitions

• If selected to compete in the regional competition and travel is required, the applicant will cover their own travel to the regional competition.
• In the event that too few applications are submitted to a region, HBS has the right to cancel the regional competition.