Bearcat Bridge Fund
Click here for eligibility and guidelines
Purpose & History
The Bearcat Bridge Fund was established in 2001, through the generosity of the Coleman Foundation and individual donors. The objective of the fund is to foster the entrepreneurial environment in the College of Business (COB) and across the University of Cincinnati (UC) and other UC colleges and to support students who conceive and craft new venture plans by providing seed capital to assist in the launch of the new venture.
Eligibility
All students enrolled in COB and UC's undergraduate and graduate program are eligible to submit business plans for funding consideration in accordance with the procedures outlined by the Fund's Board of Directors. Students may work individually or with a team of UC students, including students in other UC colleges and units.
Proposals for all types of enterprises, including small or large-scale, high or low-tech, e-commerce and/or bricks and mortar, profit and non-profit, will be accepted. Preliminary review will look for evidence of the following criteria:
- Feasibility of the proposed venture and its prospects for success
- Strength of the management team's commitment to the venture and their qualifications to make it succeed
- Prospects for raising additional funding as required
- Conceptual and/or technical originality and/or social value
Selection Process and Deadlines
Students may submit proposals at any time during the academic year. All students, however, must submit an application no later than the first Friday of March of the year in which they expect to graduate, although all students are eligible up to six months beyond graduation to submit a final plan.
Each plan will be given a preliminary review by members of the Entrepreneurship Center Faculty, and/or members of the Fund's Board of Advisors. Students are encouraged to take the opportunity to discuss and develop their proposals in consultation with a Faculty Adviser, members of the Fund's Advisory Panel and/or alumni mentors.
When the Entrepreneurship Center Faculty and/or Board of Advisors decide that a particular proposal is complete, it will be formally reviewed by a committee composed of members of the faculty and the Fund's Board of Directors for final review and funding decisions. In deciding which plans, if any, merit investment, the Board of Directors may request additional information or personal interviews with the plans' authors.
Funding decisions will be announced at the Annual UC Entrepreneurship Recognition Banquet in May.
Mentors & Advisors
Students will have a variety of resources available to them to assist with the development of their proposals. These include the COB's entrepreneurship courses, CoE's Engineering Design courses, faculty advisers, the Fund's Advisory Panel, volunteer alumni mentors and members of the business community including representatives from venture capital firms. Faculty, alumni, and business community members include:
- Dr. Chris Allen, Professor of Marketing, COB, UC
- Dr. Sidney L. Barton, Management Department Head, Associate Professor, and Goering Faculty Executive, Goering Center for Family & Private Business
- Mr. Chris Downie, Founder Up4Sale, SparkPeople, Inc.
- Mr. Tim Fogarty, CEO, West Chester Holdings
- Ms. Ilse Hawkins, Adjunct Instructor of Business Law, COB, UC
- Ms. Brandee K. Krabill Anderson, Freelance Marketing Research Consultant
- Ms. Jean B. Lauterbach, CEO, Prism Consulting/VISTAGE International
- Mr. Dave Lima, CEO, OptimalDelta Institute LLC
- Dr. Charles H. Matthews, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management, Executive Director, UC Center for Entrepreneurship Education & Research, COB, UC
- Ron Meyers, Adjunct Professor, New Venture Finance
- Mr. Chris Nawalaniec, National Sales & Marketing Manager, Stedman Machine Company
- Mr. Robert Ratterman, Founder Up4Sale, The Walnut Group, CanDo
- Trevor Stansbury, Adjunct Professor, Corporate Entrepreneurship
- John Wayne, Founder & CEO, Smarter Biz Solutions
Structure and Conditions of Investment
Investments for projects the Fund's Board of Directors deems worthy of funding will be negotiated individually with the entrepreneur(s) involved, including the time frame for start-up of enterprises and the allocation of an appropriate equity interest to the UC COB Entrepreneurship Center. Initial investments will be for up to $5,000 per project and will be in the form of grants or honor loans. These grants are interest free and the recipients are under no obligation to repay them except to make the same opportunity available to future COB and UC entrepreneurs.
As the fund grows, it is envisioned that allocation of funds in the $50,000 to $250,000 range will be available for an appropriately negotiated equity interest by the COB. The Fund's Board of Directors will determine on a case-by-case basis the nature and frequency of reports it wishes to receive on funded ventures as well as the duration of each investment. It will also determine which recipients are eligible to apply for subsequent grants and define levels of entrepreneurial progress that must be met before additional funds will be considered.
The Board is under no obligation to fund a set number of plans each year and may decide in a given year to forgo funding any of the plans submitted.For more information, please contact:
Dr. Charles H. Matthews,
Executive Director, UC Center for Entrepreneurship Education & Research,
515 Carl H. Lindner Hall,
College of Business,
University of Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0165,
phone: 513-556-7123;
fax: 513-556-4891;
email: ecenter@uc.edu
