Venture Founder: Eligibility and Requirements

Eligibility 

Your venture is eligible to apply to Venture Founder if it is a UBC Student Venture, UBC Student Company or UBC Spinoff.  

These terms and boldened words are defined in the descriptions and glossary below

What is a UBC Student Venture or UBC Student Company?

A UBC Student Venture is a Venture that is envisioned to  develop a product or service by a group of Venture Founders that includes at least one UBC Student as a member of the Founding Team. When the UBC Student Venture is incorporated, it is referred to as a UBC Student Company.

The timing of team constitution is important for eligibility considerations:  

• The group of Venture Founders must include at least one UBC Student , AND
• The UBC Student must have contributed to and be continuing to contribute to the pursuit of the Venture; the fellow Founding Team members may be asked to confirm the role of the UBC Student
• The UBC Student must have the expectation or agreement that they will receive a percentage of the first-issued shares if and when the Founding Team decides to incorporate a Company to pursue the business opportunity.  

What is a UBC Spinoff?

A UBC Spin-off Company is a Company that is formed to specifically develop a product or service based on intellectual property (IP) or technology owned by UBC, to realize the potential societal impact of that technology. Prior to incorporation of a Company, the opportunity may be referred to as a UBC Spin-off Venture or UBC Spin-off Opportunity.

The timing of company incorporation is definitive of a UBC Spinoff:  

• The invention is disclosed to Innovation UBC, a Company is founded after an invention disclosure with the specific purpose to commercialize the invention, and an Express License Agreement (ELA) is completed between UBC and the new Company to enable commercialization, in this order
• Typically, at least one founder of a UBC Spin-off Venture or Company is a faculty member, researcher, staff member, graduate student or post-doctoral fellow (PDF) who contributed to developing the underlying IP or technology
• A UBC Spin-off Company needs to license the commercial rights to the UBC IP from UBC
• The commercial rights to the IP are granted via UBC’s Express License Agreement for Spin-off Companies, which facilitates commercialization by the Spinoff Company

Glossary of Terms

For Innovation UBC’s eligibility assessment process, the following definitions apply:

• A UBC Community Member means a person who is a current UBC Faculty member, UBC Student, a postdoctoral fellow or a staff member
• A UBC Student is a currently-enrolled undergraduate or graduate student with a valid student number. For eligibility purposes, they must have a valid student number and be enrolled as a student up until, and including, the 5th session of Venture Founder. 

• A Venture means an unincorporated company-building project or opportunity being evaluated as a potential business opportunity, the desired outcome of which is the incorporation of a company
• A Venture Founder or Founder of a Venture means a person involved in a Venture, whose role and participation may be confirmed by the remaining Founding Team members, and who has the expectation by way of agreement with the Founding Team members to receive a percentage of the first-issued shares, if and when a company is incorporated
• A group of Founders of a Venture is referred to collectively as the Founding Team of the Venture

• A Company means a legally-incorporated company, having at least one Company Founder and one director (the definition excludes unincorporated ventures, partnerships or societies)
• A Company Founder means a person who, by agreement with the other Founding Team members, has the expectation to receive or has already received a percentage of the initially-issued shares at the time of incorporation of the Company and takes on an active, executive role in the Company
  • A person issued shares or options by a Company after the initial shares are issued at incorporation is not considered a Company Founder for the purpose of ascertaining Eligibility
• A group of Founders of a Company is referred to collectively as the Founding Team of the Company

Other Program Requirements

The UBC Founder is (or if more than one, the UBC Founders are) expected to attend each Venture Founder Session and complete the necessary work required for the Venture Founder Program. If a Founder is a UBC Student, the student needs to be enrolled as a UBC Student for the first 5 sessions of the program.
 

Questions? Connect with our team.

 Get in touch