Everything high school students need to compete in the Entrepreneurs Club Venture Challenge: frequently asked questions, application checklist, pitch preparation guide, and ECVC timeline.
Entrepreneurs Club (EC) is a technology entrepreneurship program for high school students, founded in 2014 and based in California. Students build real businesses rather than simulations, working through 8 training modules over 10 weeks and competing in the Entrepreneurs Club Venture Challenge (ECVC).
The 5th Annual Entrepreneurs Club Venture Challenge takes place Mar. 19, 2027 at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, with $10,000 in cash awards. Teams of 2-4 high school students apply online by Jan. 29, 2027. Since 2014, EC has reached 500+ students across 30+ high schools, with 75+ teams having competed. In 2026, 39 teams from 20 schools competed in front of 462 attendees.
Any high school student in the United States can compete, as long as every member of the team can attend the in-person competition in Sacramento, California on March 19, 2027. Teams are made up of 2-4 students, and teammates do not all have to attend the same school. You don't need prior business experience, just a willingness to learn and a great idea.
No! Your idea can be at any stage -- from a napkin sketch to an early prototype. The competition is about demonstrating your thinking, market understanding, and ability to present a compelling plan.
Participation is completely free. There are no registration fees or entry costs.
After your initial application is reviewed, selected teams are invited to Round 2 where you'll submit a pitch deck. Top teams from Round 2 advance to the live Showcase event where you'll present to judges.
$10,000 in cash awards is shared among the top teams. The amount for each placement is announced each ECVC season. All finalists are recognized at the live event.
As a team advisor, you get a read only view of the teams you are confirmed on. For each team you can see its competition status, whether the application has been submitted, the idea, and the roster. You can also watch the training videos. You cannot edit or submit anything on a team's behalf, and you will not see teams you are not attached to. Your access starts from the invitation email, so confirm that first. Separately, a teacher can join their school as its Faculty Advisor from My School on their portal home page. That is a different role from advising a team: it connects you to your school rather than to one team.
Nothing. We will provide you with a mic and your slides will already be loaded onto the screen behind you.
Absolutely! You don't need an Entrepreneurs Club chapter at your school to compete. Any high school student in the United States is welcome to form a team and apply, as long as the whole team can travel to Sacramento for the in-person competition. If you'd like to bring EC to your school, open My Chapter in the portal and choose "Bring EC to my school".
A Chapter is a student-run Entrepreneurs Club at a California high school, led by a student president and leadership team. Chapters earn points, file a monthly check-in, and can win the Best Chapter award. A Classroom Partner is a school anywhere in the US using EC on its own: a teacher joins as Faculty Advisor, or a student outside California brings EC to their school. Partners get the full curriculum and the portal, and their students can still compete. To be considered for Best Chapter, a club must be in California and have a student leadership team, at minimum a chapter president. See how points work at app.entrepreneursclub.org/points.
Create an Advisor / Teacher account at app.entrepreneursclub.org using your school email, and confirm your email. Then log in, find My School on your home page, pick your school (or type it in with its state), and click Connect to my school. We confirm it within a few days, and your school becomes a Classroom Partner: your class gets the full curriculum and the portal, and your students can form teams and compete. If one of your students wants to run an official club, they can start a chapter as its president from their own dashboard.
Yes, as long as you are in the United States. Chapters are for California schools this season, but you can bring EC to your school as a Classroom Partner: open My Chapter on your portal home page, choose "Bring EC to my school", and type your school and its state. Once we confirm it, you get the full curriculum and the portal, and we support you by email. You can still compete if your whole team can travel to Sacramento for the in-person competition on March 19, 2027.
We strongly prefer teams of 2-4, the same way most investors do, and going it alone is genuinely harder. If you don't have teammates yet, use the teammate board in the portal to find them. If you are still stuck after that, email us at info@entrepreneursclub.org and we will talk through your options rather than turn you away.
Students need to use a personal address like Gmail, iCloud or Outlook. School accounts filter out our messages, so you would miss application updates, and they stop working when you graduate, which would cost you your account. This applies to your teammates' addresses on the application too, so ask them for personal ones rather than school ones. Advisors are the exception and should use their school address.
It is a ten word summary of your idea, so judges and other teams can tell at a glance what you are building. Ten words or fewer, and it is optional. Unlike the rest of the application, you can keep editing it after you submit and all the way through Round 2, using its own Save button.
Use the teammate board in the portal. Students looking for a team post there, and so do teams with an open seat, so you can find each other. Sign in, then go to Find Teammates. Teams are 2-4 students and you do not all have to attend the same school.
No email addresses appear on the board, and listings show a first name and last initial only. You write a message and we send it on your behalf with your address attached so they can reply to you directly. Every message is also copied to the Entrepreneurs Club team and to the advisor of the team you are contacting, so an adult always sees it. There are limits on how many messages you can send. If anything feels off, report the listing and tell an adult. The board is for students, so advisors cannot post or send messages there.
It is not necessary, but your data should be verifiable.
We ask for no videos, transitions, audio to avoid any technical issues. We are running a tight timeline and cannot provide a buffer for "buffering".
It is optional to include the poster design as the last slide in your pitch deck.
We are providing easels to you that work best for this size. We highly recommend your poster be this size.
Only one.
Bring your poster. No table or power will be allowed or provided. You MAY hold your computer if you'd like.
Investors.
No. 5 minutes sharp of just you presenting, then you will walk off stage to make room for the next team.
Your pitch should cover the problem you're solving, your solution, target market, business model, competitive advantage, and your team. We are not checking boxes to make sure you hit specific slides. Present your team how you see fit. Go to the resources page in the portal to see a sample pitch deck.
The Portal holds the training curriculum, a sample pitch video, a sample pitch deck and poster, a pitch prep guide, and office hours with the EC team. Teams of 2-4 students get access once they create an account.