As an attorney having obviously been through law school I am very familiar with what is known as the “Moot Court”. Today I received a comment from Rob Meyer (thanks Rob) that pointed me to the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin “Moot Corp” competition.
From their site, here is an explanation of the competition and how it all began:
In the early 1980′s, two Texas MBA students yearned for a business school activity as challenging and prestigious as “moot court” in law school. They envisioned a competition in which MBAs working in teams would conceive an idea for a new business, develop the idea in a written business plan, and present the plan to a panel of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, accountants and lawyers.
In 1984 this vision was fulfilled when the Graduate School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin held its inaugural Moot Corp Competition. It was the first competition of its kind for MBA students and is still considered the most prestigious in the world. The Moot Corp Competition has been crowned “the Super Bowl of world business plan competition.”
What a great idea, I never knew this existed but apparently has been going on for quite some time. Back in the 90′s when I raised my first round of venture capital I would have loved to have had a process like this to learn from. I personally learned a lot from two mentors, both impressive CEOs for public companies and startups alike, it is from those experiences you can learn the most. A moot court is just that, learning from others that have been there before.
Here are some links to learn more and watch videos. I think I just spent an hour reading and watching myself. Take a look if this is something you may be interested in.
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