Ohio Founders League
A league, not a pitch competition.
A pitch competition is an event. The Ohio Founders League is an institution, with seasons, members, standards, a governing body, and a championship that comes back every year. Student founders from Ohio's leading universities compete through a Campus Activation Phase and a statewide Playoff to a live State Championship. They leave with mentors, investors, capital, and a community that keeps them building in Ohio.
Non-dilutive prize capital. The League takes no equity.
Selected for the Playoff from ten founding universities.
Three modules on one scoring engine: MyVenture for founders, MyCampus for university leads, Scout for anyone backing a venture.
It's About The Future Of Our State
AI collapsed the timeline.
The students starting companies this year will build faster than any class before them. The state that gives them a stage and capital now captures a decade of company formation. The state that waits watches it leave.
Ohio's best founders are already leaving.
Every year they graduate and take their companies to a handful of zip codes, because nothing here gives them a reason to stay. Every academic year without the League is a full cohort lost.
Ohio is the first of a nationwide league.
America has never had a statewide collegiate entrepreneurship league. Ohio is the first of what will become a nationwide league, built state by state, and the Ohio model is the one every state that follows will copy. Founding university is a designation that closes when Season I launches. It cannot be earned later.
Three Phases, Three Regional Champs, 1 State Champion
Campus Activation Phase
Universities nominate their strongest student ventures. Students can also register directly. One window. One deadline. No second wave.
Playoff
36 ventures, each matched with a dedicated League mentor. Eight weeks of tracked, verified building. Three live Regional Championships in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. Each Regional Champion takes home $25,000. Selection Sunday names the final ten.
State Championship
Ten finalists. Seven more weeks of building. One live championship. One State Champion crowned on stage. $500,000 awarded. May 19, 2027.
This is a League, Not a Pitch Competition
Judges
60%Five judges score your pitch on six criteria. They project what your venture can become. Criteria-driven pitches: founders get the rubric in advance and build their own deck. No prescribed slides. How you tell your story is part of the evaluation.
Traction
30%Every week, ventures report real numbers: customer conversations, deals closed, product updates, revenue. Every stage is worth a fixed amount, and clearing its Final Challenge credits it in full. Money milestones pay once at any stage. The ventures that actually build, and move up fastest, earn the most points.
Scouts
10%Any student, faculty, or alumni can register as a Scout and pick five ventures for their portfolio. No money is involved: nothing goes in and nothing comes out. A Scout scores the Traction Score points their ventures earn after the pick. The number of portfolios a venture is in is its Scout share of League Scoring. You can't game the Scout vote without actually building, because Scouts only score what you earn.
Every stage is worth a fixed amount. Clear it and it is yours.
Nine actions every Sunday, weighted for your stage, filling a per-stage action budget. Plus revenue, in dollars.
A short list per stage. Each pays once.
One piece of evidence. An OFL official verifies it, the whole stage is credited in full, you take the bonus and move up. Fail: points come off.
Revenue adds up all season. Each band from $100 to $1M pays once, at any stage.
Traction Score = the worth of every stage cleared + progress in the current stage + money milestones. Registered above Stage 0? The stages below you are credited in full on day one. Cleared a stage within 4 weeks? The bonus is × 1.5.
The five stages
Your starting stage comes from your registration answers, checked from the top down. Stage 0, Idea: Anything short of Stage 1: the problem is not yet documented, or the target customer is not yet defined. Stage 1, Formed: The problem is documented and the target customer persona or segment is defined. An entity is not required, and one founder is enough. Stage 2, Validated: At least two market signals from: value milestones achieved, an MVP that real users have tested, customer LOIs. Stage 3, Operating: Paying customers, at any revenue level. Stage 4, Scaling: Paying customers at $200K+ annual revenue, or $200K+ raised.
| STAGE | CHALLENGES | ACTION BUDGET | WHAT PROVES YOU ARE DONE | BONUS | STAGE WORTH | STARTING CREDIT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 · Idea | 5 × 10 = 50 | 100 | A stranger engaged with your idea (First Believer) | +100 | 250 | 0 |
| 1 · Formed | 8 × 15 = 120 | 130 | You launched in public (Public Launch) | +150 | 400 | 250 |
| 2 · Validated | 6 × 20 = 120 | 180 | Money moved into your account (First Dollars) | +200 | 500 | 650 |
| 3 · Operating | 7 × 25 = 175 | 225 | Demand is proven (3 of 5 signals) (Proven Demand) | +250 | 650 | 1150 |
| 4 · Scaling | 9 × 30 = 270 | 260 | 18 months of financial sustainability (Built to Last) | +300 | 830 | 1800 |
Stage worth is challenges plus the action budget plus the bonus. Starting credit is what a venture placed at that stage begins with: the full worth of every stage below it. A Stage 0 venture that clears First Believer lands on 250, the same as a venture placed at Stage 1 on day one.
Show all 35 challenges
- Write down your problem, solution, and differentiation
- Identify your specific target customer
- Research your competition
- Develop your elevator pitch
- Get feedback from real people
- Build a basic website or landing page
- Create a pitch deck
- Build a fundraising pro forma
- Define your launch offer
- Run a soft launch with 5 real users
- Set pricing and show it to prospects
- Find an advisor who's built and shipped
- Build a lead list of 50 named prospects
- Build fundraising pro forma with use-of-proceeds plan
- Identify who gives money to businesses like yours
- Assemble evidence from Stages 0 and 1
- Make the ask, repeatedly
- Pitch to a real check-writer
- Get signed commitments
- Track where every customer comes from
- Build a referral mechanism
- Measure your retention
- Launch targeted marketing channels
- Run customer surveys
- Track sales cycle length
- Increasing SEO coverage
- Land a channel or distribution partner
- Expand to a second market
- Cross a scale threshold
- Launch a second offering or pricing tier
- Win a flagship account
- Prove your unit economics
- Prepare for next round of fundraising
- Build marketing automation
- Build mature sales structure
The nine weekly actions, and the budget
Early stages pay most for talking to customers. Later stages pay most for deals and customers. Every action counts at every stage, so a founder who lands a customer at Stage 0 is rewarded and prompted to advance. Each stage has an action budget: the first 60% pays at full rate, the next 40% at half rate, and anything past the cap pays 10%. Once the budget is full, the way up is the Final Challenge.
Show the points per unit at every stage
| ACTION | ONE UNIT IS | STAGE 0 | STAGE 1 | STAGE 2 | STAGE 3 | STAGE 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer conversations | 1 per conversation (10+ min) | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Outreach sent | 1 per 10 messages | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Content published | 1 per piece | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Events attended / pitched | 1 per event | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Contracts / proposals sent | 1 per document | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Deals closed | 1 per signed deal | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| New customers acquired | 1 per customer | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Product updates shipped | 1 per meaningful release | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Mentor meetings completed | 1 per meeting (30+ min) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Action budget | full rate to 60%, half to 100%, then 10% | 100 | 130 | 180 | 225 | 260 |
Money milestones
Revenue is reported in dollars and adds up across the season. Each band pays once, at whatever stage you cross it, and sits outside the action budget. Real money matters a lot; it does not end the conversation. Crossing $100 is the proof for First Dollars.
| CUMULATIVE REVENUE | $100 | $1K | $10K | $50K | $100K | $500K | $1M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | +10 | +20 | +40 | +70 | +100 | +150 | +200 |
What judges score
60%Five judges. Six criteria, each scored 1 to 5 against the same published anchors, relative to your stage. You build your own deck.
- 1Problem & Market Opportunity
- 2Solution & Differentiation
- 3Team & Execution Capability
- 4Business Model & Economics
- 5Growth Potential & Scalability
- 6Momentum
Show the full rubric and how scores are combined
Is the problem real? Is the market big enough?
- 1
- Assumed, not validated. Market undefined.
- 3
- Validated by real customers. Market meaningful. Entry point defined.
- 5
- Undeniable problem, extensive validation. Massive, well-timed market.
- 1
- Vague, no differentiation.
- 3
- Clearly solves the problem with identifiable differentiation.
- 5
- Defensible moat. Demonstrated product-market pull.
- 1
- Lacks critical skills. No execution evidence.
- 3
- Core skills present. Consistent execution. Learns from mistakes.
- 5
- Exceptional expertise. Coachable, resilient, hungry.
- 1
- No clear revenue model.
- 3
- Defined and partially tested. Path to revenue articulated.
- 5
- Proven model with strong economics.
- 1
- Limited, lifestyle scale.
- 3
- Credible ambition. Can articulate the 10× version.
- 5
- Sees what most don't. Plan to reshape the market.
Judges interpret traction data qualitatively. Bridges the 30% and the 60%.
- 1
- Stagnant. No forward motion.
- 3
- Steady progress. Positive trend.
- 5
- Clear inflection point. Accelerating across dimensions.
- All five judges count equally. No trimming. Strong convictions are signal.
- Average per criterion (1.0–5.0), then sum the six averages for a composite (6.0–30.0).
- Normalize: (composite ÷ 30) × 60 = Judge Points (0–60).
- Scorecards are submitted digitally immediately after each pitch, before the next venture begins.
Your name on what they win.
We're recruiting partners, not startups. Join with a seat in the League. As founding partners, you fund the non-dilutive prize capital, sit on the benches, run Challenges, and field your own Scouts. Partnership tiers range from $10K to $100K+.
Request the founding partner briefingThe road to May 19.
Public announcement. The season begins.
Campus Activation Phase data cutoff.
The 36 Playoff ventures announced. Mentors assigned.
Playoff officially starts. Sprint Week 1.
Playoff Sprint cutoff.
Three Regional Championships (North, South & Central Ohio). $25K awarded to each Regional Champion.
Selection Sunday. Ten finalists named.
Blackout. Scores frozen.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP. Three champions. $500,000 awarded.
Yon Raz-Fridman
Oversees the vision, strategy, and overall direction of the League. Manages fundraising, strategic relationships with universities and partners, and chairs the Board of Directors.
Kevin Mackey
Runs the season day to day: campus visits, the portal, the timeline, nominations, mentors, and how the League connects to what every founding university already runs.
Contact us: hello@ohiofoundersleague.org
The season starts September 29. Register now.
I'm a Student Founder
I'm a Scout
I'm a University Lead
Registration is free and takes minutes. The League takes no equity.