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, six weeks of league play, and three Regional Championships 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.
Earned in league play: 12 per region advance to the Regional Championships in March.
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
Pre-season. Campuses activate and ventures register, on their own or through their campus lead. No cutoff, no selection. Every registered venture enters league play on January 15.
League Play and Regional Championships
Season One League begins January 15: the full field plays six weeks of live scoring and weekly reporting. Campuses nominate for the Regional Championships by February 26, 12 ventures per region, 36 in all, live 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%Judges score your pitch on six criteria, the same six lanes of the matrix. 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%Traction is scored on the matrix: seven stages, from Idea to Liquidity, by six lanes of the business. When you register, you are placed at your current stage. From there, the activities and challenges you overcome in each stage give you points, and every week you report real numbers. The ventures that actually build earn the most points and rise on the leaderboard.
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.
The matrix: seven stages, six lanes
30%The League scores traction on one grid, called the matrix. Seven stages run down the side, from Idea to Liquidity. Six lanes run across the top, one for each part of the business. Your stage is the highest row where you can show all six lanes. The gaps are your to-do list.
- 1IdeaYou see a problem and a way to solve it.
- 2StructureYou put numbers and a plan around it.
- 3ValidationReal customers tell you if you are right.
- 4Go to MarketYou sell it, and it works every time.
- 5Product Market FitDemand starts to pull you forward.
- 6Market Share GrowthYou become a leader in your market.
- 7LiquidityThe company can be sold or go public.
Is there a real problem, who has it, and how many of them are there?
Does the thing work, and why this one and not another?
Does the founder show up, bring people in, and share the work?
Will anyone pay, does the math work, and is the money handled properly?
Is the venture reaching beyond its own circle on purpose?
Is it moving, and can you see that in the numbers?
How you move on the matrix
When you register, the League asks what exists today and places you at your current stage. You can begin with just an idea.
The activities and challenges you overcome in each stage give you points.
Post your real numbers every week, so your score follows what you actually built.
Just like any game, the more points you get, the higher you rise on the leaderboard.
What judges score
60%Judges score six criteria, and the six criteria are the six lanes. What you work on all season and what a judge is asked to rate are the same six things. Momentum is one of the six. You build your own deck.
- 1Problem and Market Opportunity
- 2Solution and Differentiation
- 3Founder Mentality
- 4Business Model and Unit Economics
- 5Venture Ambition
- 6Momentum
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.
Campus Activation Phase. Pre-season: campuses activate and ventures register. No cutoff, no selection.
Season One League begins. League play opens to the full field. Live scoring and weekly reporting are required from this date for any venture pursuing the State Championship.
League play. Six weeks of live scoring and weekly reporting.
Regional nomination deadline. 12 ventures selected per region, 36 in all.
Regional Championships: Tuesday Cincinnati, Wednesday Columbus, Thursday Cleveland. 12 ventures present at each. $25,000 to each Regional Champion.
Selection Sunday. The ten finalists named.
Blackout. Scores frozen.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP. The ten finalists compete. $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
Season I is underway. 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.