Showcase of investment pitches from Columbia students.
Background
Each year the Heilbrunn Center presents the Pershing Square [Philanthropic] Challenge which is the culmination of a three-month competition among roughly forty teams of first- and second-year Columbia Business School Students enrolled in the Center's Applied Security Analysis course.
Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management L.P., launched the challenge in 2008. The challenge is open to students who are enrolled in Applied Security Analysis.
After an initial round of eliminations, five final teams present at the Pershing Square Finals event, hosted by Bill Ackman. A panel of judges then selects the winning teams, which receive a financial prize from Pershing Square. In maintaining the original goal of educating students who are ready to take on leadership roles as value investors, students shall decide the amount of the prize that they wish to keep and the amount that they wish to donate to an area of their choosing within Columbia Business School.
Pitches (some of their YouTube videos were taken down, but these remain):
