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Business Ideas Competition
Sustainable Business Ideas Competition
Evaluation CriteriaPart 1: The Written Business Plan will be evaluated on the Following Criteria:
Necessary components – the business plan contains all of the necessary sections, and addresses one of the three areas (5)
Viability – the venture is implementable, realistic, and viable (20).Market opportunity— Show the market potential of the proposed venture exists and your method for taking advantage of it (15)
Competitive advantage—the business has a unique, novel, or distinct approach, which gives it an advantage (15)
Management capability—the contestants are able to effectively develop the venture and handle the tasks necessary for its success (15)
Innovation—the contestants have developed an innovative solution to an existing or emerging problem (15)
Financial understanding—the contestants have a good understanding of the financial requirements of the venture (15)
Part 2: The Finalists – Two Parts for the Finalists
1. The Trade Show presentation held prior to the Investor Pitch event will be evaluated on the following criteria and worth 20% of the final judging
The professionalism of the presentation of the materials (20)
The Professionalism of the team (10)
The creativity and the information value of the materials (25)
The extent to which the materials convey what the product or service is (25)
Information provided at the Trade Show is consistent with the Business Plan (20)
2. The Five Minute Investor Pitch Presentation will be evaluated on the following criteria and worth 80% of the final judging. One member of the team will do the presentation, but all should be present on the stage. Numbers in parenthesis indicate value of that piece.
The quality of the responses to questions from the judges (10)
Clear explanation of the product or service and persuasiveness of the oral presentation/pitch (10)
Venture viability (10)
Clear statement of the problem/opportunity (customer pain) and solution (includes value proposition and customer pain you are eliminating) (20)
Features & benefits of goods or services that the venture proposes and business model (20)
Market potential – size of opportunity, competitive analysis & competitive advantage (20)
Forecast and Financial summary and need for investment (10)
What is Expected for the Investor Pitch – a 5 Minute Presentation
One member of each team, and in the case of an individual contestant that individual, will make a presentation to the panel of judges and to an audience
The pitch is an oral presentation made without interruption for five minutes, and will be followed by five minutes of questions from the judges
The pitch, while demonstrating communication skills, describes the business proposal succinctly and persuasively so that the judges, if they were actual venture capitalists, would be eager to fund it
3. People’s Choice Awards
Are up to the audience. The live audience will listen to the investor pitches and after they are all completed, they will vote for their choice.
Multi-disciplinary, cross-pollinated teams are encouraged.
We will accept new ventures, products, innovative projects, and non-profit ideas, and will consider existing business ideas.
The objective of the business tracks is to promote marketable business and social enterprise ideas that have the potential to attract funding, launch, and prosper. Each student on the team should be involved from concept and development of the business plan and ideally take an active ownership role in the startup.
All plans, pitches, and presentations must be accurate and represent the venture in an honest manner. Misrepresentation will result in disqualification.
Remember this is a competition. Your Business Proposal needs to differentiate your business from other competitors. The clarity and descriptiveness of your proposal will make a difference and enhance your chances of becoming a finalist. In the business world, you would need to do the same thing to inspire stakeholders to support your new venture.
Business Plans are to be submitted as a single, printable PDF file. Plans are limited to seven pages including a one-page executive summary (but not including a cover page and single table of contents page).
However, the written plan may include up to six additional pages of appendices.
Page format is one line spacing with one-inch margins all around and 12 point times new roman font. This line spacing and font requirement applies to the textual content of the document and not to titles and descriptions accompanying pictures, graphs, tables or worksheets. All pages must be numbered excluding the cover page.
The cover page must include the venture name, team members, and logo if available.
Financial data should be summarized and highlighted in the written plan, with supporting details and spreadsheet information in the Appendix. Startup costs, how investment will be used, along with income and cash flow statements are appropriate.
Components of the Business Plan
• Cover Page
• Executive Summary
• Business Overview/Description
• Competitive Analysis and Advantages
• Market Opportunity
• Product Description and/or Services
• The Market – Market analysis
• Organization and Management Team
• Financial Analysis and Funding Request
Executive Summary Includes
• Business description concept – what customer pain are you solving. Value Proposition
• Business Model
• Target market and need
• Competitive advantages
• Financial summary – include breakeven point, and over a 3 year period revenue trend, and gross margin
• Funding requirements: what do you need?
Business Overview Includes
• Company description and business model
• Value proposition-financial
• Value proposition—social or environmental
• Vision
• Current Status
• Current or committed funding and all funding sources
Market Opportunity
• Describe and define the problem
• What is the Customer’s Pain that you are going to solve?
• How are you going to solve it?
• Competitive Analysis (analysis of the current competition and assessment of why the problem is not being solved by competitors)
Management Team
• Founders and key management
• Industry experience; Educational backgrounds
• Board of advisors (critical to the assessment of the overall viability; can develop the team’s experience if needed)
• Optional: Board of directors (3 required by law, usually not until first round of institutional funding is in place)
Include an analysis of your financials that includes a breakeven point, and a spreadsheet that covers a three-year period.
• Gross margins over a three-year period
• Revenue over three years
• Cash Flow over three years
• Profit
Reason for the investment
Explain how you will use the funding to support/start this business venture and sustain it beyond the initial funding.
What Happens After Business Plans Are Submitted
• Written Business Plans will be forwarded to a panel of judges for review prior to competition
• Six Finalists will be selected and announced in
• The finalists will prepare a five-minute pitch for the Investor Pitch Competition to be presented in from of the judges and a live audience
• A seminar to prepare for the investor pitch will be held on January 31, 2022, after the selection of the finalists. The date will be posted on the website
• The Competition day will be Monday, Febraury 3rd 2023, 2022, and the schedule of events will be posted on the website
The Final Competition Activities: the Trade Show and Investor Pitch
Activity 1 – Trade Show Presentation to Judges and Public
Trade Show Presentation
Each individual and team contestant finalists will be provided with a table to display prototypes, artifacts and information materials and flyers relating to the product/service the contestants are proposing in their new ventures
This is a marketing opportunity and a chance to further impress the judges. This will allow each contestant to do a one-on-one presentation to each of the judges, using their trade fair display as a prop
Members of the team or the individual (in case of individual contestant) must be present at their designated tables to describe their displays and answer questions. All contestants should be versed in the venture to be able to explain it succinctly
The Trade Show will last one hour and be a public event
Individual tables will be part of the final judging. Thus, the products or services should be presented in a professional, attractive and informative way
Activity 2 – the Investor Pitch
Each team or individual contestant will make a 5-minute presentation to the judges, using props or electronic media as necessary.
The judges will then have 5 minutes to pose questions to the contestants
A people choice award – after all presentations are completed, the audience can vote for the People’s Choice Award
Awards Ceremony. After the competition, the winners of the Business Plan Competition will be announced and prizes awarded.
