Business Plan Competitions - What are They

Written on December 18, 2007 by Amanda M. Gladden

Business plan competitions have been around for several years, primarily offered by business schools initially, they are becoming increasingly mainstream- being offered by some states, wineries, economic development programs and even Avon. If you are in the early stages of planning or are a young start up, do not turn up your nose at this excellent source of seed funds and advice. Most competitions are organized annually, particularly the university based events.

Typically, you or your team register to participate and follow the contest timeline for submitting preliminary materials such as an executive summary. Depending on the contest, you may have to submit a full business plan at a later date and if your plan makes it to the finals, you and your team will have to appear in person to do a presentation or “pitch” in front of the judges and investors in some cases. Competitions sponsored by businesses on the other hand, sometimes require only an essay or video entry describing your business idea.

At the university level, business plan competitions are staged for undergraduate or graduate students, depending on the university, and grad students may not necessarily have to be pursuing an MBA for some competitions. For other competitions, all members of a competing team do not have to be students of the university, if at least one on the team is a student or former student in some cases, the team can compete.

Shortlist of University-sponsored Business Plan Competitions:

Babcock Elevator Pitch Competition - Wake Forest University

Duke Start-Up Challenge - Duke University

The Nascent 500 Business Plan Challenge - Ball State University

Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest - Harvard Business School

IBK Capital Ivey Business Plan Competition - University of Western Ontario, Richard Ivey School of Business

Moot Corp. Competition - University of Texas, McCombs School of Business

OFC Venture Challenge - Clark Atlanta University

Venture Adventure - Colorado State University

Shortlist of Business Plan Competitions Held by Other Organizations :

Jungle Business Plan Challenge - Jungle Media Group

S.E.E.D. Business Plan Competition - SEED National Forum

Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest - The Wisconsin Technology Council

How Do Winners Benefit?

Besides the prize money, the amounts of which varies depending on the size of the competition– Mirassou Winery’s Make Your Dreams Come True contest, Intuit’s Just Start competition and the Wake Forest Elevator Competition (linked above) each offer $50,000 in cash prizes for example; participants get a chance to pitch venture capitalists, excellent exposure and critiques of their business plan which can prove invaluable to everyone even those who do not win.

Many of today’s successful firms came into being after their principals participated in a business plan competition. 1-800 Contacts, a mail-order contact-lens-replacement company in Draper, Utah won the 1995 Brigham Young University business plan competition for example, while Attorneys @ Work, an Internet recruiting and placement service in Atlanta won the 1996, University of Georgia contest.

What are you waiting on? Check out the competitions posted on this blog and consider applying to the ones you qualify for.

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