UD Business Plan Competition Department of Management & Marketing, School of Business Administration

A special thanks to our sponsors UD National Alumni Association

Overview of today’s presentation What is a Business Plan competition? Elevator pitch Finalist round Prize money Key dates Support Q & A/Drawing for prizes

What is a Business Plan Competition? Investigate a new business opportunity – Markets – Competition – Costs and benefits Write 11-part business plan in common format Present your plan

UD BPC: A 2-stage competition Stage 1: Elevator Pitch – One page entry form with information about your product/service – Deliver 1 minute elevator pitch – Judges select five finalists and top ten elevator pitches Stage 2: Finalists – Finalists write a full business plan during the spring term – Present their plans to judges in March (20 minute presentation)

UD BPC prize money: $50,000 overall Finalist Round 1 st Place$20, nd Place$10, rd Place $ 5, th Place$ 3, th Place$ 3, Elevator Pitch 1 st Place$ 1, nd Place$ 1, rd Place $ 1, th Place$ th Place$ th -10 th $

Stage 1: How the competition works Entries can be solo or team (8 person maximum) Open to everyone-two entries per person Finalist teams must include UD students or alums

More on how Stage 1 works First stage is easy to enter: 1 page, 1 minute Can withdraw if you can’t do the full plan Five finalists selected from the first stage… – Write a full business plan – Are guaranteed to win at least $3,000

What is an Elevator Pitch? In a one minute presentation you… – Present your idea – Cover six general areas – Judges ask no questions…you simply present

What are the 6 areas of an Elevator Pitch? 1. Introduction 2. Problem Statement 3. Opportunity 4. Resources Required 5. Returns to Investor 6. Tag line and closing

What do the EP judges look for? 1. Novelty/Cleverness/Usefulness 2. Quality of Benefits provided 3. Competitiveness 4. Growth Potential 5. Ability to Execute 6. Quality of presentation

Stage 1: Application process 1 page application – Opens 14 September, 2009 – Closes 11 November, 2009 What we ask you to tell us – Demographic information – 6 areas of elevator pitch

Elevator Pitch stage: Key dates Sept.14 th :Online system opens Sept. 25 th -Nov. 6 th : Five open coaching sessions Nov. 11 th : Application deadline Nov. 6 th, & 13 th : Dress rehearsals Nov. 21 st : Elevator pitch Dec. 2 nd : Finalists announced

Stage 2: Finalist process Finalist teams… – Are notified of their status on 2 December, 2009 – Are paired with Mentors (15 hours of Mentor time per team) – Are provided free training sessions During Spring 2010 term… – Teams develop Business Plans – Create presentation slides for judges

Stage 2: Final presentations Each finalist team… – Has 20 minutes to present to judges – Will take questions from judges for ten minutes – Can use props, multi-media in presentation Other rules… – 0rder of presentations is random and not announced in advance – Entire team must be present, but not all team members have to speak

What do finalist judges look for? Quality of the idea Quality of the written plan Quality of the oral presentation Quality of the financial analysis Quality of the team

Stage 2 key dates Dec. 2 nd : Five Finalist teams announced Dec. 11 th : Team membership finalized Mar. 12 th: Business Plan due (electronic PDF) Mar th : Dress Rehearsal Mar. 27 th : Presentations Occur Apr. 8 th : Winners announced

Why enter the UD business plan competition? Entrepreneurship courses focus on… A. Spotting opportunities B. Planning to seize those opportunities C. Executing the plans Our goal is to make these steps easier/simpler

Why is this a good resume line? It’s a competition, so you outperformed others Great ideas suggest leadership and creativity Great presentations suggest great communication skills A Business Plan shows you grasp the “big picture”

Eligibility: Plan parameters Work must be original--plans checked for plagiarism. Start-ups acceptable up to one year old. Non-profits are acceptable, but judged the same as others Plans cannot violate Marianist values or conflict with UD mission Plans must be legal Plans cannot have a liquor license Anyone may enter up to two plans, but can only be a finalist once. Students can’t be serving a university suspension during the competition

Support for entrants Five coaching sessions during the fall, 2009 Optional rehearsals for elevator pitch Coaching sessions for all finalist teams Business mentor assigned to each finalist team Access to market research, planning tools, etc.

Coaching sessions and rehearsals Sept. 25 th Opportunity Recognition Oct. 2 nd Adding Wow! Oct. 23 rd From a Product to a business Oct. 30 th Financials Nov. 6 th Adding growth to your plan Nov. 13 th Dress Rehearsal Nov. 20 th Dress Rehearsal

What if you don’t have an idea yet? We’ll help you generate many good ideas We’ll help facilitate partnerships with people who do have ideas Any other questions?