Business Plan Competition Preliminary Proposal Guide

Eligibility and General Information

• Students can participate as a member of a team (up to five members) or as individuals. Cross-disciplinary teams are strongly encouraged.
• A team or individual can submit only one business plan. An individual cannot be a member of more than one team.
• The business plan must be developed during the student’s time at the university.
• Participants, whether teams or individuals, can have advisers and coaches. These advisers can be faculty members, business executives, entrepreneurs or family members. This is not a requirement. However, it is the students who must present their business plan and participate in the competition.
• Only students are eligible to earn prize money. No payments will be made to non-students.

Preliminary Business Proposal

Summary

In under 2,000 words, summarize your idea and tell us the following:

The name and nature of the proposed business

• An overview of the business opportunity and the key points
• Layout the components to develop and eventually launch a successful business model
• Think carefully about the name of your product/service (business)
• Explain the basic business idea
• Describe the product or service you wish to sell
• What industry and market does your business belong to?
• What is the attraction of this industry/market?

Capabilities and experiences of the student(s) to carry out the business plan:

• Define the skills, abilities and personality characteristics that you and your team members have to carry out the business?
• Assess if other capabilities and experiences are needed and how they will be attained?

An assessment of the market for your product or service:

• Who is your target market? How did you identify them?
• Problem – Solution – Benefit
• How will the product/service appeal to the market place?
• Describe the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) in your strategy to make your product/service appeal to and fulfill the target market?

A review of existing and potential competitors:

• What similar competitive products or services are there?
• How will you compete with them?
• How is your plan different?

A description of how the product or service will be created, distributed and sold:

• What are the resources required for this product/service (business)?
• Where will you get your supplies?
• If applicable, how and where will you produce the product(s) or services?
• How will you package or deliver your product or service?

An exploration of potential legal issues:

• Will you and how will you intellectually protect your product/service? (Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, Copyrights)
• What will be the ownership structure of your business? (Sole proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation)

Sources of financing, projection of revenues and profits, and appeal to potential investors:

• Where will you get the financing to start-up your business?
• What will the breakdown of your funding requirements be (debt/equity)?
• How much will it cost to launch your business?
• What are your projections for income?
• Calculate your return on investment?
• What is the financial appeal to your potential investors/partners?

Video Pitch

Create a quick 2-3 minute video pitch that includes the following:

• Your name(s) and name of your business
• What you are interested in?
• What is the opportunity for your business?
• What is the market size of your business? How is the market?
• What is your business model?
• Your call of action

Watch an example video pitch.