Business Plan Competition Preparation
The UW Business Plan Competition is the marquee event for the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In the past ten years,
the UW Business Plan Competition has awarded over $700,000 in prize money to 66 student companies. The competition is designed to promote student ideas
and venture creation by providing a forum in which students can present new business concepts to local venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and investors.
CIE offers numerous ways to prepare for the competition and a schedule for the process:
• Networking Nights kick off the competition in the fall
• Experienced entrepreneurs discuss business plan creation at Resource Nights
• Screening Round when all plans are read by judges
• Judges make simulated investments in teams during the Investment Round
• During the Coaching Round all teams get advice from experienced entrepreneurs
• Sweet Sixteen when semifinalists are evaluated by four panels of judges
• At the Final Round, finalists make presentations and answer questions
• Open to all the Awards Dinner announces and celebrates the winners and runners-up
To get more information about the 2008 Business Plan Competition, view the slide deck:
What You Need to Know to Compete.
Networking Nights in Fall Quarter provide a forum for students from different disciplines to get together and discuss business ideas. These events facilitate the building of teams for the competition – entrepreneurs with great ideas but little experience have the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals who can join their teams. Alternately, students who want to participate but don't have an idea of their own can meet students eager to assemble a team around a particular business concept.
Resource Nights, offered throughout Winter Quarter, bring in experts from the local entrepreneurial community to teach various aspects of writing and presenting a business plan. These sessions are open to students and the public. Typical topics include:
• Writing a Winning Business Plan and Crafting the Executive Summary
• Creating a Competitive Advantage
• Effective Marketing Strategies and Knowing Your Distribution Channels
• Working Through the Numbers and Pitching for Dollars
• Legal Issues in Entrepreneurship
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The Screening Round, an online event, is the first major hurdle for students participating in the
competition. Students email their business plan executive summaries to uwcie@u.washington.edu. Over the course
of the weekend, each business plan executive summary is read and scored by approximately seven judges who are encouraged to provide written feedback
for students. After the Screening Round, an announcement of teams advancing to the Investment Round is sent via email. Click here to see exactly what the judges
will be evaluating your 5 - 7 page executive summary on: judging criteria.
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The Investment Round, arguably the most exciting event of the competition, follows a trades show format
in which teams set up intricate displays and interact with judges to pitch the team’s idea. The judges, all prominent members of the local entrepreneurial
community, are given one thousand “CIE dollars” to invest in a portfolio of teams that they consider the "most viable" – that is, with the best chance for
success in the real world. At the end of the event, investment dollars are collected and tallied. The sixteen teams receiving the highest “funding” are
announced at a reception immediately following and advance to the next round, the Sweet Sixteen.
Information for teams competing in the Investment Round:
Investment Round Rules for Competitors
Examples of one-page executive summaries: Thermopeutics and
RRRead
Complete Calendar of Events
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Coaching Round, non-competitive round that gives teams the opportunity to practice their presentation
in front of a panel of coaches from the local entrepreneurial community. This round is designed not only to simulate the experience of the Sweet
Sixteen and Final Round, but to provide teams with in-depth and constructive feedback.
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The Sweet Sixteen brings together 16 teams who, after honing their presentations in the Coaching Round,
are seeded out among panels and make morning presentations. Judges pick the winning teams by evaluating which plans are the most likely to achieve
their goals according to forecasted timelines. After the presentations within each panel, the panel judges discuss the merits of each of their four
teams and by process of consensus select one team to go on to the Final Round that afternoon. The advancing final teams are announced at lunch.
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The Final Round is open to viewing by all competition participants, faculty, students, and
the public. The finalist teams draw numbers to determine presentation order. Each team has 30 minutes to present and answer questions. The judges reach
their decisions about team ranking by consensus. Winners are announced at the Awards Dinner that evening.
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The Awards Dinner, held at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center downtown, provides students
and judges the opportunity to network and enjoy their success. Winners are announced at the end of the evening. Attendance is by invitation only.
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Promoting learning and
discovery in entrepreneurship
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Contact Information
Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Michael G. Foster School of Business
Lewis Hall 320, Box 353200
P: 206-685-9868
Email: uwcie@u.washington.edu
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