Business Plan Submission & Challenge Procedures

The Entrepreneur Challenge is scheduled to kick off January, 2009. Questions regarding the 2009 Entrepreneur Challenge should be sent to entrepreneurship@fiu.edu. Teams interested in participating must submit their application forms on January 30, 2009.

Teams that do not turn in their applications on this date, have the opportunity to submit their application form on the late deadline on February 27, 2009.

All teams accepted into the Entrepreneur Challenge must submit a written business plan. Business plans are due no later than March 23, 2009. View the Calendar for more information on the events, deadlines, and fees.

Rules and requirements for the business plan submission, and presentation are described in detail below. Please read and follow them carefully.
 1. Each team may submit only one (1) business plan.

 2. The business plan must be for an original seed, start-up, or early-stage venture. The business can be a for-profit, non-profit, or hybrid model business.

The business plan itself must address the entire business concept, including its implementation. Proposals for the buy-out or expansion of an already-existing firm, for tax-shelter opportunities, for real estate syndications, or for other consulting projects do not qualify.

3. The business should not have generated more than $50,000 in revenues nor have risen outside equity capital before March 2009. The plan must not contain any fabricated information about the background, experience, and educational level of management team members, about the stage of product development, about product performance, about market survey results, or about other related topics.

4. The submitted business plan must represent the original work of each team. A signed statement to this effect must accompany the submission of the business plan (see the Challenge Entry Kit). The team’s members will retain the rights to the plan regarding its use at all times before and after the competition.

5. The Center will not ask judges, coaches, or staff to agree to or sign non-disclosure agreements for any of the teams or their members. By taking part in the competition, entering teams agree that neither Florida International University nor the Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center nor their organizations or entities assume any liability whatsoever for any disclosures of business plan information which may be made (inadvertently or otherwise) by any judge, coach, staff member, or other individual connected with, participating in, or receiving information from or about the competition.

6. Each team must submit the Business Plan Submission Form along with 10 hard copies of the business plan (see the Challenge Entry Kit) (three-hole punched for insertion into standard notebooks for judge’s review) by March 23, 2009 by 5:00p.m. 

To ensure the Business Plan Submission Form and the business plans are received by the official deadline, applicant teams should consider hand-delivery, UPS, or FedEx. All materials must be mailed or delivered to: Entrepreneur Challenge, Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center, Florida International University, University Park-VH 130, Miami, Florida 33199-0001. (Phone: 305-348-7156).

7. Each business plan should contain, at a minimum, the sections listed below. The content of each of these sections is described in detail in the Business Plan Guide.
  • Executive Summary
  • Product or Service Description
  • Market Analysis
  • Management Team
  • Operations
  • Financial Projections
  • Cash Flow Statement
  • Income Statement
  • Balance Sheet
  • Appendix

8. The business plan that is submitted-from the “Executive Summary” to the “Financial Projections”-should be no longer than 25 pages. Please do not use a small (10 pt. or lower) or hard to read font. The Appendix, which should contain additional, relevant information and data, can follow this text portion of the plan but should not be longer than 15 pages. The total submission should be 40 or fewer pages.

Semi-Final Oral Presentation Round

Up to 10 semi-finalist teams will be eligible to participate in the Semi-Final Oral Presentation Rounds. A team of judges will be assigned to a group of written business plans which they will review and score prior to the Semi-Final Oral Presentation Round.

1. This competition will be open to the public. Neither FIU, the Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center nor their affiliate organizations and entities will assume any responsibility for ensuring the confidentiality of the oral business plan presentations.

2. During the Semi-Final Oral Presentation Round, each team will present its business plan to a panel of judges. Each team will have ten (10) minutes to present its plan to the panel. Following this presentation, the team will have twelve (12) minutes to respond to questions from the panel. The judges also will provide them with constructive feedback on both their written plans and oral presentations.

3. There will be five (5) minutes in between each team’s oral presentation. No team waiting to present its plan may view the presentations of other teams. Once a team has presented its plan, however, its members may remain in the audience to view the presentations by the remaining teams.

4. The following day, 6 finalist teams will be selected to participate in the Final Oral Presentation Rounds. The selection will be based solely on the numerical scores provided by the judging panels. Each team will be contacted individually regarding their advancement to the Final Rounds.

5. If a team is selected as a Finalist Team, they will then be required to resubmit a PDF document of the business plan along with 10 new hard copies of the business plan (three-hole punched for insertion into standard notebooks for judge’s review) for the Final Judging Panels. This second business plan deadline allows the team to make any adjustments in the plan they desire after receiving feedback from the Semi-Final Judging Panels
 

Final Oral Business Plan Competition

1. The six (6) finalist teams selected will compete in the Final Oral Presentation Rounds.

2. This competition will be open to the public. Neither FIU, the Global Entrepreneurship Center, the College of Business Administration, nor their affiliate organizations and entities will assume any responsibility for ensuring the confidentiality of the oral business plan presentations.

3. All teams participating in the Challenge agree that FIU, the Center and their designees have the unconditional right to photograph and videotape the oral presentation sessions of the competition. They agree to designate a team representative to take part in a video interview following their team’s presentation if needed. They also agree that FIU, the Center, and their designated organizations and entities may use photos, interview segments and B-roll, in whole or in part, for publicity or marketing purposes as they see fit. Participating teams agree that they have been made aware of these conditions.

4. All finalist and winning teams will be expected to establish their business as a legal entity in order to be able to receive their cash prizes. They will need to provide the Challenge office with verification of their having formed a legal entity and complete a “Payment Release” form indicating the business name and address to which the prize check is to be sent. The “Payment Release” form will be emailed to semi-finalist teams upon their selection as semi-finalists by the judges. If teams fail to establish their business as a legal entity by August 2009 they will no longer be eligible to receive prizes.

5. During the Final Oral Presentation Competition, each finalist team will have twelve (12) minutes to present its plan to the panel of judges. Following this presentation, the team will have twelve (12) minutes to respond to questions from the judges.

6. There will be five (5) minutes in between each team’s oral presentation. No team waiting to present its plan may view the presentations of other teams. Once a team has presented its plan, however, its members may remain in the audience to view the presentations by the remaining teams.

7. At the conclusion of this event, the panel of judges will meet to select the winners. See About the Challenge for the prizes that will be awarded. The announcement of winners will take place at the Final Oral Presentation Rounds on April 16, 2009.

The two winning teams will also be recognized at Florida International University’s, College of Business Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame on May 16, 2009. For more information about the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, please visit: http://business.fiu.edu/alumni/ehof.cfm.

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