Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship

Business Concept Paper and Pitch Competitions Guidelines

Submit a three-page Business Concept by February 1, 2012. Compete to win cash prizes totaling $3000!

What is the Business Concept Competition?
Concept Competition is designed to invite participation by a large number of students from across all schools at Drexel, including those who are not currently in the entrepreneurial curriculum. No prior business plan writing experience required. Submit a 3-page business concept describing your business idea, its market potential and how you plan to bring it to market. We welcome business concepts from all schools and departments at Drexel. The Baiada Center Mentors on Call are available to help you every step of the way

When is the deadline for submission?
The deadline for submission of Business Concept Papers is February 1, 2012, at 5 p.m. following the online instructions that follow. The deadline will be taken extremely seriously. Absolutely no papers will be accepted after the deadline.

How to enter the Business Concept Competitions

• Complete registration form online
• Please choose a unique four-digit alpha-numeric PIN to identify your team on the Team Registration Form. If you submit more than one concept paper, each paper must have a unique PIN number.
• Submit your concept paper, including all attachments in PDF format online by clicking here
  (Please note that you will have to submit your team registration information prior to uploading your concept paper. Contact Terri Zobel with any questions, 215-895-0302, terriz@drexel.edu.)

Purpose of the Business Concept Competition

The purpose of the Business Concept Competition is to encourage teams to develop a viable business concept, to evaluate its appropriateness and potential success in the market, and to identify critical issues to resolve when evaluating the feasibility of the business concept.

Participant Eligibility Requirements:

• A business concept may be submitted by an individual or by a team, as long as the individual (if a single-person team) or the team's leader (if a team of two or more) is a current student (graduate, undergraduate, evening college, executive ed, etc.) of Drexel University, whether on co-op or in classes during the deadline periods.
• There is no limit to the number of business concepts or business plans that may be submitted per individual. However, submissions from the same team or individual must be materially different in content and may not represent minor modifications or different versions of the same concept or plan.
• There is no limit to the number of teams in which an individual may participate. As long as the team leader is a current Drexel student, other team members are not required to be affiliated with Drexel. Students are encouraged to build teams across schools at Drexel.
• The business concept must be the original work of the submitting team. The submission of a business idea to the Drexel Business Concept Competition constitutes a representation on the part of all members of the team that the business concept and submission are the original work of the team. If you have doubts about the status of your concept or business, please contact the Baiada Team for clarification before entering.
• Owning the rights to any intellectual property related to your company's business is NOT a requirement for participating in the written business plan competition for purely academic purposes. Student teams can enter the written business plan competition as an academic exercise, with no intention to move forward with creating the company based on their business plan. However, it is important that you address the intellectual property that pertains to your plan by including in your business plan a section entitled "Intellectual Property, Inventions and Technologies," which deals with the question of rights to commercialize the technologies in question. It is also important to take into account the projected costs associated with intellectual property protection and licensing (if the company is based on third party's technology).
• If you plan to start a company to commercialize a technology and compete in the Incubator Competition, it is a requirement that you obtain the rights to the underlying technology before entering the competition. Many technologies developed at Drexel are owned by the University, and its permission is required to commercialize them. Please contact Dr. Robert McGrath in the Office of Research – Technology Commercialization (robert.mcgrath@drexel.edu or 215-895-0303), to determine what permissions may be necessary to commercialize the technology.
• The Drexel Business Concept Competition is created primarily for current students of Drexel University. We intend this competition to approximate real-world business planning conditions as closely as possible, and we understand that some eligible students will wish to bring additional talent to bear while developing their concept. However, we do not encourage outside individuals to approach current Drexel students to collaborate solely for the purpose of submitting a business concept to the Drexel Business Concept Competition. We will closely screen entries to ensure that this is not the case, using the above criteria and other criteria not listed here. To ensure your eligibility, please adhere to the spirit of the Competition when building your teams and choosing a concept to refine and present.

What can I do with my prize money?
Winning teams are free to use the prize money in any way that they wish, whether or not they choose to start their new business. However, teams are encouraged to use prize monies awarded toward the further development of their business concept or plans, or the creation of a business venture.
Will my entry remain confidential?
Many of the judges we ask to participate in the Drexel/Baiada Center Competitions are venture capitalists, investment bankers and other financial investment professionals. As a general practice, these financial investment professionals seldom sign confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements. However, participants in the Competition should understand, and can be confident that the judges selected will respect the confidential nature of all submissions and honor the spirit of the Competition.

Judging Criteria:

Judges for the Business Concept Paper Competition will score your three-page Business Concept based on:

• The research and analysis evident from the concept description.
• The quality of your team's analysis of the strategic elements of your business concept described in Critical Analysis Ingredients below.
• The effectiveness of the team's communication of the business opportunity.
• The extent to which your business opportunity, as presented, is both attractive and realistic.

Critical Analysis Ingredients:

Defining the Business Opportunity

• What is the business opportunity or market need your concept addresses?
• What is your product/service and how does it meet this need?
• Is the product or service technologically feasible? (Do not submit business concepts based on technology that is not fully developed.)
• Who is your target market? What is the size and what are the characteristics of this market?
Defining the Industry
• What is the industry in which your business will compete?
• Who are the existing players in the industry, and who might be potential players?
• What is your competitive advantage in this industry?
Creating a Viable Business
• How will you bring this idea to market?
• How will the business make money? Identify your revenue model (i.e. licensing fees, direct sales to customer, advertising, etc.)
• Note: It is not necessary to focus on financials in the concept competition; however, there must be enough information for the reader to ascertain the financial viability of the idea, and whether the revenue model is rational.
Identifying Critical Issues to Resolve
• What are the critical issues to resolve as you move forward in your business planning process?
What Not to Include
• Financial projections – again, include enough information to convey the financial viability and a rational revenue model.
• Management bios

Word Count and Appendices

Entries may not exceed three single-spaced pages or 1,500 words, including all appendices you choose to submit. Do not use a typeface smaller than 10 pt. or margins smaller than one inch. No financial statements are required. It is your team's responsibility to honor the spirit of this length limit. Those who exceed the spirit of this length limit will be disqualified.

The Judging Process

Each business concept paper will be evaluated and scored by at least three judges. Each judge will provide feedback to teams. This will allow teams to receive significant feedback at the business concept stage that, if incorporated, a feasibility study and the full business plan for the Business Plan Competition in March, 2012 will substantially increase the quality of your entries. Judges will be drawn from the entrepreneurial community in the Mid-Atlantic region, and will include entrepreneurs, investors, and Drexel alumni -- all skilled in analyzing business opportunities and evaluating business plans.

Prize Amounts

Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three winners of the Business Concept Competition.

First Place: $1000

Second Place: $500

Third Place: $250