Competition Rules and Legal Considerations

The following rules and legal considerations generally apply to all competitions and contests run by the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship and its Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship.

• Competition-specific rules, eligibility requirements or other considerations will be noted on the respective competition page.
• These rules are binding throughout the duration of the competition.
• Participation in the competition indicates that teams accept these rules and regulations and agree to abide by them.
• Drexel reserves the right to disqualify any team and/or team member they believe are not abiding by the rules of the competition.

Eligibility

The team lead must have played a significant role in conceiving the venture, hold a key management role in the venture, be actively involved in the business venture and be the primary presenter for the formal presentations.

Teams are permitted to have members who are not students at Drexel University, but the team lead and the competition presenter must be a co-founder. We define co-founder as someone who is the designated CEO, COO or CTO and/or owns at least 25% of the company (if equity has been allocated). Teams who bring on Drexel students solely for purposes of the competition will be denied entry. The Baiada Institute reserves the right to deny any team based on concerns about its ownership.

• All correspondence during the competition must be through the team lead.
• There is no limit to the maximum or minimum number of people on each team.
• An individual may participate on more than one team but can only be the team lead on one team.
• Generally, prior finalists (1st, 2nd, 3rd) of a competition cannot complete again in that competition but may be considered for other competitions.
• All submitted materials must be the original work of the team.
• Owning the rights to any intellectual property related to your company’s business is a requirement for participating in the competition.
• If selected as a finalist, the team lead must be available for the presentations and judging depending on the presentation modality (e.g. in-person or virtual).

A team is not generally eligible if it has received at least $50,000 in institutional funding or has earned at least $75,000 in gross revenue before the competition application deadline. Institutional funding includes funding from angel investors, VCs and/or accelerator/incubator programs but does not include incentive crowdfunding. Certain exceptions on the thresholds may be made on a competition-by-competition basis.

Drexel reserves the right to confirm that a team meets these requirements and can disqualify any team at any time if it is believed that the team lead is not a full, active and leading member of the team.

The student must be a full-time student and not on leave for the quarter or quarters the competition is held (including the application deadline period and the final round of the competition).

Acceptable Business Ideas

The types applications that are eligible for the competition include but are not limited to:

• New venture/new business in a for-profit business
• New venture/new business in a non-profit business
• Joint venture or alliance-based business (e.g., create new entity from current enterprises)

Drexel reserves the right to reject any application for reasons including, but not limited to:

• Deemed to be in violation of any of Drexel University’s policies including Code of Conduct
• Deemed to be in violation of Drexel University’s Community Standards including the Student Handbook
• Violates any local, state or national law and/or appears to be pornographic in nature or is related to drug, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana or CBD use
• Are multi-level marketing businesses
• Does not present sufficient content or material appropriate to send to judges for evaluation and feedback
• Does not follow the rules set forth by the competition
• Does not meet all of eligibility requirements of the competition

Pre-Requisites

Students who have had some exposure to entrepreneurship classes, workshops or similar experience may perform better in the competition, so we encourage all participants to get as much exposure as possible to Drexel’s entrepreneurship resources as possible. These include:

• Taking a class at the Close School of Entrepreneurship
• Attending an entrepreneurial skills workshop at the Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship
• Meeting with a Baiada Institute mentor

It is highly recommended that if you have little or no prior entrepreneurship experience that you review your application and presentation with a Baiada Institute mentor prior to submission. You may also attempt to add team members who may have prior experience with entrepreneurial teams.

Confidentiality

Drexel University honors the confidentiality of all participants applications. Application details will not be released, without permission, for any purposes other than use in the competition. The judges also recognize the sensitivity of the materials being presented and all participants, judges and mentors should consider themselves bound by Drexel University Code of Conduct policies.

Teams may wish to include the following optional disclaimer on the cover sheet of their submissions, recognizing that it is not a legally binding agreement:

This application is confidential and is presented solely for the purpose of evaluation in the competition. This application may not be reproduced or redistributed in whole or in part. By accepting a copy of this application, the recipient agrees not to reproduce or disclose the contents of this application to third parties without the prior written consent of its authors.

Some participants may ask that confidentiality agreements be secured from mentors, organizers and/or judges. While the organizers of the competition appreciate the concerns behind these requests, as a matter of convention and practicality, confidentiality agreements are not signed as part of the competition.

Submissions for the initial application are kept confidential and are not disclosed publicly. However, during the competition presentations you should ensure that you are not disclosing proprietary information that could prevent you from later gaining patent protection for your idea if you have not already filed for a provisional patent. You should speak to a patent attorney for any questions or concerns about disclosure

General questions or concerns regarding confidentiality should be addressed to baiada@drexel.edu.

University Claims on Student-Developed Technologies

Drexel University’s Intellectual Property Policy information can be found under the Office of the Provost’s Academic Policies.

Generally, degree-seeking student inventions are the student’s own property. As stated in the university policy, “Inventions which the inventor can demonstrate result from research or other work conducted on the inventor’s own time without use of Drexel University resources such as University funds, space, personnel or facilities, are the property of the inventor. The University undertakes no responsibility with respect to such inventions. However, at the option of the inventor, such inventions may be assigned to the University and processed as University-sponsored inventions hereunder.”

Students are encouraged to put efforts into seeking the advice of faculty members and through other resources at the University. These include efforts to determine what permissions may be necessary to commercialize Drexel owned technologies.

Judges’ Identity

The Baiada Institute generally does not publicize the names and associations of judges who participate in a competition and will not reveal the identity of judges that read competition applications unless the judge specifically requests an opportunity to contact the students who submitted the application.

Certain competitions feature onsite judges and those may be announced during the competition period and publicized on the competition website.

No participant may under any circumstances attempt to contact a judge before or during the competition. Any such behavior will result in the disqualification of the participant and his/her team from the competition.

Award Payments

All award payments are made to the student competitor and may be considered taxable income. No awards payments can be made to a company or other legal entity.

Payments are made as either payroll payments (for students who have been employed by the University within the past 12 months) or as miscellaneous income reported on IRS form 1099-MISC. Taxes may be taken out on awards. Since individual tax liability depends on each individual’s circumstances, you should consult a tax advisor.