Submissions for the Business Plan Competition consist of deliverables in four categories. Instructions for each deliverable can be found by clicking on a link below:

Executive Summary (download link)

Competitor Analysis (download link)

ProForma Financials – Cash Basis (download link)

OR

ProForma Financials – Accrual Basis (download link)

    The Judging Committee will accept formal Income Statement and Balance Sheet data prepared in a separate fashion.  Financial Statements should present prior year (if applicable) and three years of forecast information consistent with the BPC spreadsheet model.  

Pitch Deck (download link)

Judging Criteria

Judges will use a 100 Point Scale to evaluate plans and finalist presentations. Points available for each element of the competition include:

ROUND I: Judges’ Review of Submitted Deliverables

(60 POINTS MAXIMUM)

  1. Executive Summary – 40 Points
  2. Competitive Analysis – 10 Points
  3. Pro Forma Financials – 10 Points

Round II: Live Finalist Presentations

(40 POINTS MAXIMUM)

  1. Presentation Content – 20 points
  2. Presentation Quality – 20 points
  • Pitch Deck presentations should not exceed 10 minutes.*
  • Following each team presentation Judges will have 10 minutes for Q&A.

WINNERS WILL HAVE HIGHEST COMBINED POINT TOTALS FOR ROUNDS I & II.

Historically, judges have placed emphasis on many of the following criteria in their scoring decisions: 

  • Are deliverables clear, well-written, and well-communicated?
  • Is there a clear statement of the problem or opportunity?
  • What is the Product/Market fit?
  • What is the Business Model?
  • What is the customer awareness potential? 
  • What are the company differentiators?
  • What is the Go To Market strategy?
  • Has any test marketing work been conducted? 
  • Is the team of sufficient breadth, balance and quality to make its ideas happen?
  • Do the financial projections demonstrate that the team understands its business?
  • Is there a clear statement of financial sources, uses and returns?

* – Teams that exceed the ten-minute presentation time limit will be asked to proceed to the Q&A portion of their presentation.