University of Evansville

Evansville New Venture Creation Competition Rules and Submission Requirements

Evansville New Venture Creation Competition Rules and Submission Requirements

1. This competition is open to all full and part time undergraduate students enrolled in a college or university during the academic year of 2007/2008 (September 1, 2007 to August 31, 2008). Students who have graduated are not eligible to participate.

2. A competitive team may consist of an individual or a group of students. Teams should not exceed 5 persons.

3. Each team may submit only one business plan to the competition.

4. Each team must submit registration form no later than February 8th, 2008. An electronic version of the plan and separate two page executive summary are due no later than February 22nd, 2008. The faculty advisors and student representatives of the top plans will be notified of their acceptance to compete by 12:00 pm (CST), Friday, March 7th, 2008.

5. The management team outlined in the plan may contain the names of individuals who are not associated with the university. The management team may contain some individuals who are not students, however, all presenting group members must have a key role on the management team and have significant ownership positions. Non student members of the venture's management team may not participate in the presentations.

6. The business plan must represent the original work of each competitor. The group must sign a statement indicating it is the original work of the author(s). The author(s) will retain all rights to the plan regarding its use at all times prior to and following the competition. Judges, reviewers, staff or the audience will not be asked agree to or sign non disclosure statements for any participant.

7. The business plan must be for a seed, start up or early stage venture and must address the entire business concept (including implementation). The business plan must contain information about all aspects of the new venture creation process, including how, when and where the plan will be implemented. The plans may not contain fabricated information about (but not limited to) the following: backgrounds, experience and educational level of members of the management team; stage of product development; product performance claims; market survey results.

8. Plans are limited to 20 pages (typed and double spaced) of text. This includes the executive summary and summary financial data. Detailed spreadsheets and appropriate appendices can follow the text portion of the plan, but will be limited to 10 pages. In total the plan should not exceed 30 pages.

9. Summary financial data should include a cash flow statement, income statement, balance sheet, and use for funds and possible exit strategies.

10. Appendices should be included only when they support the findings, statements and observations in the plan. Because of the expected number of teams/plans entering the competition, reviewers and judges may not be able to read all of the material in the appendices. Therefore, the text portion of the plan (20 pages) must contain all pertinent information in a clear and concise manner.

11. For ease in handling, we request that all copies of business plans be professionally bound. Each team accepted into the competition must submit an Official Business Plan Submittal form with 6 printed copies of the written business plan as well as an electronic version of the plan. These are due at the University of Evansville School of Business no later than 12:00 pm (CST), March 14th, 2008.

Mail to:

Peter Sherman, Ph.D.
University of Evansville
Schroeder Family School of Business Administration
1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722

E-mail: newventure@evansville.edu

12. Copies of the business plans will be distributed to the panels of judges for evaluation of the written plan prior to each round of the competition.

13. Teams will give a short (8 minute) presentation utilizing visual aids, and then engage in a 5 minute question and answer where the judges will ask questions and request clarification of the plan. Team members can then respond to the concerns immediately. There will be approximately 5 minutes between each presentation for set-up/preparation. (These are the estimated times, the actual times will be specified after the teams have been announced.)

14. Teams will all compete on Friday. Winners will be announced on the Friday afternoon, April 4th.