"Opportunity for Indiana" Business Plan Competitions provide the people of Indiana with an opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship through the development and presentation of a business idea to a panel of judges.
Participants in the competition will have an opportunity to define their ideas in commercial terms and to compete for substantial cash prizes that could be used to further the commercialization of their ideas. Participants will also have the opportunity to attend a series of mini-workshops on various business related subjects important to writing a business plan, forming a firm or commercializing an idea.
The competition is conducted in the following stages:
1. Teams must register electronically.
2. A series of workshops will be held.
3. Executive summaries will be submitted.
4. The Top 15 semi-finalists will be chosen and must submit a full business plan.
5. Five finalists will be chosen to present at the location and date designated for each region.
Entrants in the northeast Indiana competition must be residents of one of the following counties to be eligible: Elkhart, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Steuben, Dekalb, Noble, Whitley, Huntington, Allen, Adams, Wells, Grant or Wabash
Teams may only submit one business plan for consideration and participants can only be a member of one team. Teams finishing in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in the Opportunity for Indiana Competitions are not eligible to compete in future competitions.
Teams competing in the Opportunity for Indiana Competition may also compete in the Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurial Competition and the Life Sciences Business Plan Competition (provided the team meets the eligibility requirements of the those competitions). See the specific competition Web sites for details.
Judges will be drawn from several different functional and industry areas to evaluate the business and technical concepts of each participant. The judges will be selected based on their respective backgrounds, and a balance will be attempted between business and technical representation. All judges will have meaningful experience in or exposure to the early-stage technology development process. Judges with this experience should be able to best understand business-formation challenges faced by the participants in different types of businesses.
Likewise, to assist in judging the business portion of the presentations, we will include on the panel individuals from venture capital and private equity firms, accounting and law firms, and others involved with business entity creation. These judges will evaluate the fundability of the Participant's concepts and the ultimate market potential of an idea. Frequently, these judges can also provide useful feedback about professionalizing the business plan and presentation to attract additional funding or strategic partners.
The actual criteria used for judging the technical and commercial merits of a participant’s entry are based on the professional opinions of the judges in evaluation of both the written and verbal presentations.
The judging panel should function as an investment group seeking to reach consensus on the venture they would most likely fund. The quality of the idea, the technical feasibility, the business potential, and the persuasiveness of the written plan and oral presentation all influence the judge's decision. Ultimately, however, their votes follow their money, and the winner is the team, which convinces them to invest. Although specific forms and evaluation criteria provide guidelines, the goal is to reach consensus on the concept that represents the best investment opportunity.
The Opportunity for Indiana business plan competitions offer a total guaranteed prize
package of $50,000 for the northeast Indiana regional competition. Additional
prizes and in-kind services will also be offered through the Northeast Indiana Innovation
Center and the Purdue Technical Assistance Program.
Prizes will be awarded to the winners in the following amounts:
1st Place: $25,000
2nd Place: $15,000
3rd Place: $10,000