High Growth Tech Start-Up:
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Register for the
2013 Business Plan Competition
at The Paul Merage School of Business
Click Here to Register Today!!
The 2013 Business Plan Competition at The Paul Merage School of Business is one of the nation's premier business plan competitions offering all UC Irvine students, staff and researchers the opportunity to form a team, create a business plan and potentially fund their business idea all within six months. The competition begins with our signature Kick-off event. At the Competition Kick-off, participants learn more details about the competition prizes, rules, registration procedures and meet some of the winners from previous years. After registering on meragebpc2013.istart.org, participants form a team, submit their concept papers, attend competition related workshops and submit their final business plan. This culminates in the selection of the semi-finalists and the finalists. The Final Presentations and Awards Ceremony for the Competition will be held on Friday, May 10, 2013, where over $175,000 in cash prizes will be awarded. Between the kick-off and finals, we offer seven workshops covering a broad area of business plan development skills led by expert practitioners from across Orange County. The Competition also provides individual team coaches to all teams that qualify for the semi-finals.
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The 2013 Business Plan Competition Description and Rules
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| 1. Competition Format |
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The Competition has Two Phases:
Phase One: Concept Paper Phase
Winter quarter, 2013, the Concept Paper Phase begins with all teams self-registering on meragebpc2013.istart.org and then joining the 2013 Business Plan Competition at the Paul Merage School of Business Group by 11:59pm, Monday, January 14, 2013. This is required.
For further instructions on how to register click HERE
Following the 2013 Competiton registration on meragebpc2013.istart.org, three workshops are provided to assist competitors with their concept papers. Teams then submit a three-page Concept Paper about their business opportunity by uploading their concept paper in .pdf form on meragebpc.istart.org. (Concept papers are due by 11:59pm, January 28, 2013). With the Concept paper, please provide a cover sheet that gives the names of the team members including their respective school affiliations, graduate/undergraduate status and e-mail address. This cover page does not count against the 3-page maximum of the concept paper.
This initial three-page document is the equivalent to the Executive Summary of the business plan that the team will develop during the second phase of the competition. A sample of the concept paper is provided at the bottom of this page. Teams must join the 2013 Business Plan Competition Group on meragebpc2013.istart.org before submitting their concept papers.
From the concept paper submissions, a panel of judges will select a maximum of 16 teams for participation in Phase II of the competition. The teams selected to continue in the competition will be notified on February 15, 2013 and coaches will be matched with each of the semi-finalist teams soon thereafter. Awards are given to recognize the team with the best concept paper for the overall competition as well as to the team with the best undergraduate concept paper.
Phase Two: Business Plan Development Phase
Teams that are selected for the second phase will work with their coach to submit a 15 page business plan (including all appendices) for the competition. (Business Plans are due by 11:59pm, April 15, 2013)
The 15-page business plan must be submitted on time in order to compete in the final round of the 2013 Business Plan Competition at the Paul Merage School of Business. Please provide a cover sheet (provided below) that gives the names of the team members including their respective school affiliations, graduate/undergraduate status and e-mail address. This cover page does not count against the 15-page maximum of the business plan. All submitted business plans are required to be uploaded through meragebpc2013.istart.org in .pdf format.
The judging of the written business plans is completed by the judges prior to May 10. The judging of each semi-finalist's presentation will be made to a panel of judges on Friday, May 10, 2013 in our presentation rooms the UC Irvine Student Center on the UC Irvine Campus. This will be an all day event. Judges will make their decisions and the formal recognition of all award winners will be acknowledged that day.
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| 2. Teams |
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All UC Irvine Graduate and Undergraduate students are invited to participate in the business plan competition and to form or be part of a competing team. Teams must have:
- At least three (3) total members:
- At least two (2) members must be registered UC Irvine students*
- At least one (1) member must be a student in one of the Paul Merage School’s degree programs**
*A “registered student” is defined as a bona fide student registered at UC Irvine for at least two (2) quarters during the 12-13 academic year.
** full time MBA, fully employed MBA, executive MBA, health care executive MBA, joint-MBA and Masters programs with other UC Irvine Schools, Doctoral or Undergraduate (major and minor) programs
May teams include any non-UC Irvine student members?
Yes, once the team is organized by a UC Irvine student and has at least one Paul Merage School student member, non-students may participate as Auxiliary Members of the team. There is no official upper limit on the number of team members, however about five (5) members is the practical upper limit for an effective team, including any auxiliary members. Auxiliary (non-student members) are expected to be present with their team during all competition events.
Undergraduate Teams:
An undergraduate team is defined as a team where all team members are current undergraduates. One team member must be a registered UC Irvine undergraduate student in the Paul Merage School of Business (majors as well as minors.) Undergraduate teams may compete for all overall competition prizes as well as specific undergraduate Awards.
Changes to your team's composition are allowed up to April 15-- the point at which business plans are submitted. Your final team composition will be considered to be the individuals listed on your business plan cover pages submitted through meragebpc2013.istart.org. Please keep in mind that should your team win a cash award, University policy requires that all team members split the award evenly.
How can I attract more Team Members?
Please use the Facebook group, 2013 Business Plan Competition at The Paul Merage Schoool of Business, discussion wall to advertise your interest in recruiting additional team members. Another option is to contact Tracy Nguyen, BPC Project Manager, to join the running list of interested participants. Tracy can be contacted via e-mail at tracytn3@uci.edu. Of course, use the Competition kick-off on November 13, 2012 to network with others.
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| 3. Business Plan/Idea |
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Teams must present an original idea for a company which may not have been in existence prior to 2011. Teams must be in a "pre-incubator" form and must not be backed by incubators, existing companies or venture capitalists.
Concept Paper and Business Plan Format:
Concept Papers must not be over three pages, excluding the cover page
Business Plans must not be over 15 pages, excluding the cover page
For both documents:
Margins must not be smaller than ½ of an inch on any side
Body text should be between 11 and 12 points inclusive.
Document text should be single-spaced
Submit documents only as a single file in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf format).
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| 4. Judging Guidelines |
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The judges are professionals who come from various business backgrounds and they include experienced investors (angels, venture capitalists, investment bankers), experienced entrepreneurs and senior business people and service professionals who interact with early stage companies like intellectual property attorneys and early stage accounting and consulting firms. Each judge is an expert in the process of starting a business. The judges consider specific criteria when evaluating concept papers and business plans, however ultimately, winning teams usually are those in which the judges would most likely invest their own money. This decision is influenced heavily by several factors:
- Size and growth rate of the market addressed
- Likelihood that the team can create a sustainable competitive advantage
- Simplicity of the business model described
- Believability of the business plan
Specifically, judges are asked to evaluate each semi-finalist on the following criteria:
- 40% - Quality of business plan
- Executive Summary & Company Overview
- Products or Services
- Market Need
- Market Potential for Your Product or Service
- Competitive Advantage
- Management
- Financial Forecasts
- 40% - Impact of Presentation
- Provide evidence of a market
- Provide evidence of ability to execute
- Provide evidence of a return on investment
- 20% - Judges’ assessment of idea potential
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| 5. Award Divisions |
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The 2013 Business Plan Competition at the Paul Merage School of Business is organized into ten different awards:
Overall Competition
All teams, including undergraduate teams compete in the Overall Competition, as it is open to all UC Irvine students, researchers and staff. Overall Competition teams, must have at least three (3) members of which two (2) of members must be registered students at UC Irvine and one (1) of which must be a Merage student. Students and researchers may be from any UC Irvine school or department. The prizes are:
- First Place Prize: $15,000 Cash
- Second Place Prize: $7,500 Cash
- Best Concept Paper: $500 Cash
Undergraduates ONLY
On the day of the final presentations, Undergraduate teams not placing in the Overall Competition will be considered for awards given to undergraduates only. Teams considered for the Undergraduate Award must have at least three (3) members and be composed of only undergraduates of which two (2) of members must be registered students at UCI and one (1) of which must be a Merage student. The prizes are:
- First Place Prize: $2,500 Cash
- Second Place Prize: $1,500 Cash
- Third Place Prize: $1,000 Cash
- Best Concept Paper: $500 Cash
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| 6. Special Awards |
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California Dreamin' Competition:
The winner of the entire competition (including all divisions) has a great opportunity to participate in the California Dreamin' Competition, hosted by Chapman University. On April 26th teams from Universities across California will compete for prizes worth over $100,000. Participating schools include:
- UC Irvine
- UCLA
- UC Berkeley
- Stanford University
- Caltech
- Cal State Fullerton
- Chapman University
Fort Ashford InfoTech Innovation Award
The Fort Ashford InfoTech Innovation Award is given to the team whose IT solution best exemplifies the following:
- Innovative: The IT solution that best leverages current commercially available tools & techniques
- Elegant: The solution that best addresses the business problem it seeks to solve by effectively eliminating the point of pain
- Applicable: A solution that is user friendly, fast, robust, accurate and reliable
The winning team will receive $2,500 and an annual subscription to MSDN (Microsoft Developers Network)
Calit2 TechPortal Award:
TechPortal is a business technology incubator in the Calit2 Building. Calit2 TechPortal Award goes to the BPC first place winner. It serves as a gateway to commercial viability for UCI-based startup. It includes 6 months free tenancy worth $2,750, offers affordable space, access to facilities, services and mentoring.
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| 7. Vator.tv People Choice Poll |
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The UCI Environment Institute is sponsoring a $7,500 Clean Tech Prize within the School Business Plan Competition. All semi-finalists with an innovative product or service that solves a pressing environmental, energy or sustainability problem will be eligible for the Clean Tech Prize. The prize will be awarded to the team with the most promising and well-integrated financial and social returns.
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| 8. Competition Registration |
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Registering for the 2013 Business Plan Competition at the Paul Merage School of Business is easily completed by:
- Go to meragebpc2013.istart.org to register.
- ONLY One team member need to create a team Company and fill out the resulting form.
- To join the 2013 Business Plan Competition at the Paul Merage School of Business, click on the "Log In/Registration" tab and click on "Create User Account".
- Fill out the necessary information and click "Submit".
- An activation e-mail will be sent to your inbox almost instantaneously. Make sure that you click on the link in the e-mail and log in as a new user to activate the account.
- Congratulations!! You have now joined the 2013 Business Plan Competition at the Paul Merage School of Business.
- You may now create your team homepage, upload pictures and documents, post your logo and e-mail friends and family about your new business opportunity
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| 9. Competition Calendar |
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012
2013 BPC Kick-Off
UC IrvineStudentCenter
Doheny A&B
5:30-7:30 pm
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
2013 BPC Workshop
Assessing the Market
Merage School Executive Commons, MPAA 100
6-8:00 pm
Andy Mindlin, RealWorld Marketing RSVP Today!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Competition Registration Closes
11:59 pm
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
2013 BPC Workshop
How to Develop a Winning Concept and Lead Your Team to Success
Merage School Executive Commons, MPAA 100
6-8:00 pm
Charlie Baecker, Don Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
John Creelman, Rain Tree Oncology Services
RSVP Today!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Competition Deadline:
Concept Papers Due
Submit via Vator.tv by 11:59 PM
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Competition Advisory Board Meeting
Merage School Executive Commons, MPAA 100
7:30 am
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
2013 BPC Workshop
How to Write a Business Plan
Merage School Executive Commons, MPAA 100
6-8:00 pm
Seth Yakatan, Yakatan and Associates
RSVP Today!
Friday, February 15, 2013
Competition Semi-Finalists Announced
5:00 pm
Monday, February 25, 2013
2013 BPC Workshop
Intellectual Property & Protection/Product Development
Merage School Executive Commons, MPAA 100
6-8:00 pm Gerard von Hoffman, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP Jeff Blanton, Waypoint Leadership, Inc.
RSVP Today!
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
2013 BPC Workshop
6-8:00 pm
Merage School Executive Commons, MPAA 100
Value Creation Roadmap
Charlie Baecker, Don Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Panel Discussion with past BPC Teams
RSVP Today!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
2013 BPC Workshop
Presentation Skills for Pitching Investors
Merage School Executive Commons, MPAA 100
6:00-8:00 pm
Mike Cannon, Mainpoint Communications
RSVP Today!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Business Plans Due
Submit via Vator.tv by 11:59 pm
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Elevator Pitch Video Taping
Anteater Instructional Resource Building, Room 1030
1:00-10:00 pm
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Competition Judges Orientation Breakfast
Merage School Executive Commons, MPAA 100
7:30-9:30 am
Friday, May 10, 2013
2013 BPC Competition Final Presentations and Awards Ceremony
UC IrvineStudentCenter
Doheny A-D, EmeraldBay A-E, and CrescentBay A-D
7:30 am-6:00 pm
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| 10. Resources for Participants |
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There will be numerous resources available to the teams throughout the competition. They are as follows:
- Reading materials on this site
- Links to various websites and online publications
- Guidelines on what is expected in the concept paper and final business plans
- Workshops on the key elements of a business plan will be offered from January through April
- Team coaches for teams selected for Phase II
Resource Center
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