How To Judge A Business Plan Competition
Six Lessons From Judging Harvards Business Plan Competition Harvards Business Plan Contestan annual event since 1997has spawned hundreds of business plans. Like all of your business plan you measure its value by the decisions it causes.
Use your competition section to guide decisions if thats what you need.
How to judge a business plan competition. Know your business needs. Your Business Proposal needs to differentiate your business from other competitors. Who are the Judges.
So I asked John Reale who for the past seven or so years has been a juror for the Rice Business Plan Competition RBPC scheduled for April 14-16 in Houston Texas. Judges will receive a minimum of three business plans to read and evaluate. How sales will be achieved.
Be an Expert on Your Product and its Market. Business Plan Competition Judging. The RBPC is unique in its stature size format participantsand most of all the quality of its judges.
Center for Business Innovation. Evaluate Written Business Plans. Judges read business plans first then hear the pitches then ask questions and vote for winners.
The 12 finalists will make their business plan presentations to a panel of judges. How the Business Plan Competition is judged The various rounds of the competition have different criteria. Projections are simply projections and a good way to give a judge a better prospective on your business plan is to include a section in your business plan titled Notes to Financials In this section you can explain how you came to the numbers you are presenting instead of leaving the assumptions to the reader.
The clarity and descriptiveness of your proposal will make a difference and enhance your chances of becoming a finalist. All teams will receive the judges comments but not their scores. During the competition judges are asked to evaluate each team individually.
Normally it consists of a two-to-three-page executive summary explaining all. Find Out Who the Prior Winner Was. Screening Round Final Round.
Winning a Business-Plan Competition. RBPC judges come from a wide range of sectors and a number of them are investors. Identify current and potential competitors.
Business Plan Competition Judging. Judges are all volunteers with a business degree or relevant work experience. Presentation judges will be required to read and evaluate three business plans in advance of the competition from teams they will be evaluating on competition day.
At the conclusion of the Final Presentation Round in each category the judges will have the opportunity to collaborate and determine the winners in their respective categories. They are a critical component of the business plan competition by providing feedback to competitors in real-time and ensuring a fair and well-run competition. The Center for Business Innovation will match the top 12 finalists with mentors who can help prepare the finalists for the final round of the competition.
The Judges comment on each of the scoring sections and provide a score 1-5 note. Have the current and potential competitors competitive response and analysis of strengths and weaknesses been adequately defined. The judges will choose the top 6 winning participants.
1 poor 2 fair 3 good 4 very good 5 excellent We have also included a 10th category called bonus points Judges can allow up to five 5 bonus points per plan. Scoring sections are weighted. Judges will score each plan in each category in the following manner.
Judges will be taught how to consider the evaluation rubric evaluation techniques in addition to learning how to commit scores to ECHOs competition. Remember this is a competition. Or to support your pitch if thats your case.
You see some great plans and smart people. On the other hand where business plans reflect the work of individuals prior to the start of the Business Plan Contest ie teaming up with scientists that have been working on the project for several years then the judges will do their best to level the playing field by calibrating the degree of accomplishment to the additional time and resources expended. If youre an angel investor youre familiar with what works and doesnt youre interested in startups and youll enjoy judging in one of these competitions.
Business plan competitions require an initial submission sometimes called the intent to compete entry. How realistically defined is the marketing plan. That way when a judge asks Tell us what your unit cost is.
