{"id":405,"date":"2013-01-09T00:41:14","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T00:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scqa.hult.edu\/en\/news\/news\/2013\/january\/playing-to-win-entrepreneur-magazine\/"},"modified":"2019-07-24T12:20:18","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T12:20:18","slug":"playing-to-win-entrepreneur-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/playing-to-win-entrepreneur-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing to Win [Entrepreneur Magazine]"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michelle Goodman for Entrepreneur<\/a> magazine.<\/p>\n

Business-plan competitions can yield more than seed money for your bright idea\u2014they can also connect you with mentors, collaborators and investors. The trick is in picking the right contests to enter, at the right time and with the right pitch. Consider this a crash course.<\/em><\/h5>\n

For Jen Barnett, winning two business-plan competitions was about more than just prize money and bragging rights\u2014it made the difference between launching her company and not. In July 2011 the Birmingham, Ala.-based web and marketing strategist and her partner, web designer Sam Brasseale, won the incubate!(bang) business contest with their idea for a marketplace for fresh, local food. In addition to $30,000 in seed money, the Alabama contest awarded them $50,000 worth of web-programming services, three months of free office space and mentorship on everything from honing their business model to incorporating. \u201cThose were exactly the gaps we needed filled,\u201d Barnett says. \u201cIt has completely transformed our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freshfully.com launched in November 2011 to immediate success, exponentially surpassing Barnett and Brasseale\u2019s projections. But the duo didn\u2019t stop there. In March 2012 they won another local business-plan competition (run by a brewery and a neighborhood revitalization group). Besides a slew of publicity, the two received expert guidance from seasoned Birmingham business owners, plus six months of free office and retail space.<\/p>\n

On May 1 Freshfully\u2019s brick-and-mortar store opened to the public; it was profitable immediately. Next up, the website will offer products from local farmers in five neighboring states. (It\u2019s already working with two farms in Tennessee; consumers can order their goods online and pick them up at several designated locations.) The business anticipates 2012 sales of $500,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not made any financial contributions ourselves,\u201d Barnett says. \u201cWe don\u2019t make huge salaries. But we also didn\u2019t have any money to start the business, and we did not have to take on any debt.\u201d Prizes from business contests run the gamut: A seemingly infinite number of local and business-school competitions offer small-change awards of $5,000 to $15,000; meanwhile, Rice University doles out six-figure prizes annually, as do accelerators MassChallenge<\/a> and TechStars<\/a>. But some big-money contests require winners to sign over a percentage of their equity\u2014a deal-breaker for many entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

So which competitions should you enter? How will you dazzle the judges? And how can you walk away a winner even if you don\u2019t place?<\/p>\n

Work your niche<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Don\u2019t just throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. Be selective about the contests you enter; choose those that focus on your market and\/or business sector. This not only winnows the competition; it gets you in front of judges who know the community or industry you\u2019re hoping to take by storm.<\/p>\n

For Jennifer Medbery, founder and CEO of Kickboard, an online student data tracking program for educators, this meant focusing on contests for educational start-ups and businesses in New Orleans, where she\u2019s based. In the past three years, she has raised more than $150,000 in seed money from five wins.<\/p>\n

\n

The competitive landscape<\/strong><\/h4>\n

You\u2019ll find listings of hundreds of competitions at sites like iStart.org and BizPlanCompetitions.com. Here\u2019s a sampling of the categories on offer.<\/p>\n

Local competitions: <\/strong>Entrepreneurial contests held by neighborhood associations and other community groups are a great place to start. You might have the hometown advantage, and you won\u2019t have to shell out cash for travel expenses.<\/p>\n

The university circuit: <\/strong>More than 50 U.S. universities hold contests annually, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Some are so small that winners leave with nothing more than bragging rights. But bigger prizes at schools such as Rice, MIT, Stanford and Harvard can yield significant seed money: $25,000 to $100,000.<\/p>\n

Corporate contests: <\/strong>Multinationals such as GE, IBM and Microsoft have recently entered the competition fray. Some award five- and six-figure cash grants. Others, such as IBM\u2019s SmartCamp competition, reward winners with premier industry mentorship and networking opportunities.<\/p>\n

Social entrepreneurship contests: <\/strong>Entrepreneurs working on solving global problems such as hunger, poverty, energy and education now have a smorgasbord of contests from which to choose, including the Hult Prize <\/a>(formerly Global Case Challenge) which awards $1 million in prizes annually.<\/p>\n

Accelerators: <\/strong>The real value of accelerators lies in educational and networking opportunities. MassChallenge, the granddaddy of them all, awards $1 million in cash and $10 million in in-kind prizes each year; additionally, finalists receive three months of extensive mentoring. \u201cOne could argue that\u2019s the best prize of all,\u201d says Hult professor<\/a> Mike Grandinetti.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But this strategy isn\u2019t just about money. Staying within your niche will get you targeted feedback from veteran investors and business leaders in your specific field. \u201cPitching to people in the industry is going to help you hone the pitch that much faster,\u201d Medbery says. \u201cYou\u2019re then much better prepared when you talk to venture capital and angel investors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Faley, managing director of the Zell Lurie Institute at the University of Michigan\u2019s Ross School of Business, agrees. \u201cAll the students tell us that the money\u2019s nice, but the feedback\u2019s invaluable,\u201d says Faley, a judge in the school\u2019s Michigan Business Challenge contest. In fact, he advises founders of early-stage startups to pursue contests that emphasize feedback and mentorship over financial awards.<\/p>\n

Medbery capitalized on both: She won $25,000 in 2010 from the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Graduate School of Education Business Plan Competition, and nabbed two of the contest\u2019s judges as close business advisors. \u201cThat kind of access to senior leaders has been invaluable,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause these aren\u2019t the kind of people where you could just send them an e-mail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think beyond the money<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Contests aren\u2019t just for newbies seeking seed funding, professional services and free advice. Young companies that have nailed down their business models and begun reaching out to customers, partners and investors can benefit, too. \u201cIf you\u2019re more developed, then you go into the competition to build awareness,\u201d Faley says.<\/p>\n

Jake Irvin knows firsthand how becoming a finalist in a high-profile competition can put a recently launched company on the map. After winning first place in this year\u2019s U.S. Imagine Cup, a student technology competition sponsored by Microsoft, Irvin received a flurry of media attention for his Tempe, Ariz., company, FlashFood, which delivers restaurant and catering leftovers to food banks and shelters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been great for us in reaching out to the public,\u201d says Irvin, who founded the business with six Arizona State University classmates. Several charities, foodrecovery groups and national grocery and restaurant chains have since contacted FlashFood to partner with the company.<\/p>\n

Some contest wins come not with a check but with something equally valuable. In March Medbery\u2019s Kickboard won the New Orleans Entrepreneur Week Coulter Challenge. The grand prize: a trip to San Francisco to pitch investors. \u201cIt was exactly the right prize for Kickboard at the time,\u201d Medbery says, noting it\u2019s \u201cnear impossible\u201d to place a price tag on the insights she gleaned from the financiers and business analysts she met\u2014not to mention the relationships she forged with potential investors, advisors and senior leaders at the region\u2019s public schools.<\/p>\n

Of course you have to be in a position to take advantage of such opportunities if they come your way. \u201cSimply being introduced to a venture capitalist doesn\u2019t make a six-figure angel investment appear,\u201d Medbery says. \u201cIt\u2019s up to you as the entrepreneur to build authentic relationships with potential investors and advisors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do your homework<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Winning a competition requires far more than a well-researched, passionately conveyed idea. One way to up your game is to seek feedback from entrepreneurs who\u2019ve sailed through similar contests.<\/p>\n

Take Dana VanDen Heuvel of The Docking Station, a year-old Green Bay, Wis., co-working space. In 2009 VanDen Heuvel and his business partner entered the Northeast Wisconsin Business Plan Contest but didn\u2019t make the shortlist of potential winners. Before re-entering the following year, the pair contacted past winners and judges for pointers. Based on that feedback, they conducted surveys of local telecommuters on their workplace needs and compiled similar data from their chamber of commerce and area networking groups. That research became part of their second contest presentation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second time around we tried to drive home that we were really innovating by bringing this to the area,\u201d VanDen Heuvel says. The effort paid off: In 2010 The Docking Station took first place, winning $10,000 and a slew of local publicity.<\/p>\n

Hone your performance<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Also key to success: practicing your pitch before an impartial audience of savvy entrepreneurs (relatives don\u2019t count). \u201cHave your focus groups ask as many questions as they can to really try to poke holes in your idea,\u201d FlashFood\u2019s Irvin says.<\/p>\n

Mike Grandinetti agrees. An entrepreneurship professor at Hult International Business School who has judged dozens of business-plan competitions, Grandinetti calls the Q&A portion of the presentation \u201cthe most important part of the whole experience.\u201d If you can\u2019t articulate why your ideal customer or leading competitor hasn\u2019t yet solved the problem your company intends to fix, and how much customers will pay for a solution, you\u2019re probably not ready to take the stage, he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what separates the winners from the losers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Eye on investments<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Most entrepreneurs would take a no-strings cash prize over one that requires them to dilute their equity any day of the week. But don\u2019t discount the growing number of contests that offer investment prizes outright.<\/p>\n

Often, \u201cwhen you receive a grant, the relationship ends after you get the cash,\u201d says Candace Klein, who has won 25 contests since March 2011, for a total of $500,000 in services and cash prizes. Not so with contests offering investment prizes. Klein has won two equity investments in her company, Cincinnati-based SoMoLend, a business crowdfunding site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a stake in my company,\u201d Klein says. \u201cThey\u2019re going to help give me the resources. I need to be successful.\u201d Chief among them: continued introductions to more investors.<\/p>\n

If you plan to enter contests with investment prizes, don\u2019t go it alone. Get a seasoned investor on your board of advisors who can vet such offers and consult with an attorney before signing anything. \u201cEquity is a very scarce and precious company asset,\u201d says Mike Grandinetti. \u201cBe sure when you sell someone equity that you are getting a fair return on it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How you conduct yourself offstage carries just as much weight, according to Tabrez Ebrahim, co-founder of Evanston, Ill.-based NuMat Technologies, a clean energy technology company that has won about $1.3 million in contests this year, including top honors at the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s first National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition. You\u2019re judged on every informal conversation you have\u2014over lunch, over coffee, even while exchanging business cards in the hallway, Ebrahim says: \u201cIt\u2019s not just the 15- or 30-minute pitch session. From the moment you get there to the moment you leave, everything\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like game changers? Break the mould in the business world with a Masters in Disruptive Innovation<\/a> from Hult. To learn more, take a look at our blog Strengthening credentials and accelerating success: The transition from undergraduate to masters at Hult<\/a>, or explore overall business challenges with a Masters in International Business<\/a> instead. Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you to find out everything about the business world, the future, and yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michelle Goodman for Entrepreneur magazine. Business-plan competitions can yield more than seed money for your bright idea\u2014they can also connect you with mentors, collaborators and investors. The trick is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[191],"yoast_head":"\nPlaying to Win [Entrepreneur Magazine] | Hult International Business School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For Jen Barnett, winning two business-plan competitions was about more than just prize money and bragging rights\u2014it made the difference between launching her company and not. 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