It’s about taking your ideas from inspiration to reality.
The top prize in this year’s Business Plan Competition is $1,500, second place is $1,000, and third place is $500. You must be a current, full-time student at the University of South Carolina (undergraduate or graduate) to enter the contest. Students may enter individually, or in teams of up to four students. We’ve made it easier to participate with online submission, and free business plan software. Students will enter online and submit their business plans online at the competition website, http://gamecockbplan2011.istart.org/. Details of competition requirements are available at the website. All teams who enter will be allowed to download a free copy of Business Plan Pro, provided by Palo Alto Software, one of our sponsors. Our other sponsors are Maxient (http://www.maxient.com), Spanish Vines (http://www.spanishvines.com), EngenuitySC (http://www.engenuitysc.com/), Student Government of the University of South Carolina and the Faber Entrepreneurship Center. Any questions can be directed to Dean Kress at kress@sc.edu.
Must be a current, full-time student at the University of South Carolina (undergraduate or graduate). Students may enter individually, or in teams of up to four students.
The business plan is limited to ten, double-spaced, typed pages, including a one-page executive summary (required). The ten-page limit does not include the cover page or the financial information. It does include the required executive summary.
The cover page should include the name of the enterprise, the name(s) of the student(s), class information (e.g., junior, senior, first-year graduate student), phone number, and e-mail address.
The plan must be for a proposed business, not for a currently operating business.
The financial information should include at least a projected income statement for the first three years of the venture, as well as an explanation of all assumptions in the income statements. Other financial statements (e.g., projected cash flow, projected balance sheet) are optional
All entrants in the business plan competition will be eligible to download, for free, a copy of Business Plan Pro, complements of Palo Alto software. Business Plan Pro includes all the tools necessary to create a business plan. Directions regarding how to download the software are available on the competition web site (http://gamecockbplan2011.istart.org/) once an entrant has registered. One copy of the software is available to each team. You are not required to use Business Plan Pro in order to enter the contest.
Please note the one-page executive summary is required.
Entrants must register at http://gamecockbplan2011.istart.org/. Follow the instructions available at the site. The deadline to upload a completed business plan is October 31 at 5:00 p.m.
The plans will be reviewed by the members of the Entrepreneurship Club, and representatives of Student Government to select five finalists. On November 15, the five finalists will present their business concepts to a panel of judges. Two of the team members may participate in the presentation which will be limited to 10 minutes and may be accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. Following each presentation, the judges will have 10 minutes to pose questions to the entrants.
The November 15 competition will be open for the public to attend and will be held at 7:00 p.m. in Lumpkin Auditorium on the eighth floor of the Darla Moore School of Business.
The first place plan will be awarded $1,500, the second place plan will be awarded $1,000, and the third place plan will be awarded $500.
About our sponsors…
Maxient is a Charlottesville, Va., based company founded by University of South Carolina graduates Candice and Aaron Hark. The company created and markets Conduct Manager, the number one software used by universities for judicial affairs/student conduct, academic integrity, or behavioral intervention/CARE team records. Maxient began marketing Conduct Manager in 2007 and currently counts over 200 universities as clients, including the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, Tulane University, the University of Hawaii, and Vassar College, among many, many others. Learn more about Maxient and Conduct Manager at the company web site, http://www.maxient.com. Spanish Vines, founded in Columbia as a member of the USC/Columbia Technology Center in 2006, the company imports wines to the United States from the finest estates in Spain. CEO and founder Josh Hackler is a 2008 graduate of the University of South Carolina with a degree in international business from the Darla Moore School of Business. As Josh says, "From day one, my intention has always been for our customers to have a different experience when interacting with our brand, whether it’s drinking one of our wines or experiencing our online world." For more information about Spanish Vines, visit http://www.spanishvines.com/. EngenuitySC, a public/private partnership based here in Columbia, endeavors to foster “an environment where entrepreneurship, innovation, and the creation of knowledge are fundamental elements of the Midstate’s culture, identity, and economic development strategy.” Among the organization’s many activities is the annual conference Ignite, which is celebrated as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week on November 16 in The Zone at Williams-Brice Stadium. For information about Ignite and other EngenuitySC activities, visit the web site at http://www.engenuitysc.com/. Palo Alto Software was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1983 as Infoplan, a sole proprietorship. In 1988 it was incorporated in California as Palo Alto Software. The company relocated to Oregon in 1992. Business Plan Pro, the flagship product of Palo Alto Software, evolved from extensive consulting in business planning for large and small companies. Every entrant in the Global Entrepreneurship Week Business Plan Competition at the University of South Carolina has the opportunity to acquire a copy of Business Plan Pro for free. For more information about the company and its products, go to http://www.paloalto.com/.