1998 MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition Creating Tomorrow's Leading Firms		Register now for the Official Mailing List Receive weekly updates on $50K events,  decisions, and announcements.  If you haven't already subscribed to the  MIT $50K official announcements mailing list,  go to web.mit.edu/50k/www and sign up.
	Official Entry Kit, version 9.3  Executive Summaries Due: February 25, 1998  http://web.mit.edu/50k/www

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Table of Contents

• What is the $50K?
• Who is eligible?
• What is the Competition process?
• What is a Business Plan?
• What should I include in my Business Plan Executive Summary entry?
• What should I include in my Complete Business Plan entry?
• What are the prizes?
• How does the judging work?
• Can I enter on the Web?
• Will my entry remain confidential?
• Will my intellectual property be protected?
• When is the entry due?
• ENTRY CHECKLIST - Please use before submitting your entry!

Competition Guidelines

What is the $50K?

Who is eligible?

Entries must be the original work of entrants and may be entered by a single student or a multi-student team. The size of a team is not restricted and neither is the number of entries submitted by a team or individual.

Teams that have already secured arrangements for capital from any source must disclose the amounts and sources clearly in their entries. Past entrants have generated capital while in the Competition in the form of sales revenues or contracts, research grants, and personal or family funds. Ventures that have received outside investment from venture capital firms, private investors or industry sources may be considered ineligible to compete and should contact the Organizing Team through the $50K-Entrepreneurship Competition website: http://web.mit.edu/50k/www.

The Judging Panel of the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition reserves the right to disqualify any entry that in its judgment violates the letter or the spirit of the Competition Guidelines.

What is the Competition process?

Phase I: Enter - Business Plan Executive Summary due by Wednesday, February 25, 1998, 4pm to E51-355.

Each finalist team presents the proposed business to the judges. The judges will seek to clarify issues that arise in evaluating the Plans. The presentation is not meant to substitute for a well-written plan. It is an opportunity for the team to convince the judges that the team can achieve its business goals.

What is a Business Plan?

• Conceptualizes the totality of a significant business opportunity for a venture,
• Presents the organizational building process to pursue and realize this opportunity,
• Identifies the resources needed,
• Exposes the risks and rewards expected, and
• Proposes specific action for the parties it addresses.

• The founding team,
• Potential investors,
• Potential employees,
• Partners,
• Advisors,
• Customers,
• Suppliers, and
• Regulatory bodies.

What should I include in my Business Plan Executive Summary entry?

Opinions vary on exactly what are the right components of a business plan. You must develop your own judgment in this regard. Successful Executive Summaries present a compelling opportunity together with a viable business model at the start of the summaries.

Many teams fail to consider adequately their markets, their customers and a business model that will enable them to achieve success. Instead they get wrapped up in an interesting technology, not the same thing as an attractive business. The questions in the outline below, expanded from the first section of the document, "Useful Guidelines," will help you focus on the aspects of your Executive Summary that are relevant to the Competition. These are initial considerations that judges look at before going on to evaluate the members of the team and the soundness of any financial projections.

Description of the Business Concept and the Business

• What business activity will the venture undertake?
• Why now?
• What is unique about this venture?

The Opportunity and Strategy

• What problem will you solve with your service or product?
• What are the primary benefits to customers?
• How does your solution improve on or replace current offerings?
• What is the current size and expected growth of your target market?
• What are the economics of the market?
• What is your business model and what companies does your business resemble?
• What do you need to do very well in order to win in this market?
• What special knowledge or technology do you possess and how will you protect it?
• What is the level of potential sales of your product or service?
• What will your pricing position be relative to the industry?
• What level of profits do you expect?
• How will your sales happen?
• Who will your first customer(s) be?
• What proof can you offer that your target customers value your product or service?

What should I include in my Complete Business Plan entry?

• Expansion of the Executive Summary, including full factual support and reasoning;
• Quarterly financial projections for two years and annual projections up to Year 5, including

Pro Forma cash flow and budget analysis;
• Breakeven analysis;
• A working model or prototype, if appropriate, is advantageous but is not required.

What are the prizes?

How does the judging work?

The following twenty questions provide some general evaluation criteria considered by the Competition judges. These criteria are also used by industry, private investors, corporate managers and venture capitalists in evaluating the attractiveness of new venture opportunities:

• Is the business opportunity as presented both highly attractive and clearly realistic?
• Is the business defensible from competitors?
• What is the business model?
• What comparisons are there to past success stories that indicate this venture will succeed?
• What is the amount of up-front capital investment required?
• Do the market and financial projections demonstrate that the team understands its business?
• How long will it take from the current stage of development to bring this to market?
• Can this venture achieve a leadership position in its market?
• Has the team gone out to the market already to test its ideas?
• Who will be the first customer(s)?
• Is the team of sufficient breadth, balance and quality to make their ideas happen?
• Will the ego of the founder(s) get in the way of success?
• Is the team focused on its target market?
• What is the expected time and amount of pay-off to investors?
• Is the reader familiar with and interested in the given market space?
• Is the plan clear and well-written?
• Does the team have the necessary communications skills to present a compelling story?
• Are the team members dedicated to the venture and their roles in the group?
• Does the team have a clear plan for spending the investment money it receives?
• Why is this business going to be around and a real world winner in 5 years?

Can I enter on the Web?

Will my entry remain confidential?

On the online registration form you will find a question relating to your interest having a qualified mentor from whom to obtain feedback. If you say yes to the question, your entry may be shared with prospective mentors who will also sign a confidentiality agreement. The Organizing Team is working to select qualified mentors for teams that want them.

Will my intellectual property be protected?

The Judges and Mentors will sign a confidentiality agreement which extends for six months after the public announcement of the winners of the Competition. Copies of these confidentiality agreements are available from the organizers. A sample confidentiality agreement is included at the end of the first section. The Competition can not and will not take further responsibility to protect the intellectual property or other rights of the Contestants.

The protection of these rights is the ultimate responsibility of each Contestant. Contestants are urged to mark as "CONFIDENTIAL" any portion of their Entries which they consider to be confidential. Contestants should be careful about disclosing any patentable concepts in their Entries because, although in the United States a patent application can be filed up to one year after the first public disclosure of an invention, in many foreign countries a patent application must be filed before any public disclosure is made.

The information supplied by the contestants on the Cover Sheet and the web site registration form may be used by the Competition Organizers in promotions or press releases.

Contestants concerned about the protection of intellectual property may contact the MIT Technology Licensing Office (TLO) or the Organizers. The comprehensive Guide to Ownership, Distribution, and Commercial Development of MIT Technology, is available from the TLO, (617) 253-6966.

When is the entry due?

All entries should be dropped off at:

For more information or clarification:

home page: http://web.mit.edu/50k/www
email: 50k-core@mit.edu

ENTRY CHECKLIST - Please use before submitting your entry!

• You have registered your team on-line using the Official $50K Web Registration Form at http://web.mit.edu/50k/www.
• You have completed the "Cover Sheet" and "Certifications and Agreements" from the web site.
• You have attached a copy of the "Cover Sheet" with each copy of your entry.
• You have read, signed, and attached the "Certifications and Agreements".
• You have included 15 three hole punched copies of your entry materials including resumes.
• The Business Plan Executive Summary is no more than five pages.
• You know how to find the drop-off point (MIT Entrepreneurship Center, E51-355).
• It is currently earlier than 4pm, Wednesday, February 25, 1998.

 

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Sample Certifications and Agreements

1998 MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition

By submitting a Business Idea ("the Idea") to the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition ("the Competition"), each Contestant listed below agrees to the following conditions:

Originality of Plan. The ideas and concepts set forth in the Idea are the original work of the Contestants and that the Contestant is not under any agreement or restrictions which prohibit or restrict his or her ability to disclose or submit such ideas or concepts to the Competition.

Compliance with Guidelines of the Competition. Each Contestant has reviewed the Entry Guidelines ("the Competition Guidelines") and by his or her signature below certifies that this entry and the team or individual it represents complies with the Guidelines and agrees to abide by the Guidelines.

Waivers and Releases. Each Contestant understands that MIT, each of the co-sponsors, judges, mentors, co-organizers (the "Competition Officials") and its directors, officers, partners, employees, consultants and agents (collectively "Organizer Representatives") are volunteers and are under no obligation to render any advice or service to any Contestant. The views expressed by the judges, co-sponsors, co-organizers, and the Organizer Representatives are their own and not those of MIT or any person or entity.

Each Contestant also understands and agrees that although the Competition Officials have taken and will take the steps described in the Guidelines regarding confidentiality of the ideas and plans submitted by the Contestants, the legal protection of the ideas and plans submitted by the Contestants to the Competition is otherwise the sole responsibility of the Contestant. In consideration of the time, expertise and other resources provided by the Competition Officials and Organizer Representatives to the Competition, each Contestant hereby voluntarily releases each Competition Official and each Organizing Team Member from any further liabilities, responsibilities, and accountabilities relating to or arising out of such Competition Officials or Organizer Representative's participation in the Competition.

Business Idea Title:

Contestants (a.k.a Team Members): List principal contestant (point-of-contact) first.

Name: Signature:

Date: ________________________

 

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Sample Confidentiality Agreement

RE: CONFIDENTIALITY AND NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I would like to participate in and be supportive of the 1998 MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition (the "Competition"). The purpose of the Competition is to choose the best business plan prepared by members of the MIT Community and to foster entrepreneurial activities at MIT.

I understand that in the course of my participation in the Competition I may have access to executive summaries of business plans of each contestant and to the full business plans of the finalists (collectively, "Plans"). These Plans may contain the ideas, inventions and concepts (collectively "Ideas") of contestants in the Competition. I understand that all intellectual and other property rights of all entrants will remain unaltered as a result of entering the Competition. I also understand that some of these Ideas may constitute trade secrets and that contestants may not have yet taken appropriate steps to patent, copyright or otherwise protect their Plans or Ideas.

In consideration of my participation in the Competition, I agree for the benefit of MIT and the individual contestants involved in the Competition that only I will review the Plans submitted to the Competition and that I will take all reasonable effort to hold the Plans and Ideas which I may receive in the course of the Competition in strict confidence and will not copy, reveal, or disclose such Plans or ideas to others and that I will not use any such Plans or Ideas for my own benefit or the benefit of any organization with which I am affiliated. At the conclusion of the Competition I will return the Plans to the Contestants via the Competition Organizers.

The above restrictions shall not apply to any Plans or Ideas which are in the public domain at the time of disclosure or becomes publicly known through no wrongful act of mine, is known to me at the time of disclosure or is independently developed by me, is used or disclosed with the approval of the contestants involved, is furnished to a third party without similar restrictions on the third party's rights, is received by me from a third party who has a lawful right to disclose it to me, or is disclosed pursuant to the requirement or request of a governmental agency.

The above restrictions will apply during the time that the Competition is occurring and for a period of six (6) months after the winners are publicly announced.

I am pleased to support the Competition and during my involvement with it I agree to abide by such other rules and guidelines which MIT may reasonably impose.

Very truly yours,

SIGNATURE

NAME (PLEASE PRINT OR TYPE)