Cross-Campus New Venture Competition
A very long post, but has all the info you need to get started. Not directly linked to SI, but if you have a good idea for a social enterprise, this would be a great opportunity. Apply by Jan. 5.
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An Invitation to Participate in the 2010 CMU Cross-Campus New Venture
Competition – January 29, 2010
Hosted by the Tepper School of Business’ Donald H. Jones Center for
Entrepreneurship, the Graduate Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital Club, and
the Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Association
* Are you an entrepreneur with a great venture idea?
* Want to put your idea to the test in front of judges – experts in
new-venture creation and investment?
* Need some money for your new venture?
This one-day new venture competition is open to all Carnegie Mellon
undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. students. These groups will compete in
two separate tracks (run in parallel) and be judged by different sets of
professional entrepreneurs and VCs. Ten spaces per track (undergraduate and
graduate/Ph.D.) are available. To be eligible, students must submit their
“intent to compete” by January 5, 2010 at 9:00 am EST. Those selected will
be invited to participate in a workshop to assist you in the development of
your final five-page (or less) executive summary. The final deliverables
are a five-page executive summary due January 22nd and a 15-minute
presentation due on January 29th. Each team will be given 15 minutes to
present followed by a five-minute Q&A. Read below for information on
prizes, important deadlines, judging criteria, and resources for developing
an executive summary. Please contact John DiRicco (djc@andrew.cmu.edu) with
any questions.
Prizes
Prizes will be awarded at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. These
include:
* Cash prizes
* In-kind corporate & IP legal services from regional law firms
Competition Date, Time & Location
Date: January 29, 2010
Location: Posner Hall, Tepper School of Business
Time: Competition from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, Rooms 151, 153 and Cooper
Auditorium
Lunch from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm (open to competitors, judges,
and sponsors only)
Winners announced from 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Important Deadlines
Tuesday – January 5, 2010 by 9:00 am: Deadline for 1-2 page
Intent-to-Compete
This Intent should include:
. Contact information: primary contact name, degree pursued, school
affiliation, email, phone number
. General Company Information: venture name, team member names
. New Venture Description: See below for criteria for the final
pitch – this should guide the development of your intent to compete. E-mail
your Intent to djc@andrew.cmu.edu.
Saturday – January 9, 2010: Teams notified of acceptance to competition.
Ten spaces per track (undergraduate and graduate/Ph.D.) are available.
Friday – January 22, 2010 by midnight: Deadline to submit five page or less
executive summary.
This is the final version that will be sent to the competition judges; no
teams can submit “updated” executive summaries after this deadline. E-mail
your summary to djc@andrew.cmu.edu.
Friday – January 29, 2010 from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm: Competition Day!
Students must arrive at least 15 minutes before their scheduled time slot,
bringing with them their 15-minute presentation on a laptop. If students
choose to give judges hard copies of their presentation, they must bring
their own copies.
Final Judging Criteria
1. Idea/Concept (10%)
2. Problem Statement (10%)
3. Solution – How are you solving the problem (10%)
4. Market – What/how large is your target market. Who is the
competition and what advantage do you have to compete with them. (10%)
5. Business Model – How will you make money (10%)
6. Status of company – what have you done to date (10%)
7. Financials – 5 year projections (10%)
8. Initial Investment Needed & Potential Return – Ex: financial,
social, environment (10%)
9. The Team (10%)
10. Delivery and Ability to Field Questions (10%)
Suggested Resources:
Books:
1. Business Plans that Win $$$: Lessons from the MIT Enterprise Forum
by Stanley R. Rich
2. Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone
Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki
Web Resources on Market Research Tools
1. DJC’s Swartz Boot Camp & Hunt Library List of Market Research Tools
for Entrepreneurs <http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/rwerner/bootcamp09.htm>
Web Resources on How to Write an Executive Summary:
1. Garage: Writing a Compelling Executive Summary
<http://www.garage.com/resources/writingexecsum.shtml
2. Business Plans Guide.Com: How to Write an Executive Summary
<http://www.business-plans-guide.com/write-an-executive-summary.html>
3. Duke: Executive Summary Competition
<http://www.dukestartupchallenge.org/the-competition/ESC>
Deshpande Foundation’s Innovators Challenge
Exec summary: NGO in Southern India presents your group with 9 challenges facing it. You pick one and develop solution for sustainable change. Submit proposal by Jan 15. Three winners will be funded to travel to Southern India and implement their solutions. Could lead to long-term funding.
Note: If you decide to apply, the Institute of Social Innovation (Heinz) will help you by reviewing your material. Contact Kristin Niceswanger at kristinn@andrew.cmu.edu.
The Challenges for the 2010 Deshpande Innovators Challenge are:
Challenge 1: Lack of low cost autoclaves for community clinics
Challenge 2: Shortage of science models with local and recyclable products
Challenge 3: Need short, educational curricula that could be used in a camp format (in biology and life sciences)
Challenge 4: Scarcity of teaching and learning materials in the subjects of science for secondary schools (biology and environmental science)
Challenge 5: Lack of resources and IT skills within NGOs to develop their own websites, brochures and marketing materials
Challenge 6: Absence of a disaster prevention or management plan for the Sandbox region
Challenge 7:Lack of Training Modules for Microfinance clients/training officers on various issues (discipline, system, ethical behavior, norms, etc)
Challenge 8: MFIs lack simple MIS tools to that could help them track theirSHGs, clients, run simple financial analysis (e.g. Excel or Access base application)
Challenge 9: Lack of a program to evaluate the skills and aptitude of women being trained in livelihood activities
.
How to Apply: Once you have selected a challenge, you must submit a proposal detailing the project that addresses the fundamentals of your innovation and how it will promote sustainable change for the NGO. All documents and questions should be submitted to the Deshpande Foundation at gep@deshpandefoundation.org by January 15, 2010 as an attachment in thefollowing format: teamname.Innovators2010. The full application can be downloaded at www.deshpandefoundation.org/GEP.html
High Point Park Case Competition
A longer post than I’d like–sorry. I couldn’t find a link to an external website.
Please mark your calendars for the Institute for Social Innovation’s high-profile, cash prize case competition scheduled the first week of spring semester. The High Point Park Case Competition will start on January 14 and finish on January 19, 2010. In this case, we will have architecture students provide a design for a particular space. Then, masters-level students from Heinz, Tepper and other departments will team together to provide the business case for a particular architectural design. The goal is to achieve a triple bottom line: financial sustainability, benefit to society, and green.
Only five teams will have the opportunity to compete, on a first-to-sign-up basis so please sign up soon! To sign up for the High Point Park Case Competition, please send an email to Babs Carryer, Innovation Advisor for the Institute of Social Innovation (bcarryer@cmu.edu) on or before January 13, 2010. Please indicate in the email your department and year.
Anyone participating in the case must come to the briefing session on Thursday, January 14, 2010, at 5pm in the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, CFA Room 111. If you have a class conflict please let me know and we will see what we can do. At the briefing session, we will form you into five cross-disciplinary teams. Again, only five teams will be selected.
You will have five days to work on the case. Presentations will be in Gates/Hillman Center, room 6115, on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, starting at 4pm in front of a panel of guest judges. Cash awards for first and second place and reception will be from 7-8pm in the same room in Gates/Hillman.
You will receive a reminder at the top of next semester, but we urge you to sign up as soon as possible to make sure you can be in one of the five teams.
This competition is an interdisciplinary project sponsored within CMU by the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry (College of Fine Arts), School of Architecture (College of Fine Arts), Institute for Social Innovation (Heinz College), Tepper School of Business, and Project Olympus (School of Computer Science).
Two Net Impact Fellowships
If you’re not a member of NI, consider joining. It’s very inexpensive and I think it’s a good way to stay connected with a network of like-minded people. Also, there are fellowship opportunities like these:
- Climate Corps 2010 (deadline: Jan 11)
- Sodexo/NI Sustainability Fellowship (deadline: Dec 23)
Global Social Venture Competition (Hass)
The Global Social Venture Competition is the largest and oldest student-led business plan competition providing mentoring, exposure, and $45,000 in prizes for social ventures from around the world. Start forming a team today to submit your executive summary by January 20, 2010*!
Winning plans in the past have ranged from global health to microfinance, from cleantech to education, from fair trade to community development, from business concepts to operating companies, and have included for-profit and non-profit models.
CSR: Strategy and Execution
A recent article in the McKinsey Quarterly, Making the Most of CSR, does a great job of analyzing how corporations can actually make good on their CSR goals. It’s a lot easier to talk about it than to create a strategy that is both ambitious and feasible. The authors of this article provide practical pointers for executives.
I guess I don’t have to spell out why this article is important to MBA students as well. 
By the way, for those of you who don’t know, a committee within Net Impact has been working hard to get CSR / Social Responsibility integrated into the curriculum at Tepper. If you’re interested on helping out, email Sunaina (sabdulsa@andrew), Chris Gassman, Luke Bouvrie, or me.
Will Big Business Save The Earth?
Jared Diamond is one of my favorite thinkers/writers. In his recent NYTWill article, “Will Big Business Save the Earth?” he shows how large corporations recognize the value of environmental responsibility. Their motivations might not be as pure and selfless as some of us might like, but perhaps that fades into irrelevance in the light of the fact that their actions might be exactly what we want.
Perhaps.
In any case, for me, a key takeaway was the implicit reminder that people who work in the public and social sectors cannot ignore or dismiss private sector players. We absolutely have to work together, and each sector has much to learn from the others.
Staples Global Ecoeasy Challenge
This looks like a good opportunity for people who are interested in product design and marketing. You can work alone or in teams of up to 5.
Staples Global Ecoeasy Challenge
Are you ready for a challenge that tests your innovation to design an environmentally friendly business or home office product? Individually or in a team of up to five students, design an environmentally preferable business or home office product that meets one of the following criteria:
A new design of an existing product that represents greater environmental responsibility or sustainability
A product that uses an eco-innovative material
A completely new type of product that promotes sustainability
On this website (https://ecoeasychallenge.com), you can view the official rules, answers to frequently asked questions, etc. The first step will then be to register your Team with a Team Name and Password. All entries must be submitted by 3:00 PM EST on the 22nd of January 2010.
Pro-Bono Consulting Opportunity
The Tepper Pro-Bono Consulting Initiative
The Tepper Pro-Bono Consulting Initiative, a collaborative effort between Net Impact and The Consulting Club, is open to all Tepper students. The student-run initiative provides an opportunity for MBA students to help a local non-profit organization with a specific business challenge. The organizations will be predetermined and your team will have an opportunity to rank your preferred organization/business challenge on December 11th.
These projects begin in January and conclude in May. So, be prepared to make a commitment! Most importantly, be prepared to make Tepper proud by showing your ability to solve actual business problems outside of the classroom!
For questions about the Pro Bono Initiative, contact members of the Executive Committee: Josh Furtrell (jfutrell@cmu.edu); Sri Narasimhan (sriramn@tepper.cmu.edu); Lukas Bouvrie (lbouvrie@tepper.cmu.edu); Jinal Shah (jinals@tepper.cmu.edu); Yelena Pesic (ypesic@tepper.cmu.edu).
