Get Your Business Funded: Creative Methods for Getting the Money You Need

How Business Plan Competitions Work

There are many business plan competitions all across the country, and although most are collegiate and geared toward MBA students, there are also many that are open to the general public, as in the previous example. Either way, the idea is the same: Along with all of the other teams in the competition, you pitch your business and plan to a panel of judges through a series of competitions and the winner walks off with some money and in-kind contributions.

Business plan competitions first emerged at the University of Texas in the 1980s. Two Texas MBA students wanted to create a business school competition akin to the moot court competitions law schools offered. The first competition for their brainchild, the “Moot Corp.,” was for Texas MBA students only, in 1984. The idea quickly spread to top business schools like Harvard, the Wharton School of Business, and the London Business School and are now found around the world. In 2010, the original Austin-based Texas University competition was attended by 40 teams from 12 countries.

The purpose of a business plan competition is twofold. First, it is to seek out, find, and reward the best businesses and business plans in the region. The hope is to encourage entrepreneurs and help facilitate their success. In so doing, the winning businesses, the host of the competition, and the region all benefit as new and vibrant businesses are born. A secondary purpose of such competitions is to encourage entrepreneurship ...