Judging Criteria

Judges will be asked to evaluate the plans based upon their likelihood of actually becoming the basis of a viable business, or, in the case of an intrapreneurial venture, the likelihood of making a meaningful contribution to the existing business. This consideration will include such factors as the degree of creativity and innovation embodied in the basic opportunity definition and business concept, the appropriateness of the strategy for exploiting the opportunity, the reasonableness of the plan for financing the business, and the team’s ability to actually implement the plan. Judges will make further distinctions based upon the potential of the business to create value, although they will be explicitly instructed not to use the typically very high venture capitalist’s hurdle for the absolute scale of the business. We wish to preserve the opportunity for a small scale, “boot-strapped” venture, which might not require much capital, and thus, would typically be uninteresting to a traditional venture fund.