About the Competition

The Business Plan Competition takes place at the conclusion of both the fall and winter terms and recognizes innovative student business plans. The program was launched in 2010 and has quickly become a cornerstone of the Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship, helping students bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world.

Students enrolled in BUS 399 Entrepreneurship present their plans to a panel of eight to twelve distinguished alumni who have worked as entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, private equity experts, bankers, lawyers, and angel investors. The competition also provides the opportunity for alumni judges to engage with students in a professional setting and see the high quality work current students are completing at their alma mater.

There are twelve Distinguished Judges who will review the six plans for the 2020 Fall Term Competition. The Stage One of the competition begins on Thursday November 5th when student business plans are distributed to judges. Each judge will have one week to review all six plans and submit an online Written Business Plan Evaluation Form for each plan.

Stage Two takes place on Friday November 13th from 4-6pm Eastern Time and entails a round-robin format in which students engage in 15 minute consulting sessions with judges. Judges have the opportunity to ask  questions about the business opportunity, financials, marketing, etc. After engaging with each team judges complete a short online evaluation form.  Meanwhile, students use the judges’ feedback to make improvements on the presentations they’ll deliver the next morning.

Stage three (November 14th from 8:30-11:45am) entails teams giving oral business plan presentations to the group of twelve judges and responding to questions. After each presentation the judges complete an online Presentation Evaluation Form.

Determining 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Places

Teams are evaluated by our panel of judges in three areas: 1) Written Plan, 2) Consulting Session, and 3) Presentation. Evaluations on specific criteria range from 1=Excellent to 7=Very Poor (Note that on the forms, “1” is the best/highest score that a team can receive on each question). Team places will be determined by the judges who will rely on deliberations that utilize the scores from each of the three states. The typical weighting of scores during these discussions is:

Average Written Plan score across all judges on the panel = 50%
Average Consulting Session score across all judges on the panel = 20%
Average Presentation score across all judges on the panel = 30%

Important Dates for Judges

November 5th (Thursday): Judges emailed with link to access 5 business plans in their group

November 5th – November 12th: Judges review plans and complete online evaluation forms. Online Written Plan Evaluation Forms are due by Thursday November 12th at 6pm Eastern Time.

November 13 (Friday), 4-6pm Eastern Time: Judges consulting sessions with 5 teams, completing a short evaluation form after each meeting

November 14 (Saturday), 8:30-11:45am Eastern Time: Judges complete online evaluation forms on student presentations

ATTENTION JUDGES: Please click here for access to more detailed schedules, assignments, and links. This page is password protected and only judges will have access. Password is sent by email to judges.