Rules

MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition 2010 Business Plan Contest Rules

Summary of the Business Plan Competition

The MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition is comprised of two rounds of submission. The first submission is open to anyone meeting our eligibility criteria and consists of an Executive Summary and PowerPoint pitch deck. After a round of judging by industry experts, five semi-finalists in each track will move on to a second round. Additionally, the five runners up not selected as the semi-finalists from each track will be eligible to participate in a Wild Card round which will allow an additional two teams to advance to the second round.  Wild Card round submissions will consist of an expanded Executive Summary and revised PowerPoint pitch deck. Moving to the second round entitles the selected teams to formal legal and venture mentorship, an expense account to be used towards developing the business, and access to invite-only events to broaden the team’s network in the larger entrepreneurial community. The deliverables due during the second round include a full business plan + cover sheet and a revised pitch deck. These deliverables will undergo a final round of judging before any cash prizes are awarded. Additional specifics around each of these areas are included below.

Submission of Entries

• All entries must be submitted in electronic format via the web based submission tool – no paper entries will be permitted
• Entries must be received on time and in the appropriate format
  • First Round:March 4, 2010 6pm EST
  • Wild Card Round: March 18, 2010 6pm EST
  • Second Round: April 29, 2010 6pm EST
• The decision of the MIT $100K Organizing Team regarding late or non-conforming submissions is final

Format of the First Round

The first round submission includes the following documents: a 2 page Executive Summary and a 12 slide PowerPoint pitch deck. Below are outlined the formatting standards for each of these documents. If the submitted documents do not comply with these standards, submissions will be automatically disqualified and no feedback will be provided. Decisions regarding submission compliance will be provided by the MIT $100K Organizing Team and are final.

2 Page Executive Summary

• All Executive Summaries must not exceed 2 pages (Standard 8.5” x 11”)
• The two pages must include all team information, logos, exhibits, and content (Additional title pages, cover sheets, appendices, or other pages are not allowed and will result in disqualification)
• Entries must be in PDF format
• Half inch margins are required (or “Narrow” setting in MS Word)

Note: You may include images and select any font, but unreadable entries (as determined by the organizers) will be disqualified.

Qualified entries will be printed for evaluation in black and white using default printer settings. Any entry that is illegible in this format will not be reviewed. Disqualified entries, including those exceeding the 2 page limit, will not be reviewed and will receive no feedback. Before you submit your Executive Summary we urge you to print it out using default printer settings, review it, and revise it if you have to squint to read it. Remember, if it looks like you are trying to cram too much into two pages it will appear that way to the judges as well.

12 Slide PowerPoint Pitch Deck

• PowerPoint decks cannot exceed 12 total slides. All titles, content, exhibits, and other information must be included on these 12 slides. Any deck that has more than 12 total slides, including the title slide, will result in the disqualification of the entry.
• PowerPoint decks must include one title slide that includes company name, team member names, team member email addresses, and company logo
• The PowerPoint deck must use standard-size slides (default to PowerPoint)

Note: Any color or theme is allowable, but the slides must be legible when printed in black and white, four slides to a page

Wild Card Round

After judging is completed, the top 5 runners up from each track not taken to the semi-final round will be eligible to participate in the Wild Card Round. In this round, participants may only resubmit a refined version of the idea originally submitted. The submissions for this round include the following documents: a 5 page Executive Summary and a revised 12 slide PowerPoint pitch deck. Below are outlined the formatting standards for each of these documents. If the submitted documents do not comply with these standards, submissions will be automatically disqualified. Decisions regarding submission compliance will be provided by the MIT $100K Organizing Team and are final.

5 Page Executive Summary

• All Executive Summaries must not exceed 5 pages (8.5” x 11”)
• The 5 pages must include all team information, logos, exhibits, and content (Additional title pages, cover sheets, appendices, or other pages are not allowed and will result in disqualification)
• Entries must be in PDF format
• Half inch margins are required (or “Narrow” setting in MS Word)

Note: You may include images and select any font, but unreadable entries (as determined by the organizers) will be disqualified.

Qualified entries will be printed for evaluation in black and white using default printer settings. Any entry that is illegible in this format will not be reviewed. Disqualified entries, including those exceeding the 5 page limit, will not be reviewed and will receive no feedback. Before you submit your Executive Summary we urge you to print it out using default printer settings, review it, and revise it if you have to squint to read it. Remember, if it looks like you are trying to cram too much into two pages it will appear that way to the judges as well.

12 Slide PowerPoint Pitch Deck

• PowerPoint decks cannot exceed 12 total slides. All titles, content, exhibits, and other information must be included on these 12 slides. Any deck that has more than 12 total slides, including the title slide, will result in the disqualification of the entry.
• PowerPoint decks must include one title slide that includes company name, team member names, team member email addresses, and company logo
• The PowerPoint deck must use standard-size slides (default to PowerPoint)

Note: Any color or theme is allowable, but the slides must be legible when printed in black and white, four slides to a page

Format of the Second Round

After judging is completed, five teams from each track, plus 2 Wild Card teams, will be selected to move forward into the second round. During that time, teams will be asked to submit a 20 page Business Plan (with additional 1 page Cover Sheet) and a revised 12 slide PowerPoint pitch deck. If the submitted documents do not comply with these standards, submissions will be automatically disqualified and no feedback will be provided. Decisions regarding submission compliance will be provided by the MIT $100K Organizing Team and are final.

20 Page Business Plan + 1 Page Cover Sheet

• Business Plans should include one Cover Sheet that does not count toward the page limit. This Cover Sheet may include only company name, team member names, team member email addresses, and company logo.
• The Business Plan should include no more than 20 pages (8.5” x 11”), including all charts, graphs, exhibits, footnotes, etc.
• Entries must be in PDF format
• Half inch margins are required (or “Narrow” setting in MS Word)

Note: You may include images and select any font, but entries that are unreadable, as determined by the organizers, will be disqualified.

Qualified entries will be printed in black and white with default printer settings and margins for evaluation. Any entry that is illegible in this format will not be reviewed. Before you submit your Business Plan we urge you to print it out using default printer settings, review it, and revise it if you have to squint to read it. Remember, if it looks like you’re trying to cram everything into 20 pages it probably won’t look good to the judges who are reading many of these.

Revised 12 Slide PowerPoint Pitch Deck

• PowerPoint decks must include one title slide that counts toward the 12 slide limit. This title slide must include company name, team member names and company logo.
• PowerPoint decks cannot exceed 12 total slides. All titles, content, exhibits, and other information must be included on these 12 slides. Any deck that has more than 12 total slides, including the title slide, will result in the disqualification of the entry.
• The PowerPoint deck must use standard-size slides (default to PowerPoint)
• Any color or theme is allowable, but the slides must be legible when printed in black and white.

The qualified entries will be printed in black and white, four slides to a page. Any entry that is illegible in this format will not be reviewed. Disqualified entries, including those exceeding the 12 slide limit, will not be reviewed and will receive no feedback.

Eligibility

• There is no fee for entry.
• Submissions may be entered by individuals or teams (up to 5 members).
• Each team may enter one idea per track and the same idea cannot be entered in multiple tracks.
• Each team must have at least one currently registered MIT student; if you are submitting as an individual, you must be a currently registered MIT student
  • Currently registered MIT students include all full-time and part-time undergraduate, graduate, and PhD students only.
  • Post-doctoral candidates may not serve as the MIT student on a submitting team.
  • MIT students must submit their @mit.edu email address at submission time.
  • Any individual may only serve as the qualifying MIT for one team per track. A single individual cannot be the sole qualifying student for two teams within the same track.
• Entries must be the original work of entrants.
• Entries are subject to the following funding requirements
  • Teams must disclose any funding already received at the time of registration.
  • Teams must not have accepted any institutional funding for the idea being presented (i.e. the team cannot have sold equity to anyone outside the team – including non-managing founders).
  • Teams must not have accepted any non-institutional funding in excess of $100,000. Non-institutional funding includes contests, grants, friends and family, bank loans, etc. where there is no equity ownership associated with the funding.
  • There are forms of funding that may fall into a gray area. In these cases, the $100K Organizing Committee will deliberate on the eligibility and communicate the decision to the team. The decision of the Organizing Committee on the eligibility of the entrant is final and cannot be appealed.
• At least one member of the team must be present at the finale Poster Session as well as the Finale Show on May 12, 2010. Failure for at least one member of a team to show up will result in the forfeiture of any prize won.
• The Judging Panel reserves the right to disqualify any entry.

Eligibility Details:

Teams are encouraged to seek the involvement of MIT faculty, alumni, post-docs, researchers, staff, students from other schools, and people from outside the MIT community. All team members must be full-fledged members of the team.

Entries must be the original work of entrants and may be entered by a single student or a multi-student team (up to 5 members). Each team may enter one idea per track. The same team cannot have two ideas in one track. The same team cannot enter the same idea in multiple tracks. The MIT $100K Organizing Committee reserves the right to admit any given idea in a track different from the one selected by the team at the time of online registration. If the team is admitted to a track other than the one selected by the participant, the Organizing Committee will communicate this decision to the team.

Teams that have already secured arrangements for capital from any source must disclose the amounts and sources clearly in their entries.  Teams must not have accepted any institutional funding for the idea being presented and non-institutional funding is limited to $100,000.  Any source of funding that has an equity ownership component, including funding from non-managing founders, is considered institutional.  The decision of the Organizing Committee on the eligibility of the entrant is final and cannot be appealed.

By submitting a business plan, you represent and warrant to the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition that you have all right, title and/or interest in the business plan submitted and the information it contains is accurate and complete, and that by submitting the document to the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition you are not and will not be violating any contract or third party rights including any patent, copyright, trade secret, proprietary or confidential information, trademark, publicity or privacy right. The Judging Panel of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition reserves the right to disqualify any entry that in its judgment violates the letter or the spirit of the Competition guidelines, processes and rules of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The decisions of the Judging Panel are final and binding.

Confidentiality

Access to submitted executive summaries is only granted by the MIT $100K Organizing Committee to the members of its judging panel. The MIT $100K Organizing Committee, the IT team, and the Judging team members are the only other individuals who may be provided with the submitted executive summaries by the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. Reasonable steps are taken to limit access to the submitted executive summaries (collectively referred to as “summaries”).

The judges of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition are venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and lawyers who are used to dealing with confidential material on a regular basis. If some part of the entered Executive Summary is confidential, contestants will need to clearly mark that information as “CONFIDENTIAL,” and the MIT $100K Organizing Committee will retain that legend in any copy of the summary provided to the members of the judging panel. However, even if contestants mark their information as confidential, there will be no confidentiality obligation by any recipient of the summary for information which: (a) is publicly available prior to the time of its disclosure to the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition or becomes publicly available thereafter through no wrongful act of the recipient, or (b) was known to the recipient prior to the date of disclosure or becomes known to the recipient thereafter from a third party having an apparent bona fide right to disclose the information, or (c) is disclosed by recipient in accordance with your approval, or (d) is disclosed by you or any member of your team without restriction on further disclosure, or (e) is independently developed by a recipient; or (f) the recipient is obligated to disclose to comply with applicable laws or regulations, or with a court or administrative order.

The identities of the contestants and the short description of the business disclosed in the registration, as well as any pitch delivered during any MIT $100K event are considered of public domain and can be used by the MIT $100K Organizing Committee for marketing and PR purposes.

Intellectual property

Before submitting entries, the MIT $100K Organizing Committee urges contestants to confirm with appropriate advisors or legal counsel that any intellectual property described in their summary is protected; i.e., by appropriate intellectual property filings, notices, (patent, copyright, etc) by the owning institution and/or individuals. The MIT $100K Organizing Committee also recommends that contestants determine in advance whether their summary describes a technology, invention, copyrightable work or other intellectual property owned by MIT in accordance with MIT Policy (see: http://web.mit.edu/policies/13.0.html). The MIT Technology Licensing Office is available to answer any related questions.

For any doubt about the legal status of contestants’ own or third party intellectual property or any other aspect of their plan, the MIT $100K Organizing Committee advices to seek independent legal counsel.

Prize Payments

Prize payments will be distributed as follows:

• Equal shares of any prize money won will be paid to each individual on a winning team
• The individual recipients of prize money will be responsible for the tax implications of their winnings
• Teams may forfeit their individual shares of prize money in favor of granting the full amount of the prize money to a registered business entity if, and only if, all of the following conditions are met:
  • Team registered as a business entity prior to March 4, 2010
    
  • Team has a Federal Tax Identification Number (also known as an Employer ID Number)
  • All members of the team have agreed in writing to forfeit their individual portions of the prize money in favor of granting the full amount of the prize money to the registered business entity. We strongly recommend that teams seek legal consultation prior to signing such an agreement.
• Note that prize payments are treated as income by MIT and the IRS, regardless of whether the payment is made to an individual or a company. Non-U.S. citizens are taxed on their prize money up front at a rate of 30%, which is withheld from their prize checks.

Press

All teams are required to participate in media and press opportunities related to the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. This includes, but is not limited to, the following opportunities:

• All teams may be asked to provide a 150-200 word description that will be made available to media and may be released publically, either in part or in its entirety;
• All teams may be asked to speak to the media for competition related interviews when requested by the organizing committee;
• All teams may be asked to provide quotes and/or content for any competition related press releases.

Participating in media and press opportunities in no way, shape or form requires teams to disclose any proprietary or otherwise confidential information related to their businesses. The MIT $100K organizing committee agrees to provide consultation to any team, upon request, to avoid such disclosures while participating in press related opportunities.

Miscellaneous

You agree that you will not use the name of “Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” or any variation, adaptation, or abbreviation thereof, or of any of its trustees, officers, faculty, students, employees, or agents, or any trademark owned by IT in any advertising or publicity without the written permission of the Director of the MIT’s News Office.

MIT MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE MIT ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. IN NO EVENT SHALL MIT, ITS TRUSTEES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, STUDENTS, THE MIT ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION JUDGES AND MENTORS, AND AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY ADVICE, INFORMATION OR DECISIONS MADE FOR OR ON BEHALF OF THE MIT ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION OR FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING ECONOMIC DAMAGES OR INJURY TO PROPERTY AND LOST PROFITS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER MIT SHALL BE ADVISED, SHALL HAVE OTHER REASON TO KNOW OR IN FACT SHALL KNOW OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THE FOREGOING.