Rules

Submission Deadline and Logistics

1.  Deadline is Thursday, December 3rd 6 pm EST

2.  All entries must be submitted electronically through the website:  http://www.mit100k.org/esc/register/

Formatting

1.   Entries consist of a 2-page pdf file. Entries consisting of more than 2 pages or submitted in the wrong format will be disqualified. The decision of the Organizing Team regarding incorrect submission of entries is final and cannot be appealed.
2.  Each entry will be printed in black and white, with default printer settings and margins (approximately one inch margin), for evaluation by the Judging Panels. The Judging Panels will not review any illegible or hardly legible entry.  (Editor’s Note:  Use your judgment here on formatting, font size, font type, margins, etc.  Print out your executive summary and look at it.  If you have to squint to read it and if it looks like you’re trying to cram everything into two pages without being judicious about what you’re presenting, it probably won’t look good to the judges who are reading many of these.)

Eligibility

1. Any team with at least one full time student from a school in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, or Connecticut may submit an entry in the Executive Summary Contest (”Contest”), regardless of MIT affiliation.

2. There is no fee for entry.

3. 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.

4. Any individual may only serve as the qualifying student in Eligibility Rule #1 for one team per track.  A single individual cannot be the sole qualifying student for two teams within in the same track.

5. The subject of the business idea must be your own, original work, or the work of your team.  Any team discovered to be submitting others’ ideas without appropriate consent will be immediately disqualified and will have to return any awarded amount.

6a. Teams must not have accepted any institutional funding for the idea being presented (ie the team cannot have sold equity to anyone outside the team – including non-managing founders).

6b. Teams must not have accepted any non-institutional funding in excess of $50,000.  Non-institutional funding includes contests, grants, friends and family, bank loans, etc. where there is no equity ownership associated with the funding.

6c. There are forms of funding that may fall into a gray area.  If you believe your funding does not come from an institutional source, you must present your case to the MIT $100K Organizing Committee at the time of registration for the Executive Summary Contest.  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.

7. At least one member of the team must be present at the Finale Show on February 11^th.  Failure for at least one member of a team to show up will result in the forfeiture of any prize won.

8. Up to 5 team members can be officially registered into the Contest. One entry for each team is required via the online registration form at www.mit100K.org before the deadline.

9. Contestants are expected to behave respectfully to all other contestants, sponsors, judges, volunteers, and audience members.

10. The MIT $100K Organizing Committee retains the right to refuse participation in, or viewing of, the Executive Summary Contest to any individuals not in compliance with Contest rules and spirit.

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.

Miscellaneous

MIT MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE MIT $100K ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. IN NO EVENT SHALL MIT, ITS TRUSTEES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, STUDENTS, THE MIT $100K ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION JUDGES AND MENTORS, AND AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY ADVICE, INFORMATION OR DECISIONS MADE FOR OR ON BEHALF OF THE MIT $100K 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.