Executive Summary Contest Rules

Rules

Submission of Entries

Paper entries will not be permitted for the MIT $100K Executive Summary Competition
You may only use our web entry system to submit your entry
Entries must be received on time (December 4th, 6pm) and in the appropriate format
The decision of the Organizing Team regarding late or incorrect submission of entries is final

Format

Entries must be two-page PDFs
Standard one inch margins are required
Single spaced
You may select any font, but please be sure it is readable

The first two pages of each entry 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.

Eligibility

Summaries may be entered by individuals or teams
Each individual/team may enter as many summaries as they wish. However, each idea may only be entered once.
Each team must have at least one current MIT student (of any department, school, or grade level); if you are submitting as an individual, you must be a current MIT student
Entries must be the original work of entrants
Teams that have already secured capital from any source must disclose the amounts and sources clearly in their entries (please see details for allowable funding sources)
The Judging Panel reserves the right to disqualify any entry

Eligibility Details:

All full-time and part-time MIT students at all levels of education and from any department, registered in the current semester of the Competition, are eligible to enter. People that do not meet this requirement may join or form teams, provided that at least one of the principal contestants on the team is a current MIT student. Teams are encouraged to seek the involvement of MIT faculty, alumni, postdocs, researchers, staff, students from other schools, and people from outside the MIT community.

Entries must be the original work of entrants and may be entered by a single student or a multi-student team. The size of a team is not restricted, and neither is the number of entries submitted by a qualified team or individual. By submitting an executive summary, you represent and warrant to the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition that you have all right, title and/or interest in the executive summary submitted and the information it contains is accurate and complete, and that by submitting the document to the MIT 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.

Teams that have already secured arrangements for capital from any source must disclose the amounts and sources clearly in their entries.Past entrants have generated capital while in the Competition in the form of sales revenues or contracts, research grants, and personal or family funds. Ventures that have received outside investment from venture capital firms, private investors, or industry sources will be considered ineligible to compete and should contact the Organizing Team through the Competition website at .

The Judging Panel of the MIT 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 Entrepreneurship Competition, and its decisions are final and binding.

Confidentiality

Access to submitted executive summaries is only granted by MIT Entrepreneurship Competition organizers to the members of its judging panel. The Lead Organizers, 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 Entrepreneurship Competition. Reasonable steps are taken to limit access to the submitted executive summaries (collectively referred to as "summaries").

The judges of the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition are venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and lawyers who are used to dealing with confidential material on a regular basis. If some part of your business plan is confidential, you will need to clearly mark that information as “CONFIDENTIAL,” and the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition will retain that legend in any copy of your summary that it provides to the members of the judging panel. However, even if you mark your information as confidential, there will be no confidentiality obligation by any recipient of your summary for information which: (a) is publicly available prior to the time of its disclosure to the MIT 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.

Intellectual property

Before submitting your executive summary the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition urges you to confirm with appropriate advisors or legal counsel that any intellectual property described in your summary is protected; i.e., by appropriate intellectual property filings, notices,(patent, copyright, etc) by the owning institution and/or individuals.The MIT Entrepreneurship Competition also recommends that you determine in advance whether your 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 your questions.

If you are not sure about the legal status of your own or third party intellectual property or any other aspect of your plan, the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition urges you to seek independent legal counsel.

Competition Categories and Prizes

$2000 prizes will be awarded in the following categories:

Biotech
Development
Energy
Mobile
Products and Services
Web/IT

Six $2000 prizes will be issued. A $2000 check payable to either the principal contestant or to a tax ID in the nameof the team will be issued. The principal contestant must have a valid social security number or valid tax ID number for tax reporting purposes.

Judging Criteria

A panel of judges from the MIT and Boston venture communities,including experienced entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, non-profit founders, legal professionals, and patent experts reads the entries. The following are some of the general criteria considered by the Competition judges in the MIT $100KExecutive Summary Competition. These criteria may also be used by industry, private investors, and venture capitalists in evaluating the attractiveness of new venture opportunities:

High growth potential
Defensibility from competitors
Up-front capital investment
Short time-to-market
Market leadership potential
Stage of idea development
Quality and breadth of team
Why is this business going to be around in 5 years?

Judging for the Development category will focus on the following criteria

Estimated social impact
Quality and breadth of team
Uniqueness of plan
Sustainability (financial and operational)

All entrants will receive feedback from the judges, regardless of whether they win or not. The decisions of the Judging Panel of the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition on the semi-finalists, finalists,runners-up, winners and appropriate progress for installment payments,are final and binding on each participant.

Press

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

Allteams may be asked to provide a 150-200 word description that will be madeavailable to media and may be released publically, either in part or in itsentirety;
Allteams may be asked to speak to the media for competition related interviews whenrequested by the organizing committee;
Allteams may be asked to provide quotes and/or content for any competition relatedpress releases.

Participating in media and press opportunities in no way,shape or form requires teams to disclose any proprietary or otherwiseconfidential information related to their businesses. The MIT $100Korganizing 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 CONCERNINGTHE MIT ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. IN NO EVENTSHALL MIT, ITS TRUSTEES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, STUDENTS, THEMIT ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION JUDGES AND MENTORS, AND AFFILIATES BELIABLE FOR ANY ADVICE, INFORMATION OR DECISIONS MADE FOR OR ON BEHALFOF THE MIT ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETITION OR FOR INCIDENTAL ORCONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING ECONOMIC DAMAGES OR INJURYTO PROPERTY AND LOST PROFITS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER MIT SHALL BEADVISED, SHALL HAVE OTHER REASON TO KNOW OR IN FACT SHALL KNOW OF THEPOSSIBILITY OF THE FOREGOING.