Second Annual Alumni New Venture Contest
With over half of HBS alumni classifying themselves as entrepreneurs at some point in their lives, this Contest is designed to shine a spotlight on alumni ventures, support new ventures and award $25,000 prize to the winning team. The contest is open to all HBS alumni, including Executive Education and all other alumni-status granting HBS programs.
Last year, the HBS Club of India fielded the winning business plan – Krishna Mahesh, CEO of Sundaram Medical Devices.
See press release: http://www.hbs.edu/news/releases/alumnibusinesscontest2010.html
See interview with Krishna Mahesh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6UgaVSQOgU
For 2011, the contest currently has confirmed participation from 12 regions (with 16 HBS alumni clubs involved: Boston, Brazil, Chicago, Germany, India, New York (w/ Washington, DC), Northern California (w/ HBS Technology Alumni Association), Shanghai, South Africa, Southern California (Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego), Toronto and The United Arab Emirates. The winner from each of these regional contests will be announced by March 31, 2011 and go on to compete in the finals of the global contest to be held on the HBS campus April 25-26, 2011.
The finalists (one from each region) will present their plans on Monday, April 25th to a panel of judges at HBS who will select the overall 2011 Alumni NVC winner. That evening, HBS will host a dinner led by Dean Nohria for all contestants, celebrating alumni entrepreneurship. The finalists will participate in additional educational and press sessions during their campus visit, with the winner being invited to present a brief summary of their plan at a School-wide awards ceremony (in conjunction with the student business and social venture contests) the following day.
Judging Panel: The club will announce the panel of judges from noteworthy venture capital firms and/or experienced angel investors. Each judge will be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement applicable to all business plans submitted through the process.
Contest Timelines & Process
Any questions, please contact Andre Barake: abarake@mba1989.hbs.edu
2011 TIMELINE
March 1, 2011 -
Applications/Registration forms, Executive Summaries and Business Plans are due
NVC Contest Registration Form
March 1 – 21st –
Business Plan preliminary review and judging occurs (process will depend upon number of submissions at March 1st)*
March 21 - 30th –
HBS Club of Brazil will host regional finals competition in a location to be determined*
April 24 - 26th –
Brazil regional winner will travel to HBS campus in Boston for final presentations, events and media interviews
*Dates subject to change
Prize: There will be one $25,000 first prize awarded at the April Finals. In addition, every finalist team will receive some mentoring from an HBS faculty member prior to the judging, as well as participate in an educational session on campus during the Finals.
Criteria: Teams/plans will be judged on the likelihood of creating a successful, significant new venture. Click here to see the "Judges Scoring Sheet" to be used during both the local and finals rounds. Investment funds and acquisitions will generally not be considered "new ventures." The regional winner is selected based on relative scoring from the judges panel. Click here to see the sample Relative Scoring Summary Sheet.
Eligibility: Teams must meet the following requirements:
1) Each team must have at least one (1) HBS alumnus/a (from any of the School’s alumni-status granting programs, including Executive Education). The HBS alumnus/a needs to be a substantive member of the founding team, with a senior management and operating position and participation in the company's equity pool in a manner consistent with that role and position. At least one (1) of the HBS alumni must be among the group (of a maximum of two (2) team members) who appears in Boston and presents at the NVC Finals in April.
2) Participating teams may not have raised/utilized more than $500,000 in total debt and equity capital, and must have less than $500,000 in revenues. It is not necessary that the teams actually be seeking funding. i.e., they may already have raised the small amount (less than $500,000) of capital they need to reach an initial milestone, or they may have a very cash flow positive business model that essentially requires no outside capital.
Business Plan Guidelines: Written business plans are preferable to PowerPoint-style plans because the reader can more fully grasp the logic and substance of a plan. That having been said, we do recognize the reality that many businesses develop only a PowerPoint formatted plan, and those plans are acceptable submissions. However, in the instances when a PowerPoint-style plan is submitted, we require a 2-5 page executive summary of the business plan. Submissions should not exceed 35 pages of either a prose plan or slide deck plus executive summary.
The plan materials submitted should clearly articulate, at minimum:
- The team members and their roles and backgrounds;
- The product or service, the customer needs it meets, and the market it will serve;
- The “Business Model” i.e., how the company makes money; and
- Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow forecasts for at least 3 years, including a clear articulation of funding needs, the anticipated timing of funding events, and how these relate to accomplishment milestones (e.g., exactly what will you accomplish with each round of financing.) Specific financing terms need NOT be articulated.
