Cycle 23 Business Plan Competition Details

When: Thursday, May 26th 9am-12noon
Where: Google - 20 W. Kinzie

What is the i.c.stars business plan competition?

For the second client engagement at i.c.stars, the interns participate in a business plan competition. The competition is facilitated by Steve Miller of Origin Ventures, Tom Churchwell of Arch Development Partners, Waverly Deutsch of University of Chicago, Wendy White Eagle of Native Capital, Jason Zielke of Clean Energy Trust, Jim Stoynoff of SCORE, and many local entrepreneurs and investors.

The competition lasts 4 weeks. Each team brainstorms internet business ideas in the first week and the advisors helps them choose which one to build out. They spend the next 3 weeks talking to customers and building their plan which covers the problem, opportunity, market, competition, and financial projections.

In addition, the teams purchase their domain name, launch the web site, and have a $200 marketing budget for purchasing internet advertising to drive traffic and begin to prove out the market.

What is my involvement/time requirement?

At the end of the month, each team presents their business plan, financial model, and working website to a panel of 8-15 judges. The panel is comprised of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who score how well each team did on their presentation and provides detailed live feedback. The presentations and feedback session lasts 3 hours.