The goal of the Accelerate Your Business Plan Contest (“The Contest”) is to encourage the development of effective business plans; thereby, assisting entrepreneurs with advancing concepts to commercialization, enhancing or strengthening existing small businesses and matching emerging financial / technical needs with existing resources. Administered by the Rock County Development Alliance, support for the Contest derives from the Rock County 5.0 initiative, various local private sector sponsors and the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA). Specific Contest objectives are provided below:
- Objective #1: Stimulate the role of entrepreneurship and small business development in Rock County.
- Objective #2: Educate entrepreneurs and existing businesses on local and/or regional small business resources and support networks.
- Objective #3: Recognize the impacts that entrepreneurs and small businesses have throughout Rock County’s economic landscape.
The Contest consists of separate, but linked, Business Plan components, which include: mentor sessions and technical workshops.
Anyone interested in starting and/or expanding a business (of any legal structure) in Rock County is eligible, providing individuals & owners of both proposed and existing businesses are 18 years old or older, and:
- Submitting a plan for a new Rock County business, new product or for a significant change in an existing business in Rock County.
- The business developed must intend to sell products or services to a customer base that includes markets outside of Rock County.
- At minimum, 50% of new hire employees that result from the business plan will be hired from the Rock County workforce.
- Participants who have competed previously in the Contest are eligible to enter. However, previous contest winners are not eligible to compete a second time with the same winning plan; second and third place winners are eligible to compete with the same plan.
In addition to the requirements listed above, Existing Businesses submitting a product/business plan must also:
- Either be currently headquartered or otherwise located in Rock County, or intend to establish a Rock County location as a result of the business/product plan submission.
- The existing business must be a small business, as defined as retaining 25 or fewer employees and no more than $5 million in annual sales.
The Contest consists of: five (5) workshops, three (3) mentoring sessions and four (4) separate, but linked, submissions:
- Contest Registration Forms & Executive Summary
- Market Analysis
- Financial Proformas
- Final Business Plan
Descriptions and guidelines for the components are as follows:
Workshops
Contestants are strongly encouraged to participate in each of the five workshops that are included in the Contest. Each workshop will be directly related to the up-coming submission topic, and is intended to facilitate the development of a strong submission. The workshops are:
- Contest Overview & How to Develop the Executive Summary
- How to Conduct a Market Analysis
- How to Develop Your Financial Proformas & Business Finance Resources
- How to Compile Your Business Plan
- How to Present Your Plan to Investors
Mentoring Sessions
The structure of the Contest includes required, as well as optional, mentoring sessions. These are 60 minute, one-on-one sessions that will be scheduled buy the Contest Adminstrator. The dates for the required mentoring sessions are:
- July 5-9, 2010
- August 2-6, 2010
- August 30 - Sept. 3, 2010
The optional mentoring sessions will be held on:
- June 7-11, 2010
- September 6-10, 2010
Any additional mentoring time must be requested through the Contest Administrator and will be granted at the sole discretion of, and is relevant to the availability of, the prospective mentors.
To request your mentoring time, please complete this Mentor Request Form and then return it via email to the Contest Administrator.
Submission 1: Contest Registration Forms & Executive Summary
Contest Registration Forms: Please refer to the Contest Eligibility, Contestant Contract and Authorization to Release forms.
Executive Summary: This is a 500-word (or less) conceptual outline of your idea for expanding an existing busienss or starting a new firm. The Summary should include a brief product/business description, the competitive advantages your product/business, as well as touch upon the company's key financials.
Submission 2: Market Analysis
This is an in-depth analysis of the market, including a detailed description of the following: the product/business; the customer base & size for the product/business; the existing competitors, their strengths and weaknesses; and the industry as a whole. This Analysis should also identify critical risks that may result in barriers to the success of your business and subsequent contingency plan(s).
Submission 3: Financial Proformas
This is a preliminary presentation of your projected financials for the next 3 years, including a detailed list of start-up costs, operating costs, seasonality issues, break-even analyses, etc. These documents demonstrate the economic feasibility of the business and will weigh heavily in the overall Business Plan scores.
Submission 4: Final Business Plan
This is a detailed and complete Business Plan, essentially the compilation of the materials created / submitted during this Contest. The complete Business Plan with financial data must be submitted in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and be no longer than 40 pages (including appendices). Incomplete Plans will not be reviewed.
No documents will be accepted late; be sure to include contact information with your submission.
To participate in the Accelerate Your Business Plan Contest, the following time line & rules apply:
- Each member of your team must complete, sign and date the Eligibility Confirmation form, the Contestant Contract and the Authorization to Release Form*.
- All forms listed above are to be completed and received via e-mail, in .pdf format, no later than Noon on June 17.
- Entries submitted without prior receipt of above listed forms from EACH TEAM MEMBER will be DISQUALIFIED.
- All submissions must be submitted in .pdf format via email.
- All correspondence via email should list your business name in the subject line.
Send all Contest Submissions, Forms and Contracts to:
contest@rockcountyalliance.com
Documents received after the (Noon) deadlines listed below will be disqualified.
Submission 1: Due June 17, 2010:
These files should be named:
[Name of Your Business] Registration.pdf
[Name of Your Business] Executive Summary.pdf
Submission 2: Due July 22, 2010:
This file should be named:
[Name of Your Business] Preliminary Market Analysis.pdf
Submission 3: Due August 19, 2010:
This file should be named:
[Name of Your Business] Preliminary Financial Proformas.pdf
Submission 4: Due September 16, 2010:
This file should be named:
[Name of Your Business] Business Plan.pdf