Courtesy: Thunderbird Entrepreneurship Network
Very often at Thunderbird, students get the chance to pitch ideas or create business plans in classes, but seldom do they put their ideas through the grinder or put themselves through a trial by fire. For the entrepreneurial T-bird who is a little worried about being burned by business, the Thunderbird Entrepreneurship Network has it covered with the 2014 Thunderbird business plan competition.
The idea behind the 2014 Thunderbird business plan competition is to develop an idea worthy enough to pitch to a panel of investors, with the chance to win $1,000 in cash. The first step in this process would be to form a team of 1 or more Tbirds and submit a 1 page application to the TEN leadership at 9am on February 28th. The application would need to include the following:
- What is the problem you’re solving?
- How many people have this problem?
- What is your solution?
- Who are your competitors?
- Team bios
Now comes the tough part – making sure your idea is picked up! When March rolls around, TEN will have the lean start-up accelerator, which will be provided with entrepreneurship workshops. By March 30th, student should be prepared to submit a complete business plan for the idea. April will bring the grand finale on the 24th where 5 Groups will be selected to compete in the final round against your fellow creative minds at Thunderbird and the top 3 going home with cash prizes in their pocket.
While TEN initially thought of mandating an entry fee to keep the process true, they have now opened it up to anyone who would like to enter, free of charge.
So get cracking on that business idea that’s been percolating at the back of your mind for ages and who knows, it might just turn up the cash to make it into a reality.
(For more details on the competition, contact Huijuan Guo at Juan.G@global.t-bird.edu