RIT Business Plan Contest
Sponsored by RIT's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, E. Philip Saunders College of Business & the Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE)
2008 BUSINESS PLAN CONTEST WINNERS
Congratulations to all the students who entered the contest and put time and effort into some very exciting business ideas. Six judges did a very thorough job of evaluating the plans and winners were decided on the basis of their combined scores.
UNDERGRADUATE WINNERS
1st place - Synapse Animation, Douglas Waters, GCCIS
2nd place - Hotel Proxy, Chris Geiss, COE; Marc Baumbach, GCCIS; Breana Sniezek, CAST
3rd place - Bar One Composites, Michael Barone, CAST
GRADUATE WINNERS
1st place - 1Game2Play - Minh Tran, Brian Dumais, SCB
2nd place - Global Grid, Michael Lewis, COE
3rd place - Virtugraph Labs, Srikanth Pannala, CAST
Thinking of starting your own business? Have a business idea and plan?
The purpose of the RIT Business Plan Competition is to promote an entrepreneurial spirit across the University. The competition is open to all students. Participants are challenged to submit an innovative, yet serious business plan for their new venture.
These plans will be evaluated anonymously by a panel of RIT faculty and outside entrepreneurs, and the winners will be rewarded with cash prizes and possible entry to the RIT Student Business Incubator to further develop their ideas.
Sample Business Plans:
Undergraduate track
First prize 2007
Third prize 2007
Graduate track
Business plans are confidential and not to be reproduced
Contact Info
Eligibility:
All full- or part-time RIT undergraduate and graduate students working toward a degree are eligible to participate in the competition. (Eligibility includes students graduating at any time during the 2007-08 academic year).
Prizes
Undergraduate
1st Prize: $ 4,000
2nd Prize: $ 2,000
3rd Prize: $ 1,000
Graduate
1st Prize: $2,500 and sponsorship to RBPC*
2nd Prize: sponsorship to RBPC*
3rd Prize: sponsorship to RBPC*
*RIT is also a sponsor of a community-wide business plan contest, along with UR, HTR, and GRE. This contest is open (for a fee) to all members of the greater Rochester community. It involves a series of business plan workshops, events, and coaching to refine the entrepreneur’s concepts. The entry fee is covered for those graduate student business plan winners who wish to enter.
Guidelines
Business plans should describe a potential new business in no more than five (5) single spaced pages, not including the income and start-up cost statement. Download information on how to format your business plan here.
Requirements for your business plan.
Evaluation
A panel of RIT faculty and outside entrepreneurs (and entrepreneurs' service providers) judge the contest. Proposals are evaluated based primarily on their realistic potential for success. Other pertinent criteria include:
- Professionalism of the abbreviated business plan
- Compelling nature of the market opportunity, market need (actual or perceived), and the value provided to customers
- Clear definition of target market (customers) and their accessibility
- Realistic manufacturing or service operations plan
- Accurate understanding of potential start-up costs and revenues
Previous Winners
This year approximately 35 students submitted plans to the competition - all of them of very high quality.
2006-07 Undergraduate winners were:
1st Prize: TribeMind Studios (Sean Azlin, Derrick Miller, Eric Miller, Nick Germain)
2nd Prize: Atomic Security (Christopher Zielinski)
3rd Prize: Goal Judge (Rick Walton)
The award winner for the 2006-07 Graduate Track was:
American Energy Conversion (William Stromeyer and Justin Pelletier)
2005-06 Undergraduate winners were:
1st Prize: Projectories (Sean Colombo)
2nd Prize: Draco Industries (Andrew Colaruotolo, John Frame, Gregory Combs)
3rd Prize: Parking Pals (Syprasuth Vandy)
The award winner for the 2005-06 Graduate Track was:
Staach (Seth Eshelman and Ross Nadau)