How to Win a Business Plan Competition from the Perspective of a Judge

While it may seem obvious to many, the first tip to winning a Business Plan Competition is actually entering the competition. Many individuals are either intimidated or defeat themselves by believing the competition may be too strong or that their business idea is not strong enough. The key to winning is like the lottery, “you have to play to win.”

Utilize Resources Most entrepreneurs start their research at their public library, but many are unaware of the free business resources available to them such as the Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) (www.queensny.org).

Plan Ahead Many business plan competitions have very detailed rules to follow depending on the host of the competition. In the case of the 2006 Queens Startup! Business Plan Competition hosted by the QEDC, applicants must attend an orientation session where they receive an application and they must attend 3 out of 4 entrepreneurial training classes. Know the Rules Not knowing the rules can cause an applicant’s business plan to be immediately rejected. Many competitions have rules that applicants must follow. In the case of the 2006 Queens Startup! Business Plan Competition hosted by the QEDC, applicants are only allowed to enter the competition if they are legal residents of Queens County, NY and are 18 years of age or older.

Find Out Who the Judges Are and How They Are Judging Your Plan Finding out who the judges are and what criteria they use to evaluate a business plan can make the world of difference in a competition When developing your business plan knowing how the plan will be judged helps the entrepreneur in planning the development of their in terms of what information is critical versus other information that is not.

Find Out Who the Prior Winner was Finding out who the prior year’s winner was is and contacting them to get the inside scoop on what they did to win. In some cases prior winners may be willing to allow you to view their business plan. They of course will not send you a copy, but a simple request to peruse their plan for format, structure, and content may yield you an upper hand.

This article was written by Paisley Demby, judge for the last 3 years of the Whitney M. Young Jr. Memorial New Venture Competition (wmy.wharton.upenn.edu) and Director of Business Services at Queens Economic Development Corp., sponsor of the 2006 StartUp! Queens Business Plan Competition (www.queensny.org)