NOTE: This event has been postponed to September. The Date of the Event has NOT been determined (it will be mid-September). We will post the date as soon as it becomes available.
In response to the large amount of interest from the University of Chicago alumni community in New York towards entrepreneurship and starting a new venture, we are hosting an “Entrepreneur Challenge” to initiate discussions with ideas and businesses/organizations among the alumni of the University. All are welcomed to attend, but we are also allowing participants an option to present their business ideas at the event.
Challenge: Present your business ideas in a 1-3 minute business pitch to a panel of judges and audience.
If you want to participate in this event as a presenter, please submit to
2011entrepreneurchallenge@gmail.com by August 30, 2011 a brief description of your background, your idea/business/organization, and why you want to present at this event and we will choose a number of ideas and businesses for discussion during the session. Submissions need not be the finalized pitch (see below for pitching criteria/requirements).
Reward: A great opportunity to test your business pitch to a supportive audience and refine your ideas in an interactive event by receiving feedback from a panel of judges comprising of successful entrepreneurs, investors, and service providers.
EVENT INFORMATION:
Time: Early-Mid June: TBD
Location: NYC
Format of the Event:
1. Presentations & Feedback: You'll have just a few minutes to tell us about your idea, then we'll ask you questions and offer suggestions for about 5-10 minutes. Everyone in the audience is very helpful and supportive. The presentations are meant to be interactive.
Each person presenting an idea gets (6 - 13 minutes total time):
• 1 - 3 minutes to pitch your idea
• 5 - 10 minutes of Q&A and feedback with the Panel and audience
2. A brief panel discussion
3. Networking Session
PITCHING CRITERIA/REQUIREMENTS:
1. Your pitch must be your idea for a for-profit business or non-profit organization.
2. The company/organization must be a Startup (0-3 years existence, and less than $500K in annual revenue) providing either B2C or B2B services and/or products.
3. Ideas are welcomed even at the earliest of stages with no users or products yet, as long as they are your ideas, and have a unique offering in the marketplace.
PITCHING GUIDELINES:
A great pitch includes the following:
Your name and company’s name and your title at your company/organization
What the business/organization is in one sentence
Why people want or need what you're offering
What the product is and how it is used/works
Revenue model
Market potential for business/size of problem for organization
Possible direct competitors
Current status of the business
Who is the team/individual behind the business/organization
What's next: What are you looking for, how will you get more customers/users
ENTRY DUE DATE:
August 31, 2011 at 11:59pm EST
QUESTIONS:
Planning Committee: Vincent Choi, Deb Umunnabuike, Hayoung Kim, Reid Parmelee
@
2011entrepreneurchallenge@gmail.com
