BANK IT: Ca$h For Your Ideas – A Beginner's Guide to Business Plan Competitions

by Amanda Peyton

Published February 11, 2009 @ 07:26AM PT

I'm sick of reading depressing news about the economy. Seriously people, where's the hope?

Hope manifested: on Feb. 5 I watched the six winners of the MIT $100K Executive Summary Contest (ESC) deliver their 60-second elevator pitches to a large crowd of gripped onlookers at the kickoff of the 2009 MIT $100K Business Plan Contest. As one of the organizers of the competition, I get to help put together events that promote entrepreneurship in any economic climate.

The passion that often accompanies a new business idea is pretty powerful stuff. I started the MBA program at MIT Sloan in August 2008 with the intention of learning more about entrepreneurship, and in just under six months I have gone from "interested" to "completely obsessed" with learning how businesses go from some random idea to an actual, operational company.

This ongoing column will explore just that - how an idea for a business is developed into a business plan and how you can get funding for your ideas through business plan competitions. These competitions are more plentiful than you might think, and provide not just an opportunity to win money, but perhaps more importantly, a forum where you can receive feedback on your plan from experts with experience in your field. Finally, I will share some "insider tips" on what goes on behind the scenes of these competitions in order to give advice on what goes in to creating winning plans.

Step 1 - Idea Generation, or "Wouldn't it be cool if..."

Want to get involved? You can start by brainstorming ideas. I have found that some of the most successful entrepreneurs I have met never actually leave this phase - they just keep thinking of new ideas irrespective of they're working on. All it takes to start brainstorming is to finish this phrase: "wouldn't it be cool if..."

Wouldn't it be cool if you could use wave power to turn ocean water into potable water for developing countries? Enter WaveWater, the $100K Development Track ESC winner, who collected $2000 for their idea on how to make this happen in developing areas.

Wouldn't it be cool if you could diagnose illnesses in developing countries using technology that requires few supplies and little training to use? Enter Diagnostics For All, the $100,000 winner of the 2008 $100K Business Plan Contest, whose patent-pending technology uses a fingernail-sized paper-based microfluidic chip that changes color to diagnose illnesses.

Brainstorming is key - you'll probably come up with a whole lot of mediocre, unfeasible, or just-plain-bad ideas before you stumble upon something worth pursuing. Matt Flannery, founder of Kiva.org, said in an article for the journal Innovations: "I spent a good deal of my time dreaming up new business ideas. I'm the kind of person who always has a new idea, and is always talking about it. I started to have a new business idea every day; 365 ideas was my goal."

Once you do come up with something worth pursuing, put together a short (max 2 page) summary of your idea to distribute to friends, family and people you know and respect. Then, get ready for the onslaught of commentary that will follow (the fun part).

ANNOUNCEMENTS - UPCOMING BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION DEADLINES

*Please send additions and updates to ap [at] amandapeyton.com