The competition is open to all teams that have a current CSULB student(s) in a leading role. A team size of 1 to 5 members is recommended. Students should look for entrepreneurial, innovative, and business-minded team members. Teams are encouraged to have members with diverse business skill sets in order to compile a winning combination. Teams must deliver a compliant business plan by February 22, 2013 to be considered for participation. Students are allowed to gain assistance from business professionals outside of campus. Mentors will be assigned to each team, consisting of CSULB faculty and/or external business professionals.
Selection will be made in two steps. First, the written business plans are judged in order to select the top 4 teams who will then make a presentation at the Awards Ceremony. The judging criteria and corresponding weights may be set by the judges, and may vary from year to year. As an example, proposals may be judged on:
All entries will receive some form of recognition for their participation (T-shirts, pens, gift cards, or the like). Those invited to present at the Award Ceremony will receive larger prizes in the form of certificates and gift certificates. The winning team will be awarded an allotment of seed funding as well as in-kind contributions.
All prizes will be presented at the Awards Ceremony. As mentioned, in addition to seed funding, the winning team will be augmented by in-kind contributions donated by the friends of the University. Such donations may include: