The Business Plan Competition is an annual event that is organized by the International Innovation Center (IIC) at the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College ITEC Center. It intends to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit and promote the creation of innovative businesses in the Rio Grande Valley. In particular, this competition seeks to encourage entrepreneurially oriented University students to develop and grow new ventures based either on their own ideas and technologies or those developed by others. This competition also seeks to provide the participants with forums in which they develop skills in presenting their ventures to investors and receive constructive feedback for increasing the probability of successfully launching their ventures. Finally, each year the Business Plan Competition will provide the “best” of these ventures with substantial resources to assist the “winning” team in launching its venture.

Venture and Team Eligibility Rules

Participants: The competition is for UTB/TSC student created, managed, and owned ventures. In other words, students must (1) have played a major role in conceiving the venture, (2) have management roles in the venture, and (3) own significant equity in the venture. In general, a member of the team should be CEO, COO, or President of the venture, or members of the team should occupy 50% or more of the functional area management positions that report directly to the CEO, COO, or President. Members of the team should also own 50% or more of the equity allocated to the management team and key advisors. An equity position of less than 50% of the equity allocated to the management team and key advisers, and/or less than 20% of the total equity of the venture will be suspect and require the team members to show evidence that they were a major cause in the venture creation.

Team Composition: This is a competition for UTB/TSC students. Students must be members of the venture’s startup management team as well as present the plan and answer questions from the competition judges. The maximum number of members on a competition team is five (5); however, there is no restriction on the total size of the venture’s founding team.

Nature of Ventures: The competition is for new, independent ventures in the seed, start-up, or early growth stages. Generally excluded are the following: buy-outs, expansions of existing companies, real estate syndications, tax shelters, franchises, licensing agreements for distribution in a different geographical area, and spin-outs from existing corporations. Licensing technologies from universities or research labs is not excluded and is encouraged assuming they have not been commercialized previously. All ventures must be seeking outside equity capital in addition to the competition awards.

Prior Activity: Ventures may compete only once in the Business Plan Competition. However, ventures may compete in different business plan competitions in different academic years, provided that they meet all other Prior Activity and Business Plan Qualification Rules. Members may have worked on an idea or new technology in previous academic years, provided that their venture had no revenues and raised no outside equity capital, and/or did not undertake any other formal startup activities prior to the current academic year.

Business Plan Competition Submission Requirements
Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Guidelines

• The authors of the business plan will retain all rights to the plan regarding its use at all times prior to and following the competition except as stated below. Due to the nature of the competition, we will NOT ask judges, reviewers, staff, or the audience to agree to or sign non-disclosure statements for any participant.

• All public sessions of the competition, including but not limited to oral presentations and question/answer sessions, are open to the public at large. Any and all of these public sessions may be broadcast to interested persons through media which may include radio, television, and the Internet. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by entrants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged, or presented in these sessions.

• The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College and IIC, may make photocopies, photographs, videotapes, and/or audiotapes of the presentations including the business plan and other documents, charts, or material prepared for use in presentation at the Business Plan Competition. Participants retain all proprietary rights. The University may use the materials in any book or other printed materials and any videotape or other medium that it may produce, provided that any profits earned from the sale of such items are used by the University solely to defray the costs of future Business Plan Competitions. The University has non-exclusive world rights in all languages and in all media to use or publish the materials in any book, other printed materials, videotapes, or other medium, and to use the materials in future editions thereof and derivative products.