Compete CNY

Eligibility Requirements

• Any full-time or part-time undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in an accredited college or university in the CNY region (Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties) is eligable.
• Students who were enrolled during the academic calendar year, including those who graduate in December or another month, are eligible to compete.
• Teams with students from multiple institutions are allowed and encouraged, as long as the teams:
  • are composed entirely of students from accredited New York State colleges and universities, and;
  • these students are enrolled during the current academic year.
• Teams with students from multiple regions may only apply to and participate in one regional qualifying competition.
• A student may only participate on one team per competition year.
• The venture must be at least 80% owned by students.
• Student teams are eligible to compete as long as they have not raised more than $100,000 in cumulative public and private capital, including other business plan competitions and grants.
• Ventures may be based in other states, though preference is given to ventures in New York State.
• The venture does not need to be incorporated to compete, but it does need to be incorporated to receive NYBPC prize money.
• Previous Grand Prize winners are not eligible to compete again.

Materials Formatting

Information on application materials formatting and inclusions.

Application Materials:

• Only PowerPoint or PDF formats are allowed.
• Pitch decks must be pre-submitted; we will request this information from you.
• Pitches on flash drives or stored on cloud services will not be accommodated. Embedded videos are not recommended.

Samples Materials provided by NYBPC:

• Sample Executive Summary
• Sample Presentation

Confidentiality:

• Judges and participants do not sign confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements. Entrepreneurs should pitch their business concepts without disclosing confidential or proprietary information.
• Teams should not include any confidential or proprietary information in their applications or presentations.

Judging

Information on judges, presentation time with judges, and qualifiers.

• Compete CNY judges are regional business and civic leaders.
• NYBPC finals judges are distinguished entrepreneurs, investors, professional service providers and other engaged in New York State’s innovation ecosystem.
• For Compete CNY, the format will be a six-minute pitch with three minutes of Q&A.
• At the state level, each team will have 10 minutes to pitch followed by five minutes of Q&A.
• Note that pitch time varies across the state at regional competitions, depending on the number of entrants.
• Maximum of two teams from each of the six tracks, selected at the 10 regional semifinal competitions, will be invited to the statewide finals in Albany.
• There will be up to 120 teams participating in the statewide final competition, with a maximum of 20 teams in each track.

Judging Criteria

Judges are asked to evaluate companies according to the following criteria:

• Market Opportunity: Clear market need and a plan to take advantage of the need.
• Competitive Advantage: The product or service is something unique that has a protectable competitive advantage in the proposed market.
• Management Capability: The team has the skills and experience to develop this venture and address the associated risks.
• Financial Understanding: The team has a solid understanding of the financial requirements of the venture.
• Roadmap/Growth Strategy: The team has engaged in short and long-term planning and has considered strategies for growth.
• Sustainable Business Model: The team understands and can communicate their core business model. They have a strategy for developing a sustainable venture.

Prizes

• Prizes distributed through the Business Plan Competition vary each year based on sponsorships, but the overall prize pool is generally between $60,000 to $100,000, distributed to prize winners across all six tracks.
• Prizes are non-dilutive cash awards (taxable income), and are intended to help jumpstart student business ventures.
• Teams that win the Grand Prize or First Place prize in any of the six tracks must meet requirements to be eligible to claim cash prizes.
• Previous Grand Prize winners are not eligible to compete again.
• Winning teams will work with NYBPC organizers to develop and achieve milestones in order to receive the full cash prize.

Breakdown of previous NYBPC awards:

The following are the general past levels of cash prizes, however there may be changes based on sponsorships raised by NYBPC, and decisions made by the NYBPC steering committee.

• $10,000 cash – First Place teams (1 team per track)
• $2,500 cash – Second Place teams (1 team per track)
• $1,000 cash – Third Place teams (1 team per track)
• $2,000 cash – MWBE Awards (1 team per track) *Woman and Minority Business Enterprise.
• $500 cash – Concept Stage Award (1 team per track)