Rules and registration

When forming a team for the Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition, there are some rules and regulations that participants must abide by.

Teams competing in the Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition may be composed as follows:

• University of Nevada, Reno students may enter as individuals or as part of a team.
• Teams shall consist of one to five members.
• Non-students may be advisors, mentors, or members of the company formed; however, all team members presenting at competition events must be eligible University of Nevada students.
• Graduate and undergraduate students may be on the same team.
• Each team must designate a team leader through whom the Sontag Director and the Competition Committee can communicate with the team.
• An individual may be a member of only one team in the competition.
• Changes to the team composition following submission of the Intent to Compete must be approved by the Competition Committee.

There are specific business venture guidelines that Sontag participants must follow.

Requirements for Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition business ventures are as follows:

• The business must be a for-profit start-up or early stage venture, less than two (2) years old, and having received less than $250,000 revenue (including grants). (A Benefit Corporation is acceptable)
• A plan for expanding an existing business may be submitted, with approval of the Competition Committee
  
  • Business ideas submitted with the intent to expand an existing business, must exhibit the entrant's clear and significant equity interest in the expansion of the business
  • If the business idea is based upon research done by a faculty member at a university or research entity, a licensing agreement must be obtained from the university or other entity owning the intellectual property, and the students must have a clearly defined and significant equity interest in the business
• The proposed business cannot primarily consist of implementing an existing business model pursuant to a licensing agreement (i.e. becoming a franchisee)

Step 1:

Students must complete and submit an Intent to Compete form by the deadline dates set forth above, which includes the following elements.

• Team information form including name and contact information for each team member, class level, major and team role, designation of team leader
• The name(s) and contact information for any team mentor(s) and advisor(s)
• Business Model Canvas worksheet(s) setting forth the business concept
• An abstract describing the business venture (1,500 word maximum)

Note: The business concept, team makeup, and set of advisors and mentors can evolve after teams qualify to compete. The Competition Committee will review information submitted in Step 1 and will determine which teams will advance to Step 2.

Step 2:

Interview: Teams will pitch their business plan to a selection committee. Each six minute pitch will then be followed by an 8-minute question & answer session. 

Teams will have six minutes to present their pitch, with a maximum of eight slides, using Power Point or comparable presentation software, to address the following:

• Elevator pitch (short overview of the business concept)
• Team
• Big idea (problem or need)
• Product and/or service
• Market / customer
• Competition / competitive advantage / IP
• Revenue model / finance / unit economics
• Customer validation / traction

The Competition Committee will select the top teams (approximately 10 teams) to advance into the Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition.

The selection criteria are as follows:

• The Competition Committee is looking for teams that are formed, functional and have demonstrated they have a product (physical good and/or a service) that may form the basis for a viable business
• The Competition Committee recognizes that the competition is a demanding activity that will push students outside their comfort zones, and recognizes the time commitment for competitors will be significant; therefore, the Competition Committee is also looking for teams that have demonstrated a strong commitment to developing their idea
• With these general criteria in mind, the same scoring rubric will be used that will eventually be used to select the winner of the Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition

Judges will be selected by the Competition Committee. The Competition Committee consists of business professionals and University of Nevada, Reno faculty appointed by the Director of the Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition.

Judging criteria for the competition are as follows:

• demonstration of the ability to successfully start the proposed business or grow the existing business
• demonstration of the intention to use the award funds to successfully start and/or grow the business
• the likelihood the proposed business will survive and be generating significant revenue within three (3) years
• the potential of the proposed business for revenue growth, job creation, and profitability

The scoring rubric is intended to measure the teams’ performance relative to the above criteria.

A check for $50,000 will be awarded to the winning team after the end of the spring semester when the winning team indicates they are ready to receive the funds.

Funds may be used for:

1. development of the business opportunity
2. educational expenses while enrolled as a full-time student at the University of Nevada, Reno

Participants agree to complete a survey at the close of the competition designed to determine satisfaction levels and identify areas for improvement.

The award winner agrees to submit an annual progress report for three years, starting one year after the receipt of the award, to communicate progress toward business goals.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Dick Bartholet, Sontag Competition Director, at richardb@unr.edu or (775) 784-6878. You can also stop by the Ozmen Center for Entrepreneurship in Ansari Business Room 402.

Business concept elements are evaluated based on the following rating criteria:

1. Likelihood business will successfully launch and prosper - Weight 9
   Would you invest in this business or recommend this investment to a colleague?
2. Team - Weight 2
   Balance, complementary skills, key roles, experience, diversity, work well together.
3. Elevator Pitch (Pitch) / Executive Summary (Business Plan) - Weight 1
   Concise overview of the business concept -- providing an understanding of the basic business concept and sufficiently compelling for the audience to want to know more. 
4. Big Idea / Problem or Need - Weight 1
   Clearly identified problem or need. Have validated that it is "real." Their "solution" fills need better than existing solutions. Scalable.
5. Product and/or Service - Weight 1
   Stage of development: 1) concept, 2) working prototype/MVP, 3) beta testing with feed-back, 4) business has been launched, with growing sales.
6. Market / Customer - Weight 1
   Clear understanding of customer profile(s) and market segment(s), Total Addressable Market (TAM), Service Addressable Market (SAM), Service Obtainable Market (SOM), and Launch Addressable Market (LAM).
7. Competition - Weight 1
   Identifies direct and indirect competition, with a plan to effectively compete in the marketspace.
8. Revenue Model(s) / Finance / Ask - Weight 1
   Team knows how they will generate revenue, has determined pricing, understands major costs and profitability. Understands cost to acquire customers and long term value. Good explanation of how they will use the $50,000 prize. Includes milestones.
9. Customer Validation / Traction - Weight 1
   Team demonstrates how they validated their hypotheses of problem/need, value proposition, product-market fit, revenue models, pricing decisions, costs, and other key decision elements.
10. Barriers to Entry / Unfair Advantage / IP - Weight 1
    Business has ways to maintain its unfair competitive advantage (copyright, trademark, patent, proprietary information).
11. Communication - Weight 1
    Oral: Articulate and succinct presentation, well designed slide deck, on-point responses to questions.
    Written: Clearly organized, attractive, good use of graphics, concise financial overview, within page limit.

Teams are rated on the above criteria using a scoring scale of 1-4, denoting the following sentiments:

1 = Strong dislike

2 = Don’t like it

3 = Like it

4 = Love it