Rules & Guidelines
- At least one team member must be a current student, a graduate, a faculty member, or a staff member of San Jose State University. This rule is meant to assure that competing teams have some connection to SJSU. Moreover, the team member, or members, with the SJSU connection must play an integral role within the team and have a material (significant) impact on the writing of the business plan. That is, teams that only use the name(s), and not the effort, of the person(s) connected with SJSU will be excluded from the SVBPC.
- The business plan submitted by a team must have been written by that team; plans written by professional organizations, consultants, or anyone else on behalf of a team are not eligible to compete in the SVBPC.
- SVBPC teams can consist of one member or several members, but no explicit consideration in the judging will be given to team size or team composition. SVBPC participants may join more than one team.
- All teams that qualify in the final round of judging for the SVBPC, will be required to make computer slide presentations. Each team will be allotted 10 minutes to present their idea and there will be 10 minutes for Question and Answers. Allotted time may change depending on the number of finalist teams. While the submitted business plans play a major role in determining the finalists of the SVBPC, the ability to orally articulate and communicate the features of the business will also have a significant weight in the judges' decisions about the winners. In a sense, all of the finalists will have written business plans worthy of winning the SVBPC, so the persuasiveness of the final-round presentations will be key in determining the winners.
- For cash prizes for the SVBPC, 25% of the prize will be paid at the
time that the winners are announced, and the team will decide how the
prize money will be allocated to the team members. Since one goal
of the SVBPC is to encourage the starting of new ventures, the remaining
75% of the cash prizes will be disbursed after the winning teams submit
to the SVCE Director receipts for valid start-up business expenses.
Valid expenses include those for: a) incorporation, b) patent application, c) legal and professional services, d) advertising and marketing material, e) books, classes, conferences, and trade publications, f) association fees, g) consulting expenses, h) market research, i) communication and IT services (such as telephone, Internet, email, and webpage services), j) travel, k) insurance (liability, error & omissions), l) rent for facilities, m) equipment purchases, and n) office supplies. Salaries and benefits are not valid expenses for reimbursement. Discussions with the SVBPC Director can help determine what other expenses, if any, are appropriate.
When submitting reimbursement claims, please explain the purpose and reason for incurring the expense, unless the reason is self-evident. All reimbursement items, including online orders, must have proof of payment (e.g., credit card receipt, confirmation of payment from vendor, etc.). Order confirmations or shipping confirmations will not meet the requirements unless the credit card number is listed as the payment method. Depending on your online bank, sometimes it is possible to print just the relevant transaction. Alternatively, you may have to submit a copy of your bank statement or credit card statement, along with your reimbursement claim, and black out confidential information, including details relating to other transactions. - To receive the full cash prize (i.e., the 75% post-SVBPC disbursement), winning teams must have at least one member with a SJSU connection integrally and significantly involved in developing the business after the completion of the SVBPC.
- Winning teams should claim their cash awards within a year from the date of the announcement of their award. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of their claim.
- Business plans that have won other business plan competitions, including prior year SVBPCs are not eligible to participate in the SVBPC. However, teams that have competed in previous SVBPCs but have not won are eligible to compete again as long as they submit either new or substantially revised business plans.
- Many business plans that are submitted to the SVBPC will be developed as a result of class projects, and these business plans might/could be submitted to fulfill requirements in another, subsequent class. We do not encourage such "double dipping" or "recycling" of previous work, so we expect students to inform subsequent instructors of business plans developed in previous class so that steps can be taken to assure new or additional work is performed in the subsequent class.
- Teams or team members that have received any form of venture capital financing for their business plan are not eligible to submit that plan to SVBPC.
- Teams that have received financing from non-venture capital sources totaling less than $100,000 may compete. Any team that receives seed financing from non-venture capital sources totaling more than $100,000 at any time during the competition will be disqualified. Existing companies with cumulative revenues exceeding $100,000 and with funding exceeding $100,000 are not eligible to compete. The amount and source of secured capital arrangements should be clearly identified in the team's documents.
- The SVBPC organizing committee retains the right to modify the rules and guidelines as the competition proceeds over the academic year. For example, depending on the response, categories of business plans might be added that classify submissions according to type of business (e.g., high tech vs. non-high tech) or type of financing required (e.g., angel investment vs. venture capital) or the degree status of the participating team (e.g., graduate vs undergraduate). Any changes to the rules and guidelines will be posted on this web page, so participants should check regularly for updates.
- The eligibility of any unclear situations presented by submitted business plans will be determined by the SVBPC organizing committee.
Proprietary Information:
Submitting a plan to the SVBPC involves the disclosure of information. While some advisors, mentors, and judges will sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), most will not because signing a NDA could hamper the ability to invest in a variety of businesses in the same industry and could possibly create false expectations for the SVBPC participants. The advisors, mentors, and judges will be careful about using information obtained over the course of the SVBPC since misuse of the information could tarnish their professional reputations, but they are still not likely to sign a NDA. There is no requirement by the SVBPC organizers that anyone sign a NDA.
Participants should keep in mind the distinction between problems and solutions. For example, new technology is typically a solution to a problem. If a participant does not want to reveal the problem his or her team proposes to solve, that perhaps is being too restrictive. If no one knows that the problem exists, then there will be little interest in the proposed new venture. So, when communicating in broad terms or in initial discussions, discussing the topic area and the problem that business plan addresses should not be considered disclosure of proprietary information.
What is unique is the solution a team offers, and we do suggest that participants take care in when discussing their unique solutions to problems that might be well known.
SVBPC participants are cautioned about including too much detailed proprietary information in their submissions. A balance should be found so that the appropriate amount of information is provided that creates excitement about the innovative idea and differentiates it from the competition without revealing too much proprietary information. If a participating team feels that disclosure is a significant problem, a discussion with the SVBPC Director is encouraged so that a solution agreeable to all concerned can be obtained.
Format of the Documents:
The format of submissions is simple: All documents should be prepared using Microsoft Word and/or Excel. For Word documents, Times New Roman 12-point should be used with 1-inch margins on all sides. For Excel documents, the smallest font size should be 10 point and every effort should be made to make the presentation of the spreadsheets as professional as possible and the format easy to read on a computer monitor screen.
- When submitting in electronic form, if possible, please convert documents into one file using Adobe .pdf format.
- Title pages should include contact information (including email addresses) for each team member.
