FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the purpose of the Business Plan Competition?

The Association of Business, Engineering and Science Entrepreneurs (ABESE),is presenting the 2005-2006 Louisiana Tech Business Plan Competition to foster interdisciplinary interaction, entrepreneurship, and innovation, among students at Louisiana Tech University. Students enrolled in any Louisiana Tech college are encouraged to form teams, brainstorm new business ideas or innovations, compete for cash prizes, graduate assistantships or student worker opportunities limited to the first, second and third place amounts, and the opportunity to present their ideas to a group of interested potential investors.

Who is e ligible to compete?

Undergraduate, graduate students and recent alumni (within one year of graduation) may participate. Faculty members are not eligible to participate on the team. The number of members per team is limited to two to six members. In order to have a stronger team, it is recommended, but not mandatory, that at least two different disciplines be represented on each team. Teams must not have started business operations as of January 1, 2006, or received funding beyond seed stage as of January 1, 2006. A student is not allowed to participate on more than one team.

Are there restrictions on the type of business which may be planned?

Plans submitted to the competition which include significant innovation in either a service or product offering typically score higher in the competition.  The innovation itself is NOT required to be the product. For example, the innovation may enhance the delivery or availability of a particular product or service. All submitted businesses must be legal under Federal or State of Louisiana statutes and any other applicable law.

All business plan team entrants desiring to compete must submit a "Notice of Intent" to CAB Room #105B no later than December 9, 2005 and attend the Notice of Intent Ceremony on December 13, 2005. Notices of intent and other competition documents are available in CAB Room #105B or by email request to abese@latech.edu. Completed written business plans are due no later than February 15, 2006 for preliminary judging, and are due no later than March 24, 2006 for final judging. Inclusion in the competition is dependent upon first passing a screening process during the preliminary judging on March 11, 2006 which will be conducted by a committee recruited by ABESE. Plans will be screened to determine if they meet the minimum requirements for inclusion in the competition. Minimum requirements include: 1) that the proposal does not violate any of the restrictions listed above, 2) that all team participants are eligible, 3) the concept is developed completely so that the committee can judge its soundness and seriousness and 4) other eligibility criteria uniformly applied by the committee and deemed by the committee to be necessary. 

When and by whom will the final submitted business plans be judged?

A committee consisting of experienced external business professionals will be the official judges for the competition. The final round of judging will take place on April 8, 2006.

ABESE hopes the Louisiana Tech Business Plan Competition will be the birthplace of many innovative business enterprises which actually begin operations in Louisiana. Accordingly, in addition to receiving cash prizes and in-kind support, the selected winners will have the opportunity to present their business plans before a group of outside prospective investors.

Louisiana Tech faculty are ready to assist teams in the formulation of a business plan (see contacts). There are many other good sources available on the web and in libraries which provide models for preparing business plans. ABESE recommends competitors consult such information.

The Fast Trac Business Mentor ™ software will be available to teams. A training seminar for this resource will be held by the Small Business Development Center.

What are the Guidelines for Submission of the Final Business Plan?

Plans should not contain more than 40 pages. A sample business plan outline is shown below. Incomplete submissions will be disqualified without exception.

I. Introductory Elements

A. Cover Page

B. Executive Summary

C. Table of Contents

II. Business Description

A. An overview of your industry

B. A discussion of your company

C. Descriptions of your products/services

D. Your positioning

E. Your pricing strategy

III. The Market

A. Customers

B. Market Size and Trends

C. Competition

D. Estimated Sales

IV. Development & Production

A. Development Status

B. Production Process

C. Cost of Development

D. Labor Requirements

E. Expenses and Capital Requirements

V. Sales & Marketing

A. Strategy

B. Method of Sales

C. Advertising and Promotion

VI. Management

A. Description

B. Ownership

C. Board of Directors/Board of Advisors

D. Support Services

VII. Financials

A. Risks

B. Cash Flow Statement

C. Balance Sheet

D. Income Statement

E. Funding Request and Return

Seven photocopies of the business plan must be submitted along with an electronic copy of the plan no later than February 15, 2006 for preliminary judging and no later than March 24, 2006 for final judging.

What are the criteria by which the plans will be judged?

In general, plans will be judged with respect to three areas of importance:

• How clearly the business idea and proposed plan of implementation is presented (within the guidelines set forth) and the attention given to detail, short run, as well as long run.
• The extent to which the idea or product is unique and innovative in nature and the amount of cooperation and input from various disciplines employed in the development of the idea and the plan.
• The viability, feasibility and potential profitability (both in terms of return on investment and absolute magnitude of return) of the plan.

Thanks for your interest in Louisiana Tech’s Top Dawg Business Plan Competition, presented by ABESE. Good luck with your innovative enterprise and may the best plan win!

If your question was not answered here, please email your question to abese@latech.edu .