The goal for the Rensselaer Business Model Competition is not only to provide teams with prizes of cash and in-kind services, but also to provide student entrepreneurs with the opportunity to improve their business through workshops, customer interviews, coaching, feedback and live practice sessions in preparation for the myriad of competition opportunities held annually each spring across the nation and globally. 

 

 

Qualification Criteria

 

This competition is open to graduate and undergraduate students only.

Each team must be made of at least half RPI students.

The business idea must be a student-born idea.

Students must be enrolled for the academic year in which the competition takes place.

Students may not participate on more than 1 team each year of the competition.

RPI students must play an integral role in each team.

The presentation must be delivered by RPI student(s).

If the competition is split into graduate and undergraduate tracks, teams must enter in the division dictated by the highest education level of all the team members.

This decision will be made after all submissions are received.

 

 

Competition Process

 

Plans can be for a product, service, process or technique.

The submission must be unique to the market.

Your submission does not have to be technology-driven.

 

Intent to Submit
Send a simple email to SCTE@rpi.edu with: team name, each member's name, area of study and grad status (UG or G), 1-2 sentence description of your innovation and the team's primary contact person.

 

1. Application

Each team's application consists of a completed business model canvas. The canvas is a visual chart comprised of (9) essential components of a business, value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances. Teams will list hypotheses in each of the (9) boxes on the canvas and then prioritize them. On an additional page, choose 3-5 hypotheses from the canvas and describe how you will test them. Learn more about what the canvas is and how to use it in your submission here.

 

2. Review
Each canvas will be reviewed by a minimum of one coach who will provide feedback prior to the competition date.

 

3. Coaching
Teams are required to attend a coaching session the week prior to the competiton. These will be used for presentation dry-runs and Q&A.

In any competition submission, you should describe your business idea without revealing any proprietary information. We don't want to know what your secret sauce is. Part of this process is learning how to write and present your idea in an intriguing manner without revealing your intellectual property.

 

4. Presentations

If accepted and notified, teams will be asked to present their business model to an external panel of judges. Each presentation is limited to 10 minutes. This time frame will be strictly enforced by a time keeper. Teams are allowed to use visual aids as they see fit. At the end of the 10 minutes, the judging panel will have 5 minutes to ask questions and provide feedback and coaching. Any team member presenting must be college students enrolled for the academic year in which the competition takes place. Example presentations

 

5. Judging

Judges will consist of community members and alumni with varying backgrounds in entrepreneurship and business. Judges will provide the teams with feedback for fine-tuning and clarifying their business model and presentation for future competitions. The judges' scores will determine the winners. Judging rubric

 

6. Prizes

Over $15,000 in cash and in-kind services are available this year. If awarded a monetary prize, the money will be distributed in increments based on achieved milestones.

 

 

Sponsors

 

Bob Godgart ’82 (Founder, ChannelEyes, Autotask, PowerAdz, etc.)
Bob Godgart has over 25 years of successful software and SaaS experience, building each company from startup to market leader. He served over 10 years as CEO of Autotask, creating the world's leading Services Automation tool for IT Solution providers.  His current (and 5th) startup ChannelEyes has helped re-imagine the way vendors communicate, educate and engage with their sales channel.

 

Heslin, Rothenberg, Farley & Mesiti, P.C.
The law offices of Heslin, Rothenberg, Farley & Mesiti, P.C. have graciously donated in-kind services to the first place team(s). Heslin, Rothenberg, Farley & Mesiti, P.C. is the largest law firm in New York's Tech Valley, devoted exclusively to intellectual property law. The firm handles all aspects of acquiring and enforcing intellectual property rights, both domestic and foreign, including licensing and litigation.

 

Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship
The Paul J. ’69 and Kathleen M. Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship (SCTE) helps foster new generations of budding and successful entrepreneurs through outreach programs, education and support systems.