Entrepreneurship

Description:

Refers to owning, organizing, and managing your own business by providing a necessary product or service.

Eligibility:

Both for profit and non-profit /mission-driven venture structures are eligible to compete in the category.
Overview:
Showcase your creativity and business acumen by crafting and presenting a detailed business plan for a product or service you envision, evaluated as if presenting to a panel of investors or funders. Participants will be evaluated on
their understanding of core business principles, the clarity of their ideas, and the practicality of their proposed ventures. Structure your pitch around the following arc: Problem, Solution, Market Opportunity, Business Model & The
Ask, and Vision & Impact.Participants will be evaluated on their understanding of core business principles, the clarity of their ideas, and the practicality of their proposed ventures.

Notes for Judges ● Judges may consider additional factors like creativity, innovation, and potential market impact. ● Each contestant will have 10 minutes to present their project and then the judging co-hort will have 5 minutes for any follow up questions and quick deliberations before the next contestant. Each contestant will only have an allocated time frame of 15 minutes. ● You should not under any circumstances engage with the students before or after the competition until the Awards Ceremony has concluded. ● You must provide honest constructive feedback for each contestant that you are judging. ● Scoring Rubric: ○ 95-100 - Qualifies as a Gold Medalist ○ 90+Up - Qualifies as a Silver Medalist ○ 85+Up - Qualifies as a Bronze Medalist ■ Please take heed that the identifying word here is “Qualifies”. There can be multiple contestants that can qualify as gold medalist and if that’s the case the highest score will receive the gold, and silver and bronze will be allocated to the next two highest scores. ■ In the event the highest score is a 90 then there is no gold medalist and there’s only a possibility for a silver and bronze medalist as long as the remaining scores land within the 85+Up region.

Requirements:

1. Presentation: Prepare a 10-minute verbal and visual pitch presentation. Contestants may elect, at their own discretion, to include an additional 3-minute product demonstration. Following the presentation, contestants should be prepared to answer questions from the judges for at least 5 minutes.

2. Visual Aid: Create a presentation using Canva, Keynote, PowerPoint, or a physical display.

3. Business Knowledge: Demonstrate familiarity with your industry, general business terms (marketing, product development, financials, target market, etc.).

4. Written Business Plan: Submit a typed, double-spaced, 15-page business plan. Include:
a. Cover Page
b. Executive Summary
c. Company Description
d. Marketing Plan (including target audience, growth strategy, and market research and/or competitive analysis)

e. Management Plan (including awareness of relevant regulations and compliance)
f. Financial Plan (including two-year financial projections —revenue, expenses, and net income or surplus — and current and planned future funding sources)
g. Supporting Documents (graphs, photos, data)

5. Originality: The business plan and product/service must be original student work. A Statement of Integrity must be signed.

6. Contestant Introduction: State your introduction in full, per the Contestant Introduction Script, before beginning your presentation.

7. Time Adherence: 0.25 point will be deducted for every 15 seconds over the allotted time (10 minutes, or 13 minutes if the optional product demonstration is used)

Necessary Equipment
This equipment is provided and standard at the national competition.

Note: Contact your local ACT-SO Chairperson to see if this equipment is available at at the local level.

1. Projector Screen
2. Projector
3. Laptop w/charger
4. Speakers
5. HDMI Cable
6. Dongle Adapter for Macbooks
7. Outlet Surge Protector

Submission Guidelines
• Student name, page number, and branch must be on each page of the business plan.
• Submit the business plan and Statement of Integrity by the specified deadline.

Required Submissions

• Bio (PDF) → First_Last_Bio
• Contestant Photo (PDF) → First_Last_CP
• Statement of Integrity (PDF) → First_Last_SOI
• Written Project (Business Plan) (PDF) → First_Last_Business Plan

When uploading your documents, you must name each file exactly as shown above in order for it to be properly uploaded and integrated into our automated system.

Example: John_Doe_WP (using your own first and last name, followed by the file label shown for your category).

Note: If files are not received in these formats, they are out of compliance and ineligible until rectified. If they are not corrected before the deadline, the contestant will no longer be able to compete at this year's iteration of the National Competition.

Contestants Will Be Judged By The Following Criteria:

25 Points: Business Plan

Overall quality of the written plan: concept, market research, financial model, funding sources, and awareness of

relevant regulations/compliance, scored as one holistic score

20 Points: Opportunity & Solution

Is the market need, problem, or opportunity clearly identified, and does the solution logically address it, incorporating

market and research understanding.

20 Points: Business Model & The Ask

How the venture sustains itself financially (revenue, grants, donations, membership, etc.) and what they're asking for.

15 Points: Vision & Impact

Depth of understanding and personal investment in the idea, how they see it growing, and the impact they want it to have.

20 Points: Delivery & Q&A Communication, confidence, and handling of follow-up questions.

100 Total Points

Point Deduction -0.25 per 15 sec
For every 15 seconds the presentation exceeds the allotted time limit (10 minutes, or 13 minutes if the optional product demonstration is used), 0.25 point is deducted.