Student Business Concept Competition
With Generous Assistance from The VT Business/Techonolgy Center (BTC)

The objectives of the competition are to encourage students to develop their entrepreneurial ideas, enhance understanding of requirements for a successful business venture, and showcase the creativity of students in the Roanoke and New River Valleys.

The Winning Team
Congratulations to uService.org for winning the 2009 Student Business Concept Competition! Team Members included Melissa Brown, Vince Agard, and Marvin Arnold. uService.org (uService) is a non-profit organization with the mission to help foster the legitimacy and significance of volunteer opportunities by creating a portal for volunteers, organizations, and sponsors to interact and share resources.

The Panelists

Jim Flowers is proud veteran of almost 40 years in service to start-up and early-stage companies as an executive and consultant. He is the architect and Director of the VT KnowledgeWorks business acceleration program at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg, Virginia. He currently serves locally as founding president of the Board of Sustainable Blacksburg, regionally as a Board Member of the NewVA Corridor Technology Council, and state-wide as president of the Board of the Virginia Business Incubation Association.

Dr. Richard Daugherty is the Director of the VT Business Technology Center (VT BTC), a Center within the Pamplin College of Business. The Business Technology Center assists emerging and evolving technology-based businesses and provides one-on-one consulting to entrepreneurs and businesses. All Business Technology Center projects are managed and directed by Richard, who has degrees in civil and mechanical engineering and over 25 years experience in business strategy, new business and product development and competitive analysis.

Susan Shepard is Assistant Vice President and Financial Leader at BB&T, Branch Banking in Trust. She develops BB&T presence and market share in the Blacksburg area via retail and business lending. She earned her BA from Ferrum College and is an accomplished graduate of the Virginia Bankers Association School of Bank Management, Omega Lending School, and Sidus Mortgage Lending School. She is the past president of the Blacksburg Chamber of Commerce and has served the Georgetown Rotary Club, American Red Cross, and United Way Board.

Dr. J. Stephen Childers is an assistant professor of management at Radford University and holds a PhD in Strategic Studies from Virginia Tech. His research interests build upon the Schumpeterian view of innovation: where change is recognized, organized, and achieved through entrepreneurial insight. Dr. Childers’ interests in strategy and change can be traced back to his experiences working, managing, and consulting with firms both domestically and internationally.

Ken Ray is Vice President and Chief Marketing Offi cer for AT&T Advertising Solutions, supporting the brands The Real Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM. He leads and serves in Advertising Solutions, one of AT&T’s four major business units, which has $5 billion annual revenues. After joining AT&T/BellSouth’s strategy organization in 1994, Ray moved through a series of operational assignments where he led teams of up to 4,000 people. These roles included service as Vice President/General Manager Consumer Services, Network Vice President, and Sales Vice President for Wholesale. Ray has an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. He and his wife, Martha, live in Atlanta with their two daughters.

Guidelines and Deadlines

1. February 11, 2009: Individual students or student teams of up to three students must register by filling out an Intent to Compete form.

2. February 18, 2009: Students must submit a one-page summary of the business concept by following the one-page submission guidelines. These will be reviewed by a panel of faculty and local business leaders; and those chosen to participate in the competition will be announced February 23, 2009.

*** Before you submit your one-page summary, please review the One-Page Summary Guidelines. Submit your one-page summary by clicking on the above designated button.

3. March 13, 2009: The announced students and teams that were chosen to compete (on February 23) must submit a more detailed business plan by following the submission guidelines. This is to be a three to five-page document and the top three finalists for the competition will be announced March 18, 2009. The business plan will be critiqued on the below dimensions.

*** Before you submit your business plan, please review the Business Plan Guidelines. Submit your business plan by clicking on the above designated button.

Business Plan Judging Criteria:

	Maximum Score
Clear Description of Product or Service Idea	10
Concise Description of Underlying Technology	20
Expected Customer Base and Match of Product/Service Characteristics to Their Needs	20
Unique/Competitive Features Provided to Customers	20
Market Size Description (growth rate, etc)	10
Value Proposition: Supports a Successful Business	20
Total	100

4. April 2, 2009: The three finalists will present their business concepts at the Entrepreneurship Summit before a panel of judges as well as angel capital and business leaders and others attending the Summit. Students will adhere to the Presentation Guidelines and judging criteria listed below.

Presentation Judging Criteria:

	Maximum Score
Clear Description of Product or Service and its Features	10
Concise Description of Underlying Technology and Required Development for Product or Service	25
Expected Customer Base and Match of Product/Service Characteristics to Their Needs	20
Market Size Description (growth rate, etc) and Initial Customers	15
Competitive Position in the Chosen Market	10
Value Proposition: Supports a Successful Business	20
Total	100

The judges will rank the finalists; and awards will be presented at the reception at the end of the day. The winning concept wins a $1,000 shopping spree to Best Buy and each student in the top three finalist teams will also receive an iPod Shuffle.

How To Prepare

1. Meet the above mentioned deadlines.
2. Carefully review and follow instructions and formats for the

- One-Page Summary Guidelines
- Business Plan Guidelines
- Presentation Guidelines

3. Workshops: To help students prepare for the competition and gain an understanding of what is required to develop a successful business plan, student workshops will be held at the colleges/universities over the next two months regarding business idea development, business plan development, and presentation of business concepts.

For further information about the Entrepreneurship Summit or the Student Business Concept Competition please call Lindsey Eversole at 540-443-9100, extension 2.