Business Plan Competition

Arnold A. Heggestad, Holloway Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship

The UF Venture Capital Coalition, a group of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who are friends and alumni of UF, the Office of Research and Graduate Education, and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Warrington College of Business Administration are proud to announce the first UF Business Plan Competition.

The competition will recognize and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit that has developed among the talented students, faculty, and alumni of the University of Florida. The competition will provide an opportunity for members of the university community to take their ideas to a concrete plan for implementation, to compete with others on the campus, and to get exposure to a large group of venture capital firms interested in supporting UF.

The competition will end with a public competition for the best plan in April 2001. All entrants will be evaluated and judged by successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists with the final teams participating in a public event judged by senior venture capital partners. The winning team will receive $25,000 and winners will also be awarded in specialized categories, such as e-commerce, commercialization of UF intellectual property and international.

While any member of the UF family may enter with a plan for, only student related plans are eligible for the competition. To be eligible, UF students must have a significant ownership position in the company. Actual eligibility will be determined by the sponsoring coalition. All entrants will receive a critical review from venture capitalists.

Ongoing support for the Business Plan Competition will be provided by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) in the Warrington College of Business Administration. CEI will sponsor a workshop series where distinguished professionals will discuss various aspects of creating a successful business. These workshops will also be open to the entire University community. It will also help competitors to build their teams with other entrepreneurial students and will provide access to specialized technical student and faculty expertise. Qualified entrants will also be provided access to mentors in the private sector throughout the competition period.

The first workshop is to held in the McKnight Brain Center Auditorium on November 16 at 6:30. It will be presented by Marty Donsky, Director of Entrepreneurial Programs for PriceWaterhouseCoopers on the subject of building a business plan. The second session will be presented on December 2, also in the McKnight Brain Center Auditorium at 10:00. The title will be Critical Legal and Intellectual Property Issues in Forming a Business. It will feature Carl Rostan and Greg Nelson of Akerman Senterfitt in Miami and Palm Beach and Tom Walsh, Director of the Office of Technology Licensing. Both workshops are open to the broad university community and to the public, whether or not they are entered in the business plan competition.

Please make this information known to your faculty and students. We would like to have wide participation in the workshops and in the competition.

Questions may be addressed to Arnold Heggestad, Director of CEI at 352-392-2610 or at Arnie@ufl.edu