H-E-B School of Business and Administration (HEBSBA) Startup Challenge Competition Registration
The UIW HEBSBA Startup Challenge Final Competition is organized by Dr. Jose Moreno and Dr. Teresa Harrison, co-directors of the Beckendorf Family Center for Innovation and Global Entrepreneurship.
About This Event
In the quest for novel and experiential learning and networking opportunities for our students, the H-E-B School of Business and Administration (HEBSBA) at the University of Incarnate Word (UIW) organized the UIW Startup Challenge. The UIW Beckendorf Family Center for Innovation and Global Entrepreneurship (BEC) and the HEBSBA sponsor this event.
This competition helps participants recognize a business idea and explore its feasibility and value creation using the Business Model Canvas (BMC). It incentivizes participants who generate a for-profit social impact business model for a startup idea by identifying the most critical assumptions underlying the idea using human centered design. This competition also incorporates the importance of social entrepreneurship and sustainability by requiring that each submission demonstrate how the product, service, invention, or innovation is aligned with at least one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This competition is open to all UIW students on all our campuses and schools. A series of workshops provides learning components to assist the participants in earning a Business Opportunity Assessment Certificate and to develop a successful business model for their startup. This is supplemented with a mentoring program supported by business owners, local entrepreneurs, and professional startup advisors.
$8,500 of startup prize money will be awarded
- 1st place - Up to $6,000*
- 2nd place/runner up - $1,500
- 3rd place - $1,000
*The 1st-place team will win a $3,000 cash prize and advance to the Hult Prize summit competition based on our qualifying "On Campus Program." In addition to the cash prize, the 1st-place team will have access to an additional $3,000 in travel money to attend the Hult National Summit. If it is determined the 1st-place team can’t participate in the Hult National Summit, the 2nd-place/runner-up team can qualify for the summit and receive the travel money.
Criteria, Requirements and Expectations
- Ideas aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Ideas that offer and sell products/services to businesses (B2B Business Model) in addition to individual consumers.
- Startups that are for-profit.
- Proposed startup ideas must be projected to be financially sound, lawful, and create jobs.
- All entries must be original work of eligible teams and free from any claim of copyright, patent, or other restriction. The business idea should not violate any intellectual property rights. Plagiarism of ideas will result in disqualification.
- The proposed startup must complement the mission of the H-E-B School of Business and Administration and UIW.
- Submission of proposals to acquire an established company to improve its management or ideas to create a hedge fund or any other type of venture capital fund will be rejected.
- The organizers of the UIW Startup Challenge reserve the right to remove students who enter business plans for ventures or proposed ventures that are offensive, illegal, and inconsistent with the values of the UIW.
- The winning team must be available to present their idea at the Hult National Summit in order to claim the additional $3000 in travel money (separate from the cash prize).
Participants will increase their chances of reaching the final stage of the competition by completing the following:
- Completing all online workshops on Canvas to earn the Business Opportunity Assessment Certificate.
- Conducting customer and market research analyses to assess the viability of their business idea.
- Using information gathered from customers and relevant stakeholders to pivot and refine their original business model.
- Generating additional business model prototypes based on customer interactions and the results uncovered from analyzing customer data.
- Providing a funding plan that includes (1) 3-year pro forma financial statements with assumptions and its NPV and IRR analysis, (2) a scenario analysis based on the MBV business model, and (3) detailed pricing and cost information.
- Providing expected company valuation using EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, and Amortization).
Registration Process
The registration period for this competition is from Aug. 26 to Sept. 13, 2024.
- One participant per team must submit the registration form.
- Each participant must acknowledge the competition rules and complete the workshops to earn the Business Opportunity Assessment Certification (within Canvas) and work with their assigned mentor to be eligible to compete with their team.
- All participants agree that:
- Their business idea represents the original work of the student members.
- Team members will abide by all the guidelines and rules of the competition.
- Team members are responsible for obtaining all copyrights, trademarks, and patents, if necessary.
- By entering this competition, each participant agrees to have reviewed the UIW Startup Challenge Guidelines and to abide by the competition rules by completing the Acknowledgement of Rules (in Canvas).
- Each participant also grants permission to publicize their name, a brief description of their startup idea, and their photograph during Phase 1, Phase 2, and final presentations.
Eligibility To Participate
The Startup Challenge is open to all UIW students enrolled in the current academic year, regardless of their campus location, level, major, or program of study. Students can participate only as part of a team (2 to 4 members). UIW faculty and staff are not eligible to participate as part of a student team.
- Cross-disciplinary teams within UIW are encouraged. A cross-disciplinary team may consist of students enrolled at UIW and faculty/staff employed by UIW.
- Each team can submit only one business idea.
- Participants are restricted to joining only one team to avoid conflicts of interest between business ideas and lack of commitment to one business idea.
- The list of team members initially registered at the beginning of the competition may change until the deadline of Oct. 18, at which time the team roster becomes final. If a team member is dismissed from or voluntarily quits the team and the remaining team comprises less than two members, that team should communicate to the organizers email and complete
- the Team Member Change form in Canvas. Otherwise, the remaining team members will no longer be eligible to participate and will be dropped from the competition.
- Past competition award winners are not eligible to enter the same business idea. However, teams or team members who have received a previous prize or funds from UIW can compete if their business idea submission differs entirely from their prior business idea submitted.
- The proposed startup idea must be wholly owned by the participating team members for the duration of the competition. It may not infringe upon any third party's copyright or other intellectual property rights.
- The competition organizers shall have the final authority to determine team eligibility to participate should there be a circumstance other than those listed above.
- All team members should respect the community values, such as honesty and integrity.
Timeline and Structure of Competition
By Sept. 13, 2024, teams must register electronically and include a description of their startup idea. A review committee screens the submissions, and the ideas accepted into the competition will be announced by Sept. 17. If the idea is accepted, all team members are required to participate in the following activities:
- Mentor/Team Matching event
- Accept invitation to Startup Challenge in Canvas
- Complete Business Opportunity Assessment (BOA) Certificate workshops (in Canvas)
- The Mentor/Team Matching Event is planned for Sept. 20. This is a face-to-face event in which participants will briefly pitch their ideas to other competitors and potential mentors. More details will be announced after registration.
- Following this event, each team will be assigned a mentor to receive professional feedback during Phase 1.
- The Business Opportunity Assessment certificate workshops will run from Sept. 23 to Oct. 18. This certificate will be completed asynchronously in Canvas. Participants must complete all three workshops to proceed to Phase 2 of the competition.
- Each participating team will submit the final version of their Business Model Canvas by Oct. 18 as part of the BOA Certificate deliverables.
Phase 1 Finalists: Completion of Phase 1 finalizes the teams that will advance to Phase 2. This announcement will be made by Oct. 21.
Using their Business Model Canvas and other analyses completed during the Business Opportunity Assessment certificate workshops, every team that advanced to Phase 2 will:
- Write a Business Plan Executive Summary (5 pages), and
- Prepare a 4-minute pitch PPT slide deck and video presentation.
Business Plan Executive Summary
The final 5-page Executive Summary must include the following uploaded to Canvas:
- The company’s mission statement and a quick overview of what your business does.
- The customer problem or problem you want to solve and the evidence collected about it.
- A detailed description of your idea that illustrates what your startup does and the startup value proposition (benefits and differences).
- The qualities, education, and professional background of your team and why you are best suited to make this venture a reality (credibility).
- Explain the expected impact of your startup using the UN SDGs and the expected milestones (goals) in the short and long term.
- Showcase how you have developed and tested your prototypes with users. Share feedback and improvements you aim to make based on this testing.
- Explain your company’s competitive advantage relative to your direct competitor(s).
- Share your Target Market by identifying your ideal customer segment and provide a rationale for selecting the target customer segment.
- Explain market share or market penetration strategy. State how you aim to capture your first customers in this market and your path to early sales.
- Describe your startup business model, and explain how (or ways) your business will generate revenue (e.g., sales, subscription, etc.)
- State three of your business’s most significant risks and what you are doing to mitigate them.
Startup Video & Slides/Demo
4-minute Slide Deck and Video will have the following slides:
- Hook & Mission statement
- Problem statement, UN SDG, Target Market
- Your startup, MVP, value proposition, impact
- Use of Investment Funds
- Timeline, Business Model, & Revenue (& Growth/Scale)
- Conclusion & Re-emphasize impact
Nov. 8 is the deadline for the 5-page executive summary of your business plan and video.
Phase 2 Finalists: Startup Challenge Competition organizers will review the team submissions to determine eligibility for final presentations. This announcement will be made by Nov. 10.
Mock Presentations
Before the final presentations, the finalists will be able to practice a mock presentation for the competition organizers and receive feedback. The period to schedule a mock presentation is from Nov. 11 to Nov. 15.
On Nov. 20, all teams will present their final presentations to the judges. Each team will present for 4 minutes, and then the judges will have 4 minutes to pose questions to the participants. After all the presentations, the judges will deliberate, and then the competition winners will be announced.
Judging Criteria for the Final Presentations
Judges must understand that their role is to act as potential investors and determine whether they would or would not invest in the presented business. The finalist judges will evaluate the teams in the following categories: Team, Idea, Impact, and Business viability.
In addition to the final presentation, the judges will assess the teams based on the review of their executive summary.
- The final presentation will take place on Nov. 20, 2024.
- The selected finalist teams will present live to a panel of three judges. Each team will be allocated 4 minutes to present, followed by a 4-minute question-and-answer session with the judges.
- After each team’s presentation, the judges will ask questions about their startups in the above-mentioned categories.
- After each team answers a question, the judge can verbally give feedback on their answer. Each judge will fill out a scorecard grading each finalist team.
- Following all presentations, the judges decide on the winners by majority vote, and awards are distributed. If the judges cannot reach an agreement regarding the winners, the Dean of the HEBSBA will make a final decision.
- The organizers will invite entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and investment bankers recognized in our community to be judges for this competition.
- The judges will respect the confidentiality of every plan submitted.
- Participants are not allowed to contact the finalist judges, and judges are not allowed to contact any competition participants during the competition. Any such behavior will disqualify the participant and his/her team from the Startup Challenge.
- Judges may not have a prior or current professional relationship with individuals who have an active application before the competition.
- Judges agree not to initiate a professional relationship with individuals who are active participants in the competition.
- An application is considered active until the judges have decided on the winners or until the participant has withdrawn their idea.
Mentoring Guidelines
Each team will receive feedback from a mentor assigned to them. The role of these mentors is to share a practical point of view about the team’s business idea based on their experience and knowledge of business processes.- Mentors will meet participants during the Kick-Off Mentoring event hosted by the H-E-B School of Business and Administration on Sept. 20, 2024.
- The Startup Challenge organizers will assign mentors by matching their expertise with team business ideas.
- Startup Challenge organizers will accommodate, as much as possible, the requests of mentors who want to choose their mentees. In the same way, Startup Challenge organizers will accommodate the requests of mentees who wish to select their mentors.
- Each mentor should meet with their team in person or virtually at a minimum of three times during Sept. 23 to Nov. 8.
- The first mentor-mentee meeting will discuss the team’s business model and the concepts learned in the Business Opportunity Assessment Certificate workshops.
- The second meeting is to discuss the content of the executive summary and presentation.
- Based on previous feedback, the third meeting reviews any changes they made to their executive summary and presentation.
- Mentors cannot be judges in the competition to avoid conflict of interest.
- Participants must follow up and contact their mentors once they are assigned.
- Upon approval by competition organizers, current UIW students who have previously participated in this challenge or have professional experience related to the participants’ ideas and who are not competing in the current challenge can be mentors.
- At the end of Phase 1, every mentor will fill out a brief rubric sent by the organizers to give feedback about their meetings with the assigned team.
Legal Considerations for Participation
Participants are required to adhere to the terms, conditions, and guidelines of the Startup Challenge Competition. Once teams have been cleared to participate based on their registration submission, all members will complete an acknowledgement of the rules and guidelines (in Canvas).
Rights Reserved
UIW reserves the right to change the General Rules and Eligibility to Participate at any time, in its sole discretion, and to suspend or cancel the UIW Startup Challenge or any entrant's participation in the competition should unauthorized human intervention or other causes beyond UIW’s control, affect the administration, security, or proper play of the competition. No responsibility is assumed, and entrants waive all claims for lost, late, or misdirected entries or technical malfunctions or problems, the website, or any combination, including any injury or damage to the entrant's or any other person's computer resulting from any causes. Entrants who violate the UIW Startup Challenge rules, tamper with the operation of the competition, or engage in any conduct that is detrimental or unfair to the UIW Startup Challenge or any other entrant (in each case as determined in UIW’s sole discretion) are subject to disqualification from the competition. Sponsors reserve the right to remove and disqualify any entrant whose eligibility is in question.
Release and Waiver
By entering, participants, without limitation, release and hold harmless UIW and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from all liability for any injuries, loss, or damage of any kind in connection with the UIW Startup Challenge, including intellectual property and lost business opportunities damages. By entering this competition, you agree to waive any right to claim ambiguity or error in the rules or in the competition itself.
Students retain the rights to the plans for use before and after the contest. The final deliverables may not contain knowingly false information about the background, experience, or team’s education or the performance of the venture’s proposed or existing products/services.
The winning team members may be required to submit a completed W-9 form.
This Agreement and competition shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, and the exclusive venue shall be in Bexar County, Texas.
Confidentiality and Intellectual Property
The UIW Startup Challenge Competition honors the confidentiality of all participants' business ideas and proposals. Business ideas, overviews, and plans will not be copied for any purposes other than use in this competition.
All submitted information is deemed the property of the participating teams. All judges and staff are working professionals and investors who routinely evaluate business plans and understand the need for confidentiality and sensitivity of the presented materials. Teams are strongly encouraged NOT to provide any specifics or details considered intellectual property or the key to intellectual property. There will be no penalty in judging when a question or issue is not fully addressed because of confidentiality concerns.
Although a formal non-disclosure agreement will not be signed, by participating as a judge or mentor, you agree not to use, copy, share, or profit from any business idea without the consent of each team member.
Student presentations are open to the public, and students are encouraged to use discretion when sharing technical information about their products and services in public venues to help protect any intellectual property rights they might have.
As a competitor, you are responsible for protecting any information concerning your business that you share with mentors, team members, and fellow competition participants. UIW takes no responsibility for unwanted disclosure in these instances. Ultimately, protecting sensitive materials is the sole responsibility of the teams participating in the competition.
Publicity Release
Participants irrevocably consent to and authorize UIW, its officers, and employees to photograph, publish, exhibit, reproduce, edit, modify, distribute, display, or otherwise use or reuse the participant’s image, voice, and likeness, with or without the product or presentation, in all markets, media or technology, as long as there is no intent to use the image, voice, and likeness in a disparaging manner. The university may exercise any of these rights itself or through any successors, licensees, or other parties, commercial or nonprofit.
Participants waive any right of review or inspection and agrees and understands that UIW shall be without liability to participant for any distortion or illusionary effect resulting from the publication or dissemination of any likeness, audio recording, or other image.
Participants understand that UIW exclusively owns all rights to these images and recordings irrespective of the form in which they are produced or used and authorizes UIW to use them at any time in perpetuity without further compensation or permission.