The VERVE-aciously BIG Idea:

A Business Plan Competition for Women Sponsored by AdvantageWest & VERVE Magazine

Are you an established business that wants to expand? A would-be entrepreneur with a great idea for a startup? We want to hear your big idea! Enter the VERVE-aciously BIG Idea Business Plan Competition for a chance at $10,000 in cash, prizes, business support services and expert advice. 

ELIGIBILITY

  • To participate in the VERVE-aciously BIG Idea Business Plan Competition, you must be a for-profit, 100 percent woman-owned business located within the AdvantageWest region, which includes the following 23 counties: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yancey.
  • The contest is open to businesses in any industry segment, though we will give priority to high-growth businesses or those that use technology in an innovative way.
  • The winner must consent to sharing non-proprietary information and being profiled and photographed for publication in VERVE Magazine and through AdvantageWest’s communication channels.
  • The winner must attend Carolina Connect, AdvantageWest’s signature annual conference for entrepreneurs and investors, held on May 5 in Asheville.
  • The winner must agree to work with a business coach who will periodically check and report on their progress.
  • Applications must be complete and submitted by April 1, 2011.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Entries must include the following information:

  • Contact information, including name, address, telephone and email address
  • Executive summary of business idea, which includes the following information:
    • Brief description of company
    • Product or service description/big idea
    • Market analysis
    • Intellectual property, if applicable
    • Competitive advantage
    • Financial highlights
    • Management team, including advisory boards
  • Written business plan limited to 15 pages of text, which includes:
    • Product or service description, including beta/prototype and current stage of development
    • Customer/market analysis
    • Intellectual property status
    • Your business’s competition and an analysis of the competition
    • Management team and relevant experience
    • Financial data, including cash flow, income statement and balance sheet.  Also include projected annual financials for up to five years along with a monthly plan for Year 1.
    • Use of funds: Indicate how you would use the award monies from the business plan competition. Please also let us know if you’ve received funding from another competition, or from other support service organization in the area.
    • We encourage short video entries. Give us your best elevator pitch in two or three minutes.

SELECTION PROCESS
A panel of judges that will include representatives of AdvantageWest and VERVE, as well as business and academic leaders, will review all submissions. Finalists will be chosen and must be available for personal or teleconference interviews. Winners will be announced at the AdvantageWest’s Carolina Connect conference for entrepreneurs in Asheville on May 5, 2011 and profiled in VERVE Magazine in the June 2011 edition.   

PRIZE
Prize monies will be released to the winner only when agreed upon milestones have been met and may be used only for the business purposes described in the applicant’s entry.

QUESTIONS?
Contact Pam Lewis, AdvantageWest Senior VP Entrepreneurial Development, plewis@awnc.org or Jess McCuan, Editor of VERVE Magazine, jess@vervemag.com

Click here to submit your application.