“I particularly valued the coaching and involvement with venture capitalists, businessmen and attorneys. The relationships I developed through this competition are the most valuable.”
Sharif El-Badawi, FEMBA Student (Class of 2006)
Member of the team that took first-place in the Business Plan Competition (2006).
Company: Framecaster (
www.framecaster.com)
One of the nation’s premier business plan competitions is held right here at UC Irvine – the Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Business Plan Competition. This competition garners international media interest and awards prizes of up to $30,000. Participants have the opportunity to form a team, create a business plan, and potentially fund their business idea – all within five exciting months.
Although the competition is open to all UC Irvine students, FEMBA students have a unique advantage. With their foundation of Merage knowledge and training, they can leverage this experience as they form teams, write concept papers, develop business plans and present their ideas. In fact, FEMBA students were on the team that took first palce in the Business Plan Competition in 2006.
Teams must present an original idea for a company, which must not have been in existence prior to 2006. Teams must be in a "pre-incubator" form and must not be backed by incubators, existing companies or venture capitalists.
The competition kicks off in January, with the awards ceremony in the spring. In between, participants can take advantage of seven workshops covering a broad area of business plan development skills, led by leading practitioners from Orange County. The competition also provides individual team coaches to all teams that qualify for the semi-finals.
For 2007, the following cash prizes were awarded:
| 1st Place, Overall Competition |
$15,000 |
| 2nd Place, Overall Competition |
$7,500 |
| 3rd Place, Overall Competition |
$2,500 |
| 1st Place, Undergraduate |
$2,500 |
| 2nd Place, Undergraduate |
$1,500 |
| 3rd Place, Undergraduate |
$1,000 |
| Best Concept Paper, Overall Competition |
Certificate |
| Best Undergraduate Concept Paper |
Certificate |
An Opportunity to Generate an Additional $1 Million
This year’s competition will again feature the Tech Coast Angels Seed Financing Invitational. The top three teams from the 2008 Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Business Plan Competition and two wild card teams will each be assigned a coach and will be invited to pitch their business plans to the Tech Coast Angels. Teams are given the opportunity to generate up to $1,000,000 in start-up capital for their business idea.
Find out more about the 2008 Business Plan Competition.