The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki

Author:Guy Kawasaki [Kawasaki, Guy]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-03-02T14:00:00+00:00

Minichapter: How to Win a Business-Plan Contest

Organizations around the world run business-plan contests to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. The good news is that these contests force entrepreneurs to get their acts together because of a deadline, and they are learning experiences that force entrepreneurs to simulate a startup team.

The bad news is that business plans are no longer necessary, so business-plan contests are using the wrong format. Organizations should run business-pitch contests instead. I’ve been a judge for many business-plan contests, and I only read the first executive summaries and listen to the pitches to cast my votes.

Another issue is that these contests are geared toward making startups attractive to investors. IMHO, this emphasis is a disservice to entrepreneurs. What’s more important than making a startup attractive to investors in a beauty-contest format is to make them viable in real life.

For example, by not targeting a proven market with a proven management team and proven technology (the three qualities most investors say they’re looking for), an entry might not appeal to investors. But unproven teams in unproven markets with unproven technologies often produce epic startups.

In the real world, viability is more important than fundability for three reasons: First, you need less startup capital because everything is free or cheap—infrastructure, marketing methods, and tools. Second, crowdfunding can provide up to several hundred thousand dollars in cash. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the most fundable startup if you don’t need funding. Third, the hard part of starting a company is achieving viability, not fund-raising. What does it matter if you have the most fundable startup if it isn’t viable?

But I digress.

I can’t build a case that it’s bad to win a business-plan or business-pitch contest, because visibility is always a good thing. These competitions are the last bastions of business plans, so you may have to write one to enter, but final judging is based on pitching, so to win one of these, you should focus on your pitch:

PRACTICE. Practice until you’re sick of your presentation. Few people can wing it. The probability that you’re one of them is zero.

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