Rules of the Competition

Note: The Executive Committee ("EC") of the PSU Idea Pitch Competition ("IPC") reserves the right to update these rules at any time. Every attempt will be made to notify participants of any modification to this document; however it is ultimately the responsibility of IPC participants to stay current with IPC Rules and Regulations.

  1. General Requirements

    Each team must meet the following requirements in order to compete in the PSU Idea Pitch Competition

    1. Team
      1. At least one team member should be an enrolled student of Penn State University
      2. Other team members need not be directly related to Penn State. They may, for example, be from other Universities.
      3. No more than five (5) members to a team
      4. IPC participants may not join more than one team
      5. NO EC members may enter the IPC
      6. The last date for team formation is December 31, 2009
    2. Idea Pitch
      1. The proposed idea should be suitable for funding at some level to take it further
      2. The proposed idea should not be in violation of any intellectual property rights as far as you are aware
      3. Teams or team members that have received any form of venture capital financing for their idea or a likeness thereof may not participate in the competition. (If you are looking for additional VC funding please contact Nittany Lion Venture Capital within the Smeal College of Business)
      4. Competition participants may not contact IPC judges from any round and judges are not to contact any IPC participants during the course of the Competition.
  2. Prizes
    1. The top team will spend three days in Chicago to compete with other Big Ten University teams with a chance to be on a network TV reality show. Runners up will be awarded small prizes. In addition, the three winning teams will be entitled to receive certain other non-monetary prizes consisting of legal help in setting up a company, introduction to the Lion Launchpad for start-up companies and presentation to the Garber Venture Capital Fund in College of Business for additional funding.
  3. The Competition consists of two rounds
    1. Round One. Teams that do not meet the requirements under the rules section or submit incomplete presentations will automatically be disqualified.
      1. All teams must register using the registration form on this website. Upon registering, teams will be issued a Team Identification Number ("TIN"), which will be used to track team submissions going forward.
      2. Electronic submission: Web-based-copies of the Idea Pitch must be submitted via the submission link on the website by midnight on February 26th, 2010.
        1. All soft-copy documents must be submitted in MS PowerPoint format using the narrative feature to communicate the idea details
          1. Each first round submission will be reviewed and judged according to:
            1. Market opportunity
            2. Understanding of competitors
            3. Market opportunities and competition
            4. Product/Service viability
            5. Knowledge of intellectual property assets
            6. Business model viability
            7. Overall attractiveness of the opportunity
            8. Management Qualification
    2. Feedback will be provided to each participating team.
      Eight teams will be selected by the judges to participate in the Final Round and notifications provided by March 26th, 2010
  4. Final Round
    1. Teams that do not meet the requirements under the rules section or submit incomplete presentations will automatically be disqualified.
    2. Each team that qualifies for the final round is required to present their business plan to a panel of judges consisting primarily of senior venture capitalists. This constitutes the Final Private Presentation
      1. Electronic submission: Soft-copies of the Idea Pitch must be submitted via the submission link on the website by midnight of the date noted beside "Final Round Drop". Each team must receive a TIN before completing the steps below.
        1. All soft-copy documents must be submitted in MS PowerPoint format using the narrative feature to communicate the idea details
          1. Each first round submission will be reviewed and judged according to:
            1. Market opportunity
            2. Understanding of competitors
            3. Market opportunities and competition
            4. Product/Service viability
            5. Knowledge of intellectual property assets
            6. Business model viability
            7. Overall attractiveness of the opportunity
            8. Management Qualification
    3. Feedback will be provided to each participating team.
    4. The three best business ideas and with the most popular appeal will receive an award. See II. Prizes for more information
  5. Intellectual Property
    1. Ideas have little value. Only when they are built into real companies or turned into issued patents is any real value realizable. This competition is about building ideas into opportunities - the very first step on the way to possibly building any value. It is customary in these early stages that there is no real intellectual property with any value, unless one of the team members already has at least filed for patents. Investors, in any case, do not sign confidentiality agreements, and entrepreneurs must learn that trust is more important than legal documents. It is more important to build a team with people that you trust and to rely on the integrity of the judges to respect your ideas. In any case you should only disclose information with which you are comfortable. At this stage, it is not necessary to explain exactly how you do something that might give away "secrets", but to focus on the size of the opportunity and how you are going to take advantage of it.