Individual or teams with a new business idea - Any person or team that wants to develop a high potential business idea, or has already taken the very first steps, can participate in the Business Idea Competition and /or Business Plan Competitions. Although all business ideas/ executive summaries submitted will be reviewed and evaluated, the EnterPRize 2008 organizers strongly encourage participants to develop ideas and plans thinking high growth and global from the start.
By high growth and global we mean businesses that are expected to grow in excess of 25% per year for the first 5 years and that the product or service be developed with a global market perspective from the start. A global market perspective means that the business idea incorporates a global business model or opportunity applied to the local market or a business where the market may initially be Puerto Rico, but the product or service is global in scope and is scaleable for delivery outside of Puerto Rico in the medium term.
Individual Entrepreneurs - If you reside, work or attend school in Puerto Rico, you may participate directly or join another team in developing their business idea or business plan. To do so, visit the Team Building section.
Existing Businesses - The competition is also open to very early stage entrepreneurs that comply with the following guidelines:
- Company must be based in Puerto Rico
- No subsidiaries allowed
- Less than $250,000 in cumulative revenues since inception as of the moment of submission
- Less than $100,000 in debt or equity (excluding federal and local governmental agencies “research & development grants”) received from third parties (including friends and family) as of the moment of submission
- No institutional investor
Other requirements
There is no limit in the number of ideas that can be submmited for the Business Idea Competition.
Submission by a team, a member of a team or an individual is limited to one executive summary for the Business Plan Competition. The business idea or plan must be an original work of the submitting team. No restriction exists for number of members within one team, although historically teams of 3-6 members have performed above-par in similar competitions.
Participants should be aware that neither organizers of the competition nor mentors, judges and sponsors of the competition will be required, nor should they be asked, to sign non-disclosure agreements. EnterPRize will ask all who view the submissions to abide by our Privacy Policy. Participants will be required to sign a Participant Agreement and are encouraged to be selective about what they disclose, to label submissions and contents with the words "CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY" and to seek legal counsel if they have any further questions regarding the legal protection of their ideas.
**********************IMPORTANT NOTICE************************
Submission of Business Plans are due by September 29th, 2008. Entry into the Business Plan Competition will be open to all and not in any way related to participation and/or having won an award in the Business Idea Competition. However, participants who were selected as winners in EnterPRize 2006 or 2007 cannot re-submit for 2008. All other participants of 2006 or 2007, including semifinalists are welcomed to submit new business concepts or their original business concepts with the substantial changes and improvements that were incorporated since their participation in past competitions.
