Criteria & Resources

Make sure you get all the tips on how to make the jury love your idea!

Basics

• Maximum 15-20 pages allowed, and as only one PDF file, uploaded through YouNoodle.
• Fill out the cover page you will find in YouNoodle, where you write your team/business name, and some other general information.
• Fill in your YouNoodle profiles, as jury members will be able to see all team members’ profiles
  when they evaluate your plan. 

You should only use the criteria below as a guide to which areas the jury is interested in. Don't worry if your idea does not excel in all categories, very few actually do. You are free to structure your document as you please, you do not need to use the category headings or the criteria questions as sections.

Formal requirements

• Include a separate cover page which clearly states your team name and all team members (highlighting those that meet the rules).
• You may submit up to 20 pages (excluding the cover page), your submission will not be considered if it is longer than this. There is no page minimum, but it is generally very hard to successfully argue your case in less then 10 pages.
• Submissions need to be submitted in either Word or PDF format as one individual document file of up to 10MB.
• Submissions have to be uploaded from your Team home page in the Entry Manager.

Upload before 12 noon, Monday May 12th, 2008

It is your own responsibility to ensure that the file is uploaded before the deadline. If you run close to the deadline you run the risk that the system clock switches before your own watch does, your document will fail to upload and your idea will not be considered for this year's competition.

Table of criteria

These are the exact questions the Jury is asked to evaluate your business plan (download the PDF):

Category	Criteria	Low score (1)	High score (5)	Weight
Product/ Service	Does the idea involve a product or service innovation?	No, it is not new to the industry, but competitive in other ways.	Yes, it is a radical innovation on what already exists.	5%
	Has action been taken to protect the intellectual property?	No, the idea is easy to copy, hard to protect and no action has been taken.	Yes, patents and/or other suitable forms of protection have been sought.	5%
Market & Customers	Does the product or service relieve a specific customer "pain"? [1]	No, the customer and pain is poorly described.	Yes, the customer and pain is clearly identified.	5%
	Has the market potential been adequately investigated, and is it attractive?	No, just an unfounded estimate and/or is not attractive.	Yes, a thorough market analysis has lead to a convincing and attractive estimate.	5%
Industry & Competition	Has key competitors been identified and sufficiently compared?	No, competition is only vaguely mentioned.	Yes, competition and differentiation is convincingly described.	5%
	Has potential strategic partners been identified?	No, issue not addressed.	Yes, potential partners are already in contact with the team.	5%
People & Organisation	Does the team have what it takes to succeed? If not, can they adequately make up for it?	No, team lacks key skills and has not addressed this.	Yes, team has key skills, and knows how to handle areas outside these.	5%
	Is the company structure and organisation adequately described?	No, neither structure nor orgniasation is adequately described.	Yes, issues such as company type, founder roles, board, advisors, shareholders are well addressed.	5%
Money & Feasibility	Has a suitable business model been chosen?	No, team has not described well how the idea will make money.	Yes, several models have been considered and the best one chosen.	5%
	Does the plan include a convincing budget?	No, financials are only vaguely mentioned.	Yes, budget provides sufficient details and is convincing to an investor.	5%
	Are relevant risks described and assessed?	No, risks have not been mentioned.	Yes, a convincing risk and mitigation plan has been presented.	5%
Implementation	Is the implementation plan realistic and convincing?	No implementation or start-up plan has been made.	Yesm plan convincingly addresses all relevant areas and includes key milestones.	5%
	Does the plan include a convincing sales and marketing plan?	No information about sales or marketing included.	Yes, the plan convincingly describes how to sell and market the product or service	5%
	Has financing options been investigated and described (if necessary)?	No, financing has not been addressed.	Yes, financing options have been discussed, and a suitable strategy has been chosen.	5%
Overall Evaluation	Is the material presented clean and appleaing?	No, plan is unorganised, unappealing and poorly written.	Yes, the idea is well presented by the plan.	5%
	Would you invest or engage in this project? Please advise the team on what to do next.			25%

 

[1] By "customer pain" we refer to something that annoys somebody sufficiently to make them pay you to solve the problem. It is not necessarily a physical pain :-) but the pain terminology is good when you try to identify why the customer would buy your product or service.

Questions about the criteria or the jury process? Ask