ANN ARBOR ? The Great Lakes Entrepreneur?s Quest business-plan writing contest will reach out to entrepreneurs in the entire state through a new video conferencing partnership with Michigan Information Technology Center (MITC) in Ann Arbor, the first of seven statewide broadcasts planned.
The new video conferencing package will be launched on March 30 with broadcasts to Wayne State University, Grand Valley State University and Michigan Technological University. The satellite locations will be supported with facilitators from the Michigan Small Business Technology and Development Center.
The kick-off event will feature the Venture Value Chain and the Elevator Pitch presented by entrepreneur training veterans Jim Price of CompanyCrafters and Chuck Salley, former president of the Ann Arbor IT Zone.
The Venture Value Chain is a high-impact presentation on the art and science of venturing: planning, launching, and growing successful new startup companies. This session will provide an overview of the venture formation and growth process, and a ?roadmap? to make the often mysterious venture process more predictable and straight forward to navigate.
The Elevator Pitch will help entrepreneurs create a powerful communication that addresses the problem to be solved, the value of the solution, and the addressable market. This session will highlight the importance of a well constructed Elevator Pitch and provide the steps to building an effective one.
Art DeMonte, GLEQ Executive Director, said the video will be webcasts from the GLEQ web site sometime after the live event.
Anyone who lives, works or attends school in Michigan can participate in the competitions and educational programs at no cost. GLEQ sponsors a statewide business plan competition with a deadline for registration on April 15th and business plan submission on May 15th. The Quest is structured into two distinct maturity ?paths?: companies with more developed businesses compete in the Emerging Company (EC) path while teams with new or less developed business ideas compete in the New Business Ideas (NBI) path.
The EC teams must complete and submit an 8 to 12 page business plan, while the NBI teams must develop and submit a five-page executive summary describing their business or business idea. The GLEQ provides the help of coaches and educational programs to assist all entrepreneurs with their business plans. A $25,000 cash award is given to the winner of the EC path in the spring, while additional cash and in-kind awards are provided to the EC and NBI winners.
For more information, click on GLEQ.Org
