ANN ARBOR ? The Great Lakes Entrepreneur?s Quest is back in business again now that the Ann and Carman Adams Fund of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan has stepped up as a platinum sponsor.

Funding woes left GLEQ in limbo during the summer looking for at least $250,000 in sponsorship money to stage a fall contest. GLEQ Executive Director Arthur DeMonte would not say how much the Adams Fund contributed, but he said it was enough to bring GLEQ back from the dead.

?We?re back in business again,?? DeMonte said. ?We still have to do some more fund raising to pay for the spring competition.?

GLEQ will put less emphasis on cash prizes and more on helping contestants get connected to their industry. DeMonte said he wants to extend the contests? foot print into the downstream process and get emerging technology companies past the conceptual stage and in front of the experts that can provide critical insight and feedback on the company?s product or service and its value proposition. He also said there would be more emphasis on commercialization.

GLEQ will again employ a two phase ? fall and spring ? business plan competition for two levels of entrepreneurial businesses: very early stage entrepreneurs (New Business Idea) and later stage entrepreneurs (Emerging Company).

For the fall cycle, both groups will submit executive summaries which will be judged by professional venture capitalists and angel investors in February. The spring phase will repeat the competition for New Business Ideas, but concentrate on commercialization and the business execution articulated in an in-depth business plan prepared by Emerging Companies. The spring phase will conclude in early June with top teams pitching their business to investors for their final score.

The first training session for the fall cycle takes place on October 11th at 6pm at the Michigan Information Technology Center in Ann Arbor. Rajesh Kothari, Managing Director of Seneca Partners and GLEQ Board of Director Chairman, will speak to entrepreneurs on Financing Your Business. Future events will be video broadcast and conducted from sites around the state.

Entrepreneurs can register for the fall cycle at GLEQ.Org or call Art DeMonte, Executive Director of GLEQ, at (734) 913-0090.