KANSAS CITY ? The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation on Monday announced it has launched a web-based platform that helps colleges and universities simplify how they market and administer business-plan competitions.
The iStart.Org is designed to connect entrepreneurs to a network of support, including mentors and others who can assist them in the growth of their businesses.
?We created iStart to make competitions easier to run and participate in,” said Katie Petersen, who manages the iStart program for the Kauffman Foundation. “And, importantly, we will do something that hasn?t been done before by making the thousands of plans that are part of these competitions available to the world as models for aspiring entrepreneurs and possible opportunities for mentors, investors and service providers.”
Petersen said Kauffman will custom build the platform to fit the needs of the client, including colors, logos, themes. Pricing for non-profit partners start at $500 and can run up to $5000, she said. But Kauffman said the tab will not be paid by the colleges and universities, rather Kauffman will charge sponsors to underwrite the costs.
In the United States alone, more than 50 universities conduct business plan competitions annually, awarding up to $10 million in prizes and in-kind services. But the time and complexity required to administer the competitions can limit their size and quality, prevent organizations from holding them, and create headaches for administrators.
As the first customizable platform to provide this service, iStart makes it easier to administer business plan competitions and provides a single resource for every aspect of what can be a complex undertaking – from registering applicants and judges to receiving applicants? business plans, establishing judging criteria and conducting online judging, managing communications with participants and judges, managing deadlines, and monitoring applications and the judging process.
Besides bringing consistency and transparency to competitions across years, departments and vertical tracks, iStart will expose business plan competitions to an international network of other competitions and student users.
Petersen said abstracts of student business plans will be made available on the site 30 days after the competition ends.
“We want to make business plans accessible to potential investors,” she said.
The Rice Business Plan Competition tested iStart for its 2010 event. Rice University’s annual intercollegiate business plan competition has the largest judging panel and distributes the most prize money of any such competition in the world. Using iStart, competition administrators managed communications with more than 400 initial applicants and 250 judges, customized the competition with the university?s look and feel and say they experienced efficiencies that streamlined management.
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