Deadline: February 21, 2017 | Apply here
Date: the final UEC event will be held on April 15, 2017
Eligibility: competing teams must be composed of at least one Utah college or university student
Prizes: USD 100,000,- of cash and in-kind prizes
Location: Salt Lake City, The United States

Utah Entrepreneur Challenge 2017

The Utah Entrepreneur Challenge (UEC) is the largest student business model competition in the state. The competition focuses on the development of a full, viable business and offers over $100,000 of cash and in-kind prizes. All university and college students throughout Utah are encouraged to compete.

Student teams form and develop an executive summary to be judged for the first round. Then 20 semi-finalist teams will move on to the second round of judging, and submit a video for further review.

After the 20 finalists have been chosen, each team will be invited to the final UEC event. This event will include mentoring for all 20 teams, 2 rounds of judging, a tabling showcase, final presentations and an awards presentation.

The UEC provides resources to aid students in the creation and implementation of their business model. Students gain valuable skills and experience to help them transition to the competitive world of entrepreneurship. Dozens of past teams from the competition have successfully moved forward and become successful businesses.

Eligibility

The UEC is a student entrepreneur competition. Competing teams must be composed of at least one Utah college or university student and meet all of the following criteria:

• The team must be organized and directed by a student from a college or university in the State of Utah
• The founding student must be registered for a minimum of nine credit hours during both semesters of the competition year
• The student team members must be involved in all aspects of the UEC competition
• The team must not have been a finalist in past Utah Entrepreneur Challenge competitions from previous years
• The UEC suggests building a team with a strong combination of accounting, finance, marketing, engineering and technology skills
• An individual team may provide more than one entry, however, each executive summary must be registered separately

Company formation is not a requirement to enter the competition. Entries from existing companies are only accepted if they meet the following criteria:

• The company is no more than 24 months old as of February 2017
• The cumulative revenue for the company has not exceeded $100,000 as of February 2017

The Competition Process

Round one is open to all participants. Teams entering the competition must create and submit an executive summary detailing their business idea.

The executive summary is a brief document (no longer than 3 pages) that outlines the fundamental problem and solutions your business is addressing. The purpose of the document is to convince the reader that the business is viable and could operate in the real world. It includes the most interesting and important aspects of the business.

The executive summary should briefly describe:

• Company overview
• Product or service the business will provide
• Market need (pain point)
• Target customers
• General business strategy (how the company will sell the product or service and make a profit)

The top 20 teams will be chosen as finalists by the judges and announced on the UEC website on March 3, 2017. The top 20 teams will be invited to participate in the UEC Final Event and will receive a $500 prize.

The top 20 teams will move on to the second round and must create a 2-minute video based on their executive summary. The video and must be submitted by March 24, 2017.

Videos will give an opportunity to set you and your idea apart. In two minutes videos should be persuasive and help judges understand your idea. They should also explain your executive summary. Besides the time constraint, there are no set criteria for your video. Teams should decide what ideas they feel are most applicable for judges to know.

You could use your video to:

• Give a personal “elevator pitch” for your idea
• Show your extreme passion for your idea
• Let your creativity, your personality, and/or the ‘personality’ of your idea shine through
• Clearly demonstrate and explain the product or service
• Videos MUST be no longer than 2 minutes in length
• Keep it professional. No inappropriate sounds, language or images. Videos containing content deemed inappropriate by the UEC will result in disqualification

Public Voting on Videos and Cash Award

Videos for the Top 20 Finalist will be posted on the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge website and open to public voting beginning on March 30, 2017. The video with the most votes will win the People’s Choice Award. The award is a cash prize and will be awarded at the Final Event.

Each of the 20 teams will be invited to the final UEC event held on April 15, 2017. Here teams will be able to meet with their mentors, present to two panels of judges, table for spectators, and receive awards. The winner of the $40,000 grand prize and winners of other prizes will be announced during the evening of the final event.

Presentations should have an impact and be brief. Most teams will not be able to present all of the aspects of their business during the allotted time. The presentation should reinforce and augment the proposed business model submitted by the team in round two.

Important Note: The ONLY presentation file types allowed are PowerPoint or PDF. Keynote, Prezi, and other presentation files types WILL NOT BE ALLOWED

Prizes

Over $100,000 of cash and in-kind prizes will be awarded amongst the contestants. The awards include:

• $40,000 Grand Prize
• Best Presentation
• People’s Choice
• Emerging Entrepreneur
• Best Tabling
• Best Speed Pitch
• Best Video
• Bootstrap

For more business and career opportunities, check our opportunities section and subscribe to our weekly newsletters.