Small Business Division

The intent of this competition is to expose students to real world experiences and to enhance their entrepreneurial skills while expanding career options after graduation to include entrepreneurship and starting their own company.

The Small Business Division of this competition is open to all faculty- or mentor-sponsored, full-time and part-time students enrolled at any non research campus, two-year college or private regional university. Students who graduate in December prior to the competition are still eligible to compete.

The role of the advisor for the purpose of the competition is largely administrative. The advisor provides confirmation of the eligibility of the students, enforces competition rules and is a point of contact for the competition managers. In addition they are expected to provide guidance in researching, writing and presenting the business plan. Advisors can be faculty members or community mentors.

It is not the intent of the competition to be a turnkey commercialization program. In most cases young entrepreneurs may need a few years of business experience prior to launching a new small business.

Business Plan Requirements

The business plan must be for a seed, start-up or early stage venture and must address the entire business concept including implementation. Plans must have a unique or competitive advantage.

At least one team member must have a key role in the company’s management team.

Ineligible are proposals for the buy-out or expansion of an existing company, tax-shelter opportunities, franchise, real estate syndications, and other consulting projects and analyses.

The business plan may commercialize an existing product, service or process in a new unique or innovative manner.

The business plan and presentation must represent ONLY the original work of each official team member indicating them as the authors of the plan. Business plans developed through previous programs or classes of which other students, mentors or interns have developed presentations or plans on the same concept are not eligible.

Before you plunge into any major endeavor, whether it is painting a room, obtaining an auto loan or applying to an MBA program, a certain amount of prep work must be done. Same with entering a team in a business plan competition.

The place to start is the Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur? workshop. Designed for college students, this is a no-cost, one-day course on all the essentials of entrepreneurship, from researching a concept, writing a business plan to making financial projections and pitching your concept. Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur? is held each fall.

Next, you need to determine an innovative product, process or service around which to build a business plan, then carefully select up to six team members from diverse academic disciplines and find an advisor or mentor who can guide you. You will also want to take advantage of an opportunity to have your idea reviewed by other small-business owners.

This website offers resources and examples of business plans, presentations and pitches that can serve as a template for your team as you begin to research and write your plan.

You’ve completed your research, written your business plan and polished it until it shines like the brass railing on a passenger cruise ship. Now it’s time to submit your plan online to have it judged by a panel of investment, business and community leaders. Eight semifinalist Small Business teams will move on to the oral competition to determine the six finalists that will compete for first, second and third place winners.

The finalist teams will earn $1,000 each with advisors/mentors awarded $500 each. Judges who score the written business plans will provide feedback teams can use to improve their presentation should they advance to the next round.

Logistics for Business Plan Submission: All forms must be received by 3 p.m. on the deadline date

All written business plans will be submitted electronically as PDF files.  No printed copies are required for the written portion of the competition. All business plans will be submitted electronically following instructions on the Official Business Plan Submittal Form provided when teams are registered. Each business plan, including all appendices, will need to be saved to a single PDF file less than 10MB in size. Plans will undergo an independent review after which the eight Small Business semifinalists will be posted online and an email notification will be sent to team leaders and advisors with judges’ comments.

You did it. Your business plan was chosen to present in the oral round of the competition.

The eight Small Business semifinalist teams will make a 20-minute investor presentation about their business opportunity. The delivery, content and ability to field tough questions by the judges will earn six teams the opportunity to advance to the final round of the oral presentations.

These Small Business finalists will be announced at the conclusion of the semifinalist round of presentations. The judges’ comments will be provided after the announcements so teams can review that evening and prepare for the next day’s final round.

The Pitch
In addition to the team presentations, a representative from each team also will make a 90-second pitch at the beginning of their oral presentation. This will be scored separately and the winning pitches will be incorporated into the Awards dinner ceremony. More details on this opportunity will be provided.

Oklahoma Business Roundtable Interviews
Simultaneous to the oral presentations will be interviews for the Oklahoma Business Roundtable Paulsen Award, which provides one student with a $5,000 scholarship that can be used for tuition to any Oklahoma college campus.

Rewards from the presentation round:

• $10,000 to the first place team in the Small Business division. The advisor earns $1,500.
• $8,000 to the second place team in the Small Business division. The advisor earns $1,000.
• $4,000 to the third place team in the Small Business division. The advisor earns $500.
• Each finalist team will receive $1,000, with advisor receiving $500 each.

Logistics: Forms are due at 3 p.m. on the deadline.

All team presentations will be conducted at i2E’s Oklahoma City offices. The eight Small Business semifinalist teams will present to a panel of Oklahoma investors, business and community leaders. The six finalists will present to a different panel of judges the following day with the top three winners in each division announced at the Awards Dinner. All presentations must be able to display on a computer running Windows 8.1, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013, Adobe Flash and Apple QuickTime with no additional software required. Presentation rooms will not have access to the internet, so please plan accordingly.  

Winners from the Love’s Cup reap intangible rewards that include the pride of having your work recognized in front of an audience of 500 and publicized statewide. But it also includes some very tangible cash prizes and scholarships  worth $40,000 in the Small Business Division.

The competition also rewards competitors with networking, job opportunities, life-long relationships and an experience that will help guide you as you continue your journey down the entrepreneur’s path.

Love’s Cup Awards by round:

The Paulsen Award:
The Oklahoma Business Roundtable will award one scholarship in the Small Business Division in the amount of $5,000. All students competing in the Governor’s Cup are eligible to apply.

The Plan:
$1,000 to each of the six finalist teams, plus $500 each to advisors for $9,000 total.

The Presentation:
$10,000 will be awarded to the first-place winning team in the Small Business Division, along with $1,500 to the advisor. Second-place team will earn $8,000, plus $1,000 to advisor and third place $4,000 with $500 to the advisor for a total of $25,000.

The Pitch:
In addition, the 90-second pitch in each division that is selected as the top pitch will earn an additional $1,000.

A common fault of business plans is that they are not organized well. Without a well thought-out structure even the most persuasive arguments can fail to convince the reader. So, the first step in preparing your plan is to organize it. Over the years we have found the following format to be effective. This table may help you to track progress so check off each item as it is completed.

Table of Contents

1. Summary — A brief overview integrating all aspects of the plan into a detachable summary,
2. Business Description — What the company does, why a customer will purchase
3. Market Analysis — Who is the customer, market size, trends
4. Competitive Analysis — Who else is out there
5. Product/Service Advantages — Why is yours better or innovative and by how much
6. Objectives — Quantifiable targets or milestones
7. Marketing Strategy — How to reach those targets, especially sales
8. Operations — How will the company produce & deliver the product/service
9. Organization & Management – Who will run it
10. Timing — When will things happen
11. Financial Information — Historical, actual, projected, how much, type & when capital is required

Whatever your business, all these sections can be important. For example, without a market analysis which concentrates on early adopters, starting a new business is like rolling dice — and providers of capital are not gamblers, they are risk managers. With this in mind, let’s take a look at each section of the plan.

Executive Summary

Many investors and lenders receive many business plans to read. The summary becomes a screening device to help them sort out plans. In other words, the summary is your first, and possibly only, chance to convince the reader that this is a viable business or idea and to read on. You should be able to detach the summary and be able to understand all aspects of the business opportunity. As such, your summary should present the plan in a way that makes the reader want to continue.  Though the summary appears first, you should write it last — after you have completed the plan — and, it should not be longer than two pages. It should include:

• A brief description of the business
• Why is customer motivated to purchase your product or service
• Estimated market potential and competitive assessment
• Your product’s advantages and market need it will meet
• Your objectives for the business
• Your market strategies
• How you will make the product or perform the service
• Your experience with the product or service or industry
• Projected sales and profits
• How much you have or will invest in the project
• How much financing is/will be needed and when
• Targeted/Secured financing sources and what the money will be used for
• How and when the financing will be repair
• Include only an abbreviated Income Statement

Obviously, to get all of this onto a couple of pages you must write very concisely — give only the highlights with the supporting detail in the sections that follow.

Business Description

In this section you describe the business you are, or want to be, in. It should include:

• The legal form of the business [e.g., corporation, subchapter S, partnership, etc.]
• Your specific product or service
• Customer motivation to purchase your product or service
• The present or proposed location of the business
• Your existing or potential customers and their demographics
• A brief history of the business – how did you get here
• How was the business financed thus far
• Who are, or who will be, the owners

Think carefully about this section. For example, many years ago, Western Union could have said they were in the telegraph business. In reality, they were in the communications business; hence, today we have AT&T, Sprint, etc.

Market Analysis

Frequently this is the weakest part of many plans and reveals that the marketing homework has not been done thoroughly. This is the section where you must present sufficient evidence to prove (and to convince the reader) that there really is a need for your product or service — and that there is sufficient demand to support the business you have proposed. It is not enough that you believe in the product or service.

This section must first identify the need for your product or service; second, show how your product or service meets that need better than any other competitor; and third, show how you can sell your product or service at a profit. This section can be organized in many ways to answer these questions. The following is one suggested way:

Market Size
Present figures and factual information on the size of the market for your product or service. Obtaining reliable numbers may seem difficult but the effort will be worth it. Include detailed information on the following:

How much is now being spent on the product or service (by all customers), or, if the product is new, how much is being spent on alternatives?

Is the market expanding or contracting, and at what rate? How is the market changing, and define the characteristics that are changing?

Where will the market be in five years, how much will customers be spending, do populations or age   projections show an impact for the future?

Market Profile
Describe existing or potential customers for your product or service, expanding on the information in the Business Description. This expanded detail should include:

Who will buy? If your customers are individuals what are their characteristics, age, income level, education, family status, etc., in a word your customer’s demographics. Also, how many customers are there? If your customers are businesses, what kind of businesses, what do they have in common, what sizes are they, are products branded or private label, etc.

Where are your customers? Are they located in a particular region or area? Describe the characteristics of the region as it may relate to your products, e.g., if your business makes winter coats your customers are principally in cold regions.

Why will your product or service be purchased? Expand on the need your product or service meets and why the customer will select yours over a competitive choice. Will your product meet a feature or benefit need? For example, with athletic footwear, Velcro brand closures are a feature but if the sneakers make you jump higher and run faster, that is a benefit.

When will your product or service be purchased? Is it seasonal and, if so, what is the seasonal aspect? Does it tie in with other products or events?

What is the customer’s expectation for your product or service in terms of price, quality, service, delivery, packaging, etc?

Competition

Describe the companies and products that are or will be your competition and don’t forget to include imports if they are a factor in your market. Remember, even new products have some type of competition. For example, if you will be selling cash registers, a look at personal computers would be appropriate as there is competition from point-of-sale data processing equipment. Include the following and limit your detailed analysis to the top 5 or 6 competitors:

• How many companies you will be competing against. Where are they located, how long have they been in business?
• How do they distribute the product or service? What is their respective market share?
• What are their strengths and weaknesses in marketing, operations and finance, what are their strategies?
• How does your product compare in terms of price, quality, service, design, delivery or other features?
• Do you intend to take market share away from the competition or will you be creating a new, niche market?

Again, some of this information may seem difficult to obtain, but get as much as you can so you will know who and what you are up against. Start your research with readily available tools like your telephone, the Yellow Pages, catalogues, sales literature, industrial and commercial directories, libraries, trade associations, etc. You may wish to set this section up as a chart or table/matrix listing the same categories for each competitor.

Product or Service Advantages

Investors or lenders want to know how your product or service compares to the competition. They want to know what is unique about yours and to what extent you will have a competitive advantage over similar or existing products, and, how long will that advantage last.

Product Description
Describe the key features of your product or service and its benefits to potential customers. Compare these features with those of competing products or services.  Emphasize your competitive edge — what ‘ … er’ will your product or service have — that is better, faster, cheaper, softer, neater, etc. If your product or service has any limitations, specify them here — to do otherwise is fooling yourself.

Proprietary Position
If you have a proprietary position, describe the patent, copyright, or other contractual or design exclusivity or means of protecting your product or service or technology.

Other Barriers to Competition
Describe any other barriers that would discourage others from entering the market. These include agreements with manufacturers or distributors, high startup or research costs, tie-in sales or usage applications, licensing or proprietary process technology, etc.

Regulatory Requirements
Describe the regulatory environment for your product or service, if applicable. This includes Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, local licenses, etc.  Research any pending, or proposed rules or legislation that may affect your product or service or the technological process behind it.

Product Extension
Where are you going with your product or service? Describe future improvements, developments or directions to meet the changing needs of your market. These will usually be extensions of the primary product or service and will follow with market changes described in your marketing section. 

Objectives

This section describes and importantly, quantifies your marketing objectives — where will your product be and when, e.g., how many will you sell, at what price, what will your market penetration rate be, and, when will each target happen.

Target Markets
Based on the information from your market analysis identify the specific target market(s) that you will concentrate on. Be as specific as possible — when you carry out your plan you want to focus your resources on the market segment in which you have the greatest chance for success. If possible carve out your own market niche.

Estimated Sales and Market Share
Estimate the sales you think you can achieve over the next three to five years, starting with monthly estimates in years 1 and 2. Calculate the market share that these sales represent. Market share is that percentage of the total market represented by your sales.

For example, if $100 million is spent by all the customers who might buy your product or service, and you sell $500,000 you have a 0.5% market share. In calculating your sales forecast start with existing sales, commitments to purchase, and, potential sales; be realistic in developing your estimates. Use supporting data as well.

For example, if you can sell your product or service to 1 of every 20 customers you speak to, and each sales call takes 1 hour, a salesperson can sell two orders per week, therefore, to sell 200 orders per year will require 2 salespeople.  Compute your revenues from the “bottom up, not top down.”

Marketing Strategy

In this section describe the marketing strategy that you will use to achieve the objectives. The strategy is essentially how to do it. This is the section in which you assess the market, the competition, your capabilities and how you will set your product or service apart from the others.

The following are important elements to consider when developing your strategy: trends in the market, competitive strengths and weaknesses, voids in the market, market niches, technology, lower costs (production or sale), advertising, public relations, promotions, quality, and service. Also, include the following:

Product Features
Review the features of your product or service that meet the needs or demands of the marketplace. Discuss how those needs are met. Describe related features and design elements such as:

How the product will be packaged in terms of function and promotion? Does the package need to preserve or protect the product or display the product, or, all three? Is shipping a concern? Are there environmental concerns or concerns by the retailer or final seller of the product?

How will you label your product or describe your service? In addition to promotional information are there regulatory concerns for label content e.g., ingredient lists, nutritional data, warnings, directions, UPC codes, UL listing, ISO 9000, etc?

How will you register and use trademarks and identifying images; discuss your plans to develop, establish and protect the image? Remember — if it is unprotected and can be used by anybody entering the market what is your investment worth? Warranty terms are sometimes a purchasing decision point

What will your terms be, why, and, what does the market expect?

Service may be another significant purchasing decision point. What will your service policy be and how will it impact operations?

Pricing
Price can be the key element in many marketing strategies and it must be carefully thought out. There are several price development theories that you may wish to explore and apply. Consider and explain the following:

How will your price relate to the cost of your product or service? How will it relate to the cost of marketing and promotional efforts? Is couponing or discounting required in the marketplace you will be serving

How will your price compare to competitive products or services and is the difference worth it?

How will your price relate to what the market is able and willing to pay? Products targeted for price sensitive low end markets cannot carry a high price.

How will your pricing strategy enable you to achieve your objectives and how does it relate to your distribution methodology? Is multi-tier pricing required? What will the impact of retailer/distributor markups be? Will these add-ons make your product too expensive?

Distribution
This is where you describe how your product or service gets from you to the customer and how that relates to your marketing methods. Consider the following:

What are the available methods for distribution (e.g., direct sales force, distributors, retailers, mail order) for similar products or services?

What are the methods used by your competition? Will yours be different? Why, and can this be used to differentiate your product or service?

If you elect to use a direct sales force how large will it be, what will its growth rate be, how will they be compensated, and, what expenses will they incur beyond salaries?

If you use dealers or distributors how many do you need, where will they be, how will you determine these factors (e.g., geographically, demographically, logistically), and how will you find them?

Describe, in reasonable detail, how the distribution methodology will support your strategy and allow you to reach your objectives.

Promotion
Describe how you will generate awareness of your product or service among potential customers. Include the following:

What promotional activities are used by the competition (e.g., advertising, publicity, literature, trade shows, etc.)?

What activities you plan to use, how and why will they differ from the competition? How much do you plan to spend on these activities as a total dollar amount and as a percentage of sales?

How will your activities reach the customer at a purchase decision making point, how will you maintain awareness for uneven sales decision cycles, how will you develop brand loyalty?

How will you schedule these activities? Provide an estimated media or production schedule for literature or advertising? 

Operations

In this section you need to describe how you will obtain or produce your products or provide your service. Consider the following:

Location & Space Requirements

• If your business exists, where is it?
• If proposed where are you planning to put it and why?
• What type of space do you need, how much, what will it cost?
• What may be unique or special about it (e.g., an assembly operation may require air conditioned manufacturing space)
• What is the breakdown by type (e.g., 20% office, 50% manufacturing, & 30% warehouse)?

Regulatory

• What is the regulatory environment that you need or need to avoid?
• Is the area you want to be in zoned for your type of operation?
• Are emissions or discharge a concern?
• Is parking or truck traffic count a concern?

Equipment Requirements

• What type of equipment do you need for manufacturing or service provision?
• How much does it cost?
• Is special operator training necessary?
• Are special licenses required?
• How much will the equipment cost to obtain and to operate?

Personnel Requirements

• How many people do you need?
• What skills do they need?
• What kind of experience is needed and are the people available?
• What are the prevailing wages, is training required, unions?
• Provide a roster of existing operations personnel and a schedule of planned hires by date and expense.

Production or Service Operations

Describe the process of manufacturing or providing the service.

Include the advantages of your process, capacity, quality control systems, potential suppliers, secondary sources for raw materials or subcontract services.

Provide a breakdown of fixed and variable operating expenses, both current and projected.  Describe the relationship of cost to sales (e.g., is it linear, does it move in incremental steps).

Organization and Management

How will you organize your business and who will manage it. Investors and lenders must be convinced that you have people who can manage the business successfully and that you can attract needed new people. Describe the following:

Organization
Explain how the company is organized with a brief description of the role of each manager and provide an organizational chart or job descriptions. Job descriptions should include the specific tasks, responsibilities, authority and relationships to other employees of each job.

Key Managers
Show how your management team has the necessary functional skills in production, marketing, finance, and general management. Describe their experience with your product or service or in a related industry, providing a brief biography of key managers, listing past positions, accomplishments and career highlights that show they can do the job.

Management Weakness
Identify any weakness in the management team and how you will fix it. Are critical skills missing, can they be provided by recruitment, training or subcontracting?

Compensation
Describe in detail the compensation plan that you will use and how each manager will be paid. Will you have a bonus, profit sharing or other incentive plan, and, if so, describe it in detail. If your plan does not provide pay for you that is a mistake and it will affect the credibility of your plan.

Ownership
Provide a list of all the owners and their stake in the business. If a corporation, list all shareholders, the number of shares owned, the total outstanding, the total authorized, and, the totals by group (e.g., total owned by management, the principal owner’s family … )

Board Membership
Identify who sits on your board of directors, why they were selected, how each one helps your business and indicate any investment members have made.

Timing

Prepare a schedule that reflects major milestones in your business plan for the next three to five years. This can be very effectively presented by using a chart and brief explanations. You should address planned product introductions, changes in workforce or management, noteworthy sales events (e.g., trade shows, selling seasons, tie-in promotions), changes in facilities, significant changes or events in your marketing strategy or the marketplace (e.g., pending regulatory changes) and significant changes to your customer base.

Financial Information

Use the sales and cost information developed in the preceding sections to prepare projected financial statements. Unless you have a financial background, you may need help with this section. However, you need to provide certain key information for the projections.

All plans must include the Cash Flow Projection, Income Statement and Balance Sheet. Plans that are seeking investment must include the Source and Use of Proceeds and Statement of Changes in Working Capital.

Source and Use of Proceeds
If you are seeking a lender or investor, you need to indicate in a summary table how much money you are seeking, where you anticipate it will come from, how it will be paid back, and, most importantly, specifically how it will be used.

For example, your business might need a $25,000 bank loan in phase one, with a 7-year term carrying a 12% interest rate to be used for the purchase of two $10,000 punch presses and one $5,000 engineering computer; and, a $30,000 bank loan in phase two with a 5-year payout at prevailing rates 24 months later, to be used for two additional punch presses, improvements to the manufacturing facility and worker training.

Source and Use is frequently done as a table identifying the major income items, and the major expense items by category (e.g., machinery, computers, office equipment, etc.)

If you are seeking an equity investment, or some other investment vehicle, explain in detail how you envision the money coming in, how the investor will realize profits, and how the investor will be paid back. Include a summary equity ownership table indicating the number of shares authorized, issued, owned, and owner name.

Income Statements and Balance Sheets
These statements are the standard measure for all businesses. If you are already in business provide statements for the last three years. All planners should provide annual projections for years 3 to 5, but the first two years should be based upon monthly projections. Monthly projections are extremely important during the first years of a startup, but frequently are omitted from the Business Plan due to length/size constraints. If you use an accountant to prepare your historical information disclose this fact and be prepared to provide audited or reviewed statements to any investor. The income statement shows revenue, expenses and profit or loss, and, provides an overview of the operations of your business. The balance sheet identifies the assets and liabilities of your business showing quantitatively where your business is.

Break-Even Analysis
This analysis will help you to understand the specific relationships between your costs and sales. At what volume do your profits start? At what volume do profits dip due to incremental expenses such as new machinery, overtime, etc.? This very important analysis looks at your business as one entity.

Cash Flow Projection
This statement identifies sources of cash from internal operations, cash inflows and outflow associated with various working capital requirements, and cash inflows and outflows associated with various financing/capital activities. This essential statement will help you to plan your cash requirements in both short and long terms views.

Assumptions
For each and every line item in your pro-forma [projected] financial statements indicate the assumption on which it is based, and why. For example, if you say you will be spending $10,000 on a new piece of production equipment, have a quotation from the supplier or a copy of a price list. In other words, do your homework on the numbers. Support raw material price estimates with quotations, support labor rates with prevailing wage studies (available in many libraries) or union summaries.

Additionally, many assumptions will flow from earlier sections on objective, marketing strategy, operations, organization, management and timing. Specifically, if your plan calls for 10 salespeople they must be reflected in the salary costs you assume. Assumptions are among the most likely areas for challenges to your plan. Test the assumptions and be confident in the ones you select.

Capital
If equity capital is required, various “exit” alternatives need to be discussed since any investor eventually required some form of liquidity event. “Exit” valuations based upon industry comparables and/or reasonable multiples of cash flow, such as EBITDA, is preferred. All debt service requirements, interest & principal payments, need to be accurately reflected in the financial projections and be consistent with the associated maturities and terms.

Spread Sheets
Computer spread sheets are sometimes very useful for asking what if questions and looking at results under different conditions or scenarios.

Writing and Pitching Resources:

Be sure to review the scorecards and guidelines so you know what the judged will be looking for in your plan.

90-Second Pitch:

Finalist teams need to prepare a 90-second company pitch at part of the team’s oral presentation. In addition, a team representative from each undergraduate and graduate finalist team will also make a 90-second pitch at the beginning of the oral presentation (scored separately, with winning pitches incorporated into Awards Dinner ceremony). More details will be provided. One winner in each division will receive $1,000 in cash.

Business Advisory Services & Affiliates: 

Oklahoma Small Business Development Center (OSBDC)
OSBDC’s mission is to ensure that all Oklahomans have access to professional and confidential business counseling, educational workshops, and continuing support throughout their business ventures.

Research Wizard
Research Wizard is a unique service of the Tulsa City-County Library System that offers information that is customized to meet business needs and maximize time and profits.

Oklahoma Bioscience Association (OKBio)
OKBio is a statewide membership organization exclusively dedicated to the growth of Oklahoma’s bioscience sector.

The State Chamber
The State Chamber of Oklahoma is a private, nonprofit, business-membership organization designed to advocate business needs at the state and federal levels.

Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance
The Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance offers technical assistance and business advice, helping companies become progressively more successful through a statewide network of manufacturing extension agents and applications engineers.

The Riata Center for Entrepreneurship – Oklahoma State University
The Riata Center is dedicated to high impact entrepreneurial outreach on Oklahoma State University’s campus,  in the region, around the State of Oklahoma, and across America. The Center is  intimately engaged with the entrepreneurial community, and strongly committed to creating unique experiential learning opportunities for students.

Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth (CCEW)
The Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth at the University of Oklahoma offers opportunities for practical experience to promote the entrepreneurial spirit and assist in developing Oklahoma’s economy.

The Forge, Tulsa
A business incubator located in the heart of downtown Tulsa, The Forge is a place where raw ideas and passionate Tulsans are shaped into successful, sustainable businesses.

Fab Lab Tulsa, Tulsa
Fab Lab is short for Fabrication Laboratory. It is a community workspace providing access to an array of computer-controlled fabrication technology such as 3D Printers and Laser Cutters that can be used to conceptualize, design, develop, and fabricate almost anything.

Technology Incubators:

•  Norman Economic Development Coalition
• Moore Norman Technology Center Business Development Center
• Francis Tuttle Technology Center Business Innovation Center
• Oklahoma Business Incubator

State & Federal Grant Program:

Oklahoma Applied Research Support (OARS) Grant
The Oklahoma Applied Research Support program helps universities, foundations and businesses fund cutting-edge research that will benefit Oklahoma’s economy. Managed by the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology (OCAST).

Small Business Innovative Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR)
SBIR and STTR are competitively awarded federal programs designed to stimulate technological innovation and provide opportunities for small businesses.  A statewide partnership led by i2E and OCAST provides resources to help Oklahoma entrepreneurs and researchers submit more competitive SBIR/STTR applications.

Oklahoma Health Research Program (OHR)
Administered by OCAST, the Oklahoma Health Research Program competitively awards seed funds for research projects related to human health to Oklahoma Universities and colleges, non-profit research foundations and commercial companies in Oklahoma.

i2E Capital Resources: 

Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund (OSCF)
This seed stage fund targets companies that may or may not already have customers, some revenues and a scalable product.  This investment enables companies to build a business infrastructure around their concept or product.

Accelerate Oklahoma!
As a part of the federal States Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), this U.S. Treasury funded initiative offers funds that provide critical capital and co-investment for Oklahoma entrepreneurs at specific stages of their companies’ lifecycles. Investment terms are typically convertible debt or preferred equity and involve a rigorous due diligence process.

SeedStep Angels
SeedStep Angels is a network of accredited angel investors that provide capital, strategic advice and mentoring to emerging growth companies to help them achieve market leadership. The network can expose entrepreneurs to a wide set of potential investors, and the structured process facilitates quick and efficient investment decisions.

Funds & Investment Affiliates:

Angel Capital Association (ACA)
The Angel Capital Association is North America’s Professional alliance of angel groups.

Davis, Tuttle Venture Partners (DTVP)
DTVP is a private investment partnership formed to provide emerging growth companies with the necessary long-term development capital, as well as vital management counsel and support.

MetaFund
MetaFund is a collaborative, non-profit, multi-bank-funded, community development, private equity and venture capital firm.

Oklahoma Venture Forum (OVF)
The OVF is a non-profit corporation organized to encourage economic development in Oklahoma.

SeedStep Angels
SeedStep Angels is a formalized group of accredited Angel Investors comprised of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders in Oklahoma who provide investment capital, strategic advice and mentoring to emerging growth companies to help them achieve market leadership. Seedstep Angels is managed by i2E, Inc.

National Resources:

Angel Capital Association (ACA)
The Angel Capital Association is North America’s professional alliance of angel groups. The association brings together many of the angel organizations in the United States and Canada to share best practices and collaboration opportunities. ACA provides excellent professional development and discounts on important services for angel investors who belong to member groups, and also serves as the public policy voice of the American angel community.

Business Plan Archive
In partnership with the Library of Congress, the Center for History and New Media, and the University of Maryland Libraries, the Archive collects and preserves business plans and related planning documents from the Birth of the Dot Com Era so that future generations will be able to learn from this episode in the history of technology and entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship.org
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) have formed a new public-private partnership focused on leveraging best practices in entrepreneurial leadership to advance economic growth around the world. The goal of this partnership is to assist all nations in developing the environment to allow entrepreneurs to organize and operate a business venture, create wealth, and employ people.

Innovation America
Innovation America’s mission is to accelerate the growth of the entrepreneurial innovation economy in America.

Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, the Kauffman Foundation is among the 30 largest foundations in the United States with an asset base of approximately $2 billion.

Microsoft Startup Center
Microsoft Startup Center helps small businesses start off right with an elaborate checklist that guides entrepreneurs through business plan creation, branding, sales, finances and more. Offers on Microsoft products also help to give users a business upper hand.

National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO)
NAWBO works to strengthen the wealth-creating capacity of its  members and promote economic development, create innovative and effective changes in the business culture, build strategic alliances, coalitions and affiliations, and transform public policy and influence opinion makers. They offer many resources including educational activities, business referrals and leadership training.

National Venture Capital Association (NVCA)
The NVCA, comprised of more than 400 member firms, is the premier trade association that represents the U.S. venture capital industry. NVCA’s mission is to foster greater understanding of the importance of venture capital to the U.S. economy, and support entrepreneurial activity and innovation. The NVCA represents the public policy interests of the venture capital community, strives to maintain high professional standards, provides reliable industry data, sponsors professional development, and facilitates interaction among its members.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers NVCA MoneyTree Report
The MoneyTree Report is a quarterly study of venture capital investment activity in the United States. A collaboration between PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based upon data from Thomson Reuters, it is the only industry-endorsed research of its kind. The MoneyTree Report is the definitive source of information on emerging companies that receive financing and the venture capital firms that provide it. The study is a staple of the financial community, entrepreneurs, government policymakers and the business press worldwide.

SBIR
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Technology administers the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. Through this competitive program, SBA ensures that the nation’s small, high-tech, innovative businesses are a significant part of the federal government’s research and development efforts. Eleven federal departments participate in the SBIR program. The U.S National Science Foundation administers the SBIR.GOV site on behalf of the federal government.

Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation.

STTR
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Technology administers the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. Through this competitive program, SBA ensures that the nation’s small, high-tech, innovative businesses are a significant part of the federal government’s research and development efforts. Five departments participate in the STTR program.

The Oklahoma Business Roundtable will award one Small Business scholarship in the amount of $5,000. All students competing in this division are eligible to apply.

The Oklahoma Business Roundtable, formed in 1991, is a non-profit public/private partnership. Their primary mission is to assist the governor and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce by supporting and encouraging business investment and jobs in the state.

Composed of more than 130 top Oklahoma corporations and business organizations, the Roundtable provides important business development advice and assistance to the governor, the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and other state leaders.

The Governor attends and participates in the Roundtable membership meetings which are held in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

About the Paulsen Awards
Who is eligible?
Any students competing in the current competition who exemplifies the spirit of Oklahoma entrepreneurship.

What will the recipients receive?
A $5,000 scholarship to the Oklahoma university or college of his or her choice for the fall semester following the competition, an opportunity to give a five minute presentation at the Oklahoma Business Roundtable annual meeting where the governor and Oklahoma Business Roundtable members will be in attendance.

The purpose of this award?
To recognize Oklahoma students with the fortitude to become involved with our state’s economic development, encourage students to become more involved with business and entrepreneurial aspects, to introduce the resources and opportunities available for developing a career in the field of entrepreneurism and to develop a conduit in retaining these future business leaders in creating home grown businesses and strengthening Oklahoma’s economic development.

The Process?
Participants will complete a written application. The finalists will participate in a 15-minute interview with a panel of Oklahoma Business Roundtable members. Finalists may be asked to give a 5-minute response to one of the three questions from the written application or the panel may choose to ask questions about the finalist, their business plan and their future plans.

Criteria

1. Must be a US Citizen
2. Must be continuing education in the fall semester following the competition at an Oklahoma university or college
3. Grade point average
4. Extra-curricular activities and community involvement
5. Knowledge of issues dealing with efficient government and responsible leadership for the state of Oklahoma
6. Desire to make this a positive opportunity at a level of distinguished participation.

For more information, please contact Sarah Seagraves at sseagraves@i2E.org.

Not every circumstance can be anticipated. i2E, Inc. reserves the right to disqualify any team that violates the rules, regulations or the spirit of the competition. 

The competition is open to all full-time and part-time degree or certificate-seeking undergraduate students enrolled in any regional or private university without a research component or 2-year college across the state. Teams from these campuses can still compete in the High Growth Division. Enrollment includes classes taken during the current summer session(s), current fall semester, and/or the spring semester. Students who have graduated prior to the competition, but were enrolled in any of the above-mentioned semesters, will still be eligible to compete. We rely on the student and his or her Advisor to verify enrollment criteria. i2E, Inc. reserves the exclusive right to determine the validity of enrollment.

1. Each team is required to have either a faculty member or mentor as an advisor. The role of the advisor for the purpose of the competition is largely administrative. The advisor provides confirmation of the eligibility of the students, enforces competition rules and is a point of contact for the competition managers. In addition, they are expected to provide guidance in researching, writing and presenting the business plan.
   • The intent of the competition is for winning team members and their advisor to receive the cash awards. A check is written to the team leader. A check will also be written to the advisor.
   • NOTE: Advisors employed by a university or college must provide a copy of written policy, if applicable, at the time of submitting written competition documentation, indicating faculty members are prohibited to receive outside compensation.
2. Each Small Business team will submit a written business plan online. This score will determine the eight semifinalist teams that will compete in the oral competition.
3. The competition materials may be prepared under faculty or mentor supervision for credit in a regularly scheduled course or as an independent study. The plan may also be prepared under faculty or mentor supervision with no official credit. Both the plan and the presentation should follow the Official Written Scorecard and Official Oral Presentation Scorecard.
4. Each participating university or college may have one or more teams enter the competition; however each team may submit only one business plan. It is strongly discouraged for team members to participate on more than one team.
5. Teams are required to fill out the Intent to Compete form online by 3 p.m. of deadline date. The Official Business Plan Submittal Form must be filled out online by 3 p.m. of deadline date. Each team will need to identify one team member as the team leader and one advisor who will be the point of contact throughout the competition.
6. Either an individual student or a group of students can form a team. The number of eligible students shall not exceed six official team members.
7. Undergraduate students are encouraged to form teams for the purpose of cross-pollination of experience and mentoring opportunities.
8. The business must be a seed or start-up venture and the materials must address the entire business concept (including implementation). Proposals for the buy-out or expansion of an existing company, tax-shelter opportunities, real estate syndications, franchises, non-profit and consulting projects or analyses are not eligible. Eligibility discretion is up to the competition management and can be determined at any point during the competition- including any business models that are changed for the oral competition submission that do not meet the aforementioned criteria.
9. All competition materials must represent ONLY the original work of each official team member indicating them as the authors of the plan. Materials developed outside of the competition or through previous programs or classes of which other students, mentors or interns have developed presentations or plans on the same concept are not eligible.
10. The business should not have generated any meaningful sales revenues prior to the competition. Revenue generated during a test-marketing project may be excluded from this provision.
11. The competition materials may not contain fabricated information about (but not limited to) the following: backgrounds, experience and educational level of members of the management team, stage of product development, source of technology/license, product performance claims or market survey results.
12. The six Small Business Division finalist teams and advisors will be given a cash prize at the oral competition. The first, second and third place winning teams will be announced at the awards dinner and each team will be presented with a Love’s Cup trophy for the college or university, an individual trophy for each team member and advisor, along with cash prizes will be presented to each advisor and team leader.
13. Due to the nature of the competition, we will not ask judges, reviewers, sponsors, staff or the audience to agree to or sign non-disclosure statements for any participant. By participating in the competition, entrants agree that neither i2E, Inc., nor members of the judging panel, sponsors nor their designated organizations, assume any liability whatsoever for any disclosures of business plan information which may be made (whether inadvertently or otherwise) by any judge, reviewer, staff member, audience member or other individual connected with, participating in, viewing, hearing, or receiving information from the competition.
14. Students interested in competing for a $5,000 scholarship to any Oklahoma college or university can apply for the Paulsen Award by filling out the written application online by 3 p.m. of deadline date. Finalists will be notified and will participate in an interview with Oklahoma Business Roundtable members on the first day of the oral competition. Scholarship recipients will be recognized at the awards dinner.

The small business division competition consists of two separate sections: the plan and the presentation. Below are the rules pertaining to each section. Be sure to review carefully.

The Plan

1. The Official Business Plan Submittal Form must be filled out online by 3 p.m. of deadline date. No printed copies are required for the written portion of the competition. All business plans will be submitted electronically following instructions provided on the form. Submittal of this form indicates that the business plan only contains original work accomplished by the official team members. The team will retain all rights to the plan regarding its use at all times prior to and following the competition (except as stated below in item 28).
2. Each business plan, including all appendices, will need to be saved to a single PDF file less than 10MB in size.
3. The management team outlined in the plan will contain the names of individuals (if any) who are not associated with the college or university.
4. Plans are limited to 30 pages of typed text, which includes the Executive Summary, Financial Statement, and Projections, but excludes appendices (see item 20 below). Cover sheets are not counted in total number of pages. All pages past 30 (excluding appendices) will be omitted from judging.
5. Summary financial data must include a five-year pro-forma cash flow statement, income statement, balance sheet, and funds required/used. Include an explanation of the offering to family and friends, SBA, banks or Angels indicating how much money is needed and the proposed structure of the deal, i.e. stock, debentures, etc.

Appendices should be included ONLY when they support the findings, statements and observations in the plan. Because of the number of teams/plans entering the competition, reviewers and judges may not be able to read all of the material in the appendices. Therefore, the text portion of the plan (30 pages) must contain all pertinent information in a clear and concise manner.

The Presentation and The Pitch

1. Deadline for the eight semifinalist teams to submit their revised business plans and Official Oral Competition Submittal Form is 3 p.m. of deadline date
   • Note: No printed copies are required for the oral portion of the competition. All revised business plans will be submitted electronically following the instructions provided on the form. All teams will need to bring finished PowerPoint to the competition.
2. All presentations must be able to display on a computer running Windows 8.1, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013, Adobe Flash and Apple Quicktime with no additional software required. Teams will need to bring a copy of their presentation to upload during their 5-minute set up time. Competition managers are not responsible in  the event there is an issue with this transaction. You will not submit your presentation prior to the oral competition. Presentation rooms will not have access to the internet, so please plan accordingly.
3. The eight Small Business Division semifinalist teams will present to a panel of Oklahoma investors, business and community leaders with the six finalists announced after the first round. The six finalist teams will compete the following day with the first, second and third place winners in each division announced at the awards dinner. All team presentations will be conducted at i2E’s Oklahoma City offices located downtown at 840 Research Parkway, Suite 250.
4. Each presenting team will be given 20 minutes to present their business plan followed by a 15-minute question and answer session between the presenting team and the panel of judges. Each presenting team will have 5 minutes prior to its presentation for set-up/preparation and 5 minutes after the presentation for equipment dismantling.
   • Note: Prior to the 20-minute timed presentation, each team will present a 90-second pitch to the panel of judges. Each pitch will be scored and the winners in each division will be incorporated into the awards dinner ceremony.
5. Students presenting must be official team members.  For the purpose of this competition, each team member must have a key role on the management team (i.e. CEO, COO, VP, etc.). Not all team members are required to present in the oral competition, but all team members must participate in the Q&A session. Non-student members of the venture’s management team may not participate in any presentations, including the finals.
6. A team or advisor may not observe other presentations or question-and-answer sessions until after their team(s) have presented. No one is allowed to enter or leave the room until the presentation session is complete. Students, advisors or guests engaging in communication with a team during their presentation and/or question and answer session, such as but not limited to, head movements, hand gestures or signaling, will be asked to leave the room and the team will be disqualified from the competition.
   • Note: All teams must be available and ready to present at least one hour prior to schedule.Be sure to notify any family or friends wanting to attend presentations that they must be there one hour ahead of schedule.
7. Each presenting team will receive further guidelines regarding presentations including the equipment that will be provided (screens, microphones etc.), presentation protocol, etc. Students are not allowed to bring food or beverages into the rooms for presentation. Students may bring product samples for their presentations, but may not bring any giveaways to the judges. Handout materials are recommended such as copies of the presentation, but not required.
8. All oral presentations and question-and-answer sessions are open to the public at large. Further, it is likely that any or all of these public sessions will be broadcasted to interested persons through media, which may include radio, television and the Internet. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by entrants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged or presented in these sessions.
9. Neither i2E, Inc., judges, sponsors, nor their designate organizations, assume any duty to screen or otherwise control the identity of those attending, viewing or hearing all or part of these public sessions, and entrants agree that by entering the competition they have been made aware that such attendees, viewers and recipients may include members of the media and potential competitors in addition to members of the financial community, students and faculty.
10. Student entrants agree to allow i2E, Inc., to videotape the oral presentations and the question and answer sessions for internal purposes only. By participating in the competition, student entrants agree to grant i2E, Inc., and/or organizations designated by them the unlimited right to videotape, photograph, audiotape, transcribe or otherwise record all public sessions of the competition, including but not limited to oral presentations and question-and-answer sessions. All entrants agree that i2E, Inc. and/or their designate organizations may use any such transcriptions and/or recording(s) (in whole or part) for such publicity and marketing purposes as their organizations may see fit, including those which may result in remuneration.

The Love’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition will consist of professionals from a wide array of industries including successful entrepreneurs, professional services providers, venture capitalists and angel investors who will judge the business plans based on criteria presented in the Written Business Plan and the Oral Presentation Scorecards:

Written Scorecard – Small Business
Written Scorecard – Small Business Oral Presentation

The Plan
Business plans will be submitted online for this portion of the competition. No printed copies are required.

Oklahoma investment, business and community leaders will determine the eight Small Business Division semifinalists. Each judge will evaluate plans based on the written business plan scorecard. The teams chosen to move forward to the oral competition will be posted online and an email notification will be sent to Team Leaders and advisors with judges’ comments.

The Presentation
Revised business plans will be submitted online. No printed copies are required.

All team presentations will be conducted at i2E’s Oklahoma City offices. The eight undergraduate semifinalist teams will present to a panel of Oklahoma investors, business and community leaders. The six finalists in each division will present the following day with the top three winners in each division announced at the Awards Dinner. All presentations must be able to display on a computer running Windows 8.1, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013, Adobe Flash and Apple Quicktime with no additional software required. Presentation rooms will not have access to the internet, so please plan accordingly.  

The Revised Plan and Powerpoint Presentation, the Official Oral Competition Submittal Form, and the Paulsen Award application are all due by 3 p.m. on the deadline date. Business plans will be submitted online so no hard copies are required.

The order of team presentations will be randomly selected and an email with detailed information and an agenda will be sent to each Team Leader and advisor.

The Pitch
In addition to the team presentations, a representative from each team also will make a 90-second pitch at the beginning of their oral presentation. This will be scored separately and the winning pitches will be incorporated into the Awards dinner ceremony. More details on this opportunity will be provided.

Oklahoma Business Roundtable Interviews
Simultaneous to the oral presentations will be interviews for the Oklahoma Business Roundtable Paulsen Award, which provides one student in the Small Business Division with a $5,000 scholarship that can be used for tuition on any Oklahoma college campus.

Decision of the judges will be final and winners announced at the Awards dinner.

Mileage and Hotel Expenses:
Each team is responsible for its own expenses incurred during the competition.

Hotel accommodations:
Since the finalists will be announced after the first day of competition, we suggest that all semifinalist teams and advisors take into consideration the need for hotel accommodations if traveling a distance. Hotel arrangements will be made by teams.

Click here for a list of hotels near the competition location.