$35,000 PEN Business Plan Competition

We are proud to announce the 13th Annual PEN Conference will include a business plan competition. Last year we received many great submissions and ended up with 5 very strong teams. Alitora Systems won the $10,000.00 prize. SVGR, an entry by a Princeton undergrad, Seth Priebatsch, got CRUNCHED shortly after the conference! Great job Seth!

PEN's Annual Business Plan Competition's first deadline is: March 31st. To enter please email a business plan that is no more then 10 pages long, in PDF format to bplans@princetonen.org The final competition will be held Friday May 29th, 2009 at Princeton. We will be awarding $10,000.00  in cash, and then another $25,000 in in kind services to the winning business plan at the PEN annual conference. The extra added value services are:

1. $5,000 of legal services generously donated by Tim Ehrlich and his start-up focused law firm, Gunderson Dettmer Stough: www.gunder.com

This is a very generous donation and one that any start-up will benefit from. Getting your t's crossed and i's dotted early on in the start-up process is invaluable. Gunderson Dettmer has become the nation’s leading business law firm for entrepreneurs, emerging growth companies and venture capitalists.

2. $15,000 of PR and marketing strategy services generously donated by Kevin McLaughlin and his very successful, cutting edge marketing and PR firm, Resound Marketing: www.ResoundMarketing.com

Kevin and his firm will help the winning team by providing the following critical services:
- Strategic Planning
- PR Infrastructure Development
- Campaign Calendar
- Training
- Launch Support

3. $5,000 of business planning and strategic forecasting services from  Palo Alto Software: www.paloalto.com. Tim Berry, (www.timberry.com) one of the leading business planning experts in the US, will help the winning team finesse their business plan, and evaluate and help with short-term and long term forecasting.

The only requirement is that one person on the team have a Princeton University affiliation. Students, alumni, faculty, and Princeton parents all qualify. Every plan will be judged in a semi-final round on the basis of the written plan only.

A panel of judges will assess the plans based on the following criteria:
1. Executive Summary
2. Written Quality
3. Completeness: management summary, problem, solution, sales and marketing strategy and implementation plan.
4. Financials: including sales forecast, profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheet
5. Offering

All plans must be submitted by Mar 31st. to bplans@princetonen.org
We will announce the finalists on April 22nd, 2009. 5 teams will advance to the final round where they will give a 10 minute pitch in person on Friday May 29th, 2009 and compete for the $10,000 prize. Finalists will have an opportunity to edit their plans after results are announced on April 22nd. Final plans are due on May 15th. Presentations can be finessed until May 29th.

Questions? Email bplans@princetonen.org

All photographs are property of Princeton University or Flickr under Creative Commons. All other content is © Princeton Entrepreneurs' Network, 2009.