The idea of a business plan competition first started in 1980's at initiative of some MBA students from Texas and has increasingly gained popularity. Such events happen yearly and rejoice a great affluence of contestants, which highly increases their competitiveness.

Competitions

Organized by Universities

• Babcock Elevator Pitch Competition - Wake Forest University
• Enterprise Creation Competition - Ball State University
• Moot Corp. Competition - University of Texas
• Duke Start-Up Challenge - Duke University
• IBK Capital Ivey Business Plan Competition - University of Western Ontario
• OFC Venture Challenge - Clark Atlanta University
• Venture Adventure - Colorado State University

Held by business organizations

• Jungle Business Plan Challenge - Jungle Media Group
• S.E.E.D. Business Plan Competition - TechKnowledge Point Corp.
• Venture Bowl - National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Carrot Capital

You will wonder probably what exactly do these competitions consist of and where does their popularity come from?

Organizers

Although organizers and sponsors are usually universities, there are several business organizations that host business plan competitions.

Contestants

Business plan competitions are student entrepreneur events. The contests are organized either for graduate or undergraduate students and it does not necessarily have to be MBA students. The contestants may be student scientists, engineers, MDs or other specialists who strive to create a viable business plan hoping to enter such competitions.

The popularity of such contests also reached some other layers: business plan competitions are also organized with purpose of giving people possibility of starting a business. Business plan competitions usually happen as intercollegiate events, but this contest formula has also been taken over by companies who want to facilitate founding of new businesses.

It is also case of Ford Motor Company that sponsored Ford BEST (Building Entrepreneurial Success Today) Business Plan contest in association with SCORE "Counselors to America’s Small Business" and DiversityInc. The BEST Business Plan contest took place in winter of 2004 and addressed all U.S. citizens over 18. All submitted business plans were judged by an advisory panel from SCORE.

Writing your own plan is best because you probably have superior knowledge of your product, your target market and your own capabilities. Eventually, when you are required to defend your plan, you will be better informed of its contents and its rationale. If you engage someone else to write your business plan, you will still have to supply much of following information anyway.

1. Enter an outline in your wordprocessor. You can copy excerpts from books, online searches or pamphlets from government agencies. Finding appropriate content for your venture could take quite a bit of time. It's a good start for overcoming inertia, it provides places to record information as it is gathered and your outline can become your planning and control file.

2. Begin collecting contact details for all your references: data sources, business plan writing instructions, resource persons, online sites, libraries, bookstores, etc. The more -- better. Exercise caution if you think your idea is hot for a local and limited market. Reveal your concept and your research only to a trusted few. Someone with similar attributes and skills with access to more money could beat you to an exclusive market share. In my business classes there was always, at least, one student accepting my offer to submit weekly submissions in a plain kraft envelope.