Invitation to Rice Business Plan Competition

February 14, 2011

For postgraduate students involved in MBA entrepreneurship and business planning the details of the Rice Business Plan Competition invite are posted here:

We would like to invite teams from your school to apply to compete for over $1 million in prizes at the 2011 Rice Business Plan Competition in Houston, Texas on April 14-16, 2011.  The deadline for submission is Friday, February 18, 2011, only 7 days away.

Please forward this email to anyone at your school who might have an interest in competing.  To apply, teams only need to submit their contact information and a 3-5 page Executive Summary.  For more information and to apply, go to www.alliance.rice.edu/rbpc.  I’ve also attached a one-page Info Sheet that can be distributed as needed.

EVERY team that is accepted is guaranteed to win cash prizes.  We will accept 42 graduate university teams from around the world will compete in front of more than 200 venture capitalists and other investor judges.  Every team that submits an Application will receive a free download of Palo Alto’s Business Plan Pro Premiere software.  All student teams with at least one graduate student, from any school with any type of business, are invited to compete.

Prizes this year include:

•  $150,000 Grand Prize Investment Award
• $100,000 Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Clean Tech Innovation Award
• $100,000 DFJ Mercury University Technology Transfer Award
• $100,000 Waste Management “Think Green” Award
• $100,000 GHP Life Science Investment Award
• $100,000 GHP Technology Investment Award
• $25,000 NASA Game Changer Space Innovation Award
• $20,000 NASA Earth/Space Life Science Innovation Award
• $10,000 Social Venture Award
• $10,000 Women Entrepreneur Award
• $2,500 Intellectual Property Powerhouse Award
• $2,500 Best International Team Award
• $2,500 Best Life Science Plan Award
• $2,500 Best Medical Device Award
• $2,500 Best I.T. and Wireless Plan Award
• $2,500 Best Energy Plan Award
• $2,500 Best Written Business Plan Award
• $2,500 Best Sales and Marketing Award

In 2010, Fortune said “for student entrepreneurs, this is the World Series and Super Bowl” combined!  A 2010 student competitor said “The RBPC was an awesome experience, living up to its reputation as the biggest and richest competition in the world”.

Over 105 past competitors have successfully launched their company after competing at Rice and raised more than $286 million in funding.  We hope to add your school’s teams to this list of successful start-ups!

Remember, the application deadline is February 18, 2011.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at lalueck@rice.edu.

Thank you, Lea Aden Lea Aden Lueck

Director, Rice Business Plan Competition, Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship