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• Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition – $1,000,000
• Utah Entrepreneur Challenge – $100,000
• Next Founders – $30,000
• Technovation world Challenge – $42,000
• CodeLaunch – $67,000
• Burton D Morgan – $100,000
• Edward L. Kaplan Business Model Competition – $100,000
• UPitch Competition – $10,000
• The Hult Prize Student Competition – $1,000.000
• Thiel Fellowship – $100,000
This list doesn’t include some other valuable competitions. The George Washington University business plan
competition, called the GW New Venture Competition, in 2017 awarded more than $300,000 worth of cash and
in-kind services in all.[35] The Baylor University New Venture Competition is open to colleges across the country
and awarded a total of more than $85,000 to student teams from Arkansas, Iowa, and Pennsylvania with
finalists coming from California and Illinois as well.[36] Singapore hosts a global business plan competition with
prizes totaling $1 million.[37] Smith College’s Draper Competition for Collegiate Women Entrepreneurs offers
more $60,000 in total prizes, including a top cash award of $10,000 plus a scholarship.[38] Arizona State,
Indiana, and many other universities host these contests. Deadlines are staggered year-round. Competitions
are sometimes open to nationwide competitors, but some are open to students in only a particular campus
community or region. Competitions are not necessarily tied to academic schedules. Research the competitions
that are most appropriate for you and your program, and collaborate with a professor to enter, learn, network,
and ideally, win funding.
Successful entrepreneurship happens when innovative people find fertile ground, develop ideas and concepts,
and persevere through learning to fit new products in appropriate marketplaces. College graduate
entrepreneurs owe it to themselves to research the entrepreneurial community they would prefer to target.
Economic development offices all over the world encourage entrepreneurs to come to their cities because they
need innovative people with energy and a willingness to take risks to come up with the economic engines of
the future.
One of the ways regions incentivize entrepreneurship is through contests, which are any means of competing
for startup funding that does not involve a pitch competition. If you can build a team for a static contest, you
are well on your way to building a team to pitch new innovations.
286 Chapter 7 Telling Your Entrepreneurial Story and Pitching the Idea
35 “New Venture Competition.” George Washington University. n.d. https://newventure.gwu.edu/history-mission
36 “Baylor New Venture Competition.” Baylor University. n.d. https://www.baylor.edu/business/newventurecompetition/
37 “Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition.” Singapore Management University. n.d. https://www.smu.edu.sg/lky
38 “Draper Competition.” Smith University. n.d. https://www.smith.edu/academics/conway-center/entrepreneurship/draper-competition
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ask
corporate narrative
elevator pitch
entrepreneurial contest
fear of missing out (FOMO)
iceberg principle
ideation
mission statement
noncompete agreement
nondisclosure agreement (NDA)
pitch
pitch competition
pitch deck
problem-solution narrative
user interface (UI)
value proposition
work-for-hire agreement
Key Terms
specific amount of money or type of assistance requested in a pitch
story about how a successful company grew from something small into something
broad and powerful, serving thousands or even millions of people; it may have marketing purposes, and it
may serve as an inspirational story for leaders and employees
abbreviated pitch, a memorized talk that can get you into the door to put your full pitch deck
on display
any entrepreneurial competition other than a pitch competition; contests may
entail submitting business models, long-form prospectuses, or forms tailored to contest specifications
need to keep up with peers and the personas they represent in social settings,
particularly on social media
writing principle useful for preparing contest documents and pitch decks; following this
principle, each word or sentence in the submission or presentation should be backed up with a wealth of
supporting information and details that go unspoken in the pitch or proposal, but which you have at the
ready should an investor take interest in the details and your knowledge of them
purposeful process of opening up one’s mind to new trains of thought that branch out in many
directions from a stated purpose or problem
statement of an organization’s reason for being that defines its primary long-term goal,
explains what the venture will do, what value it will provide to the end customer, and how it will
accomplish that action
formal agreement that the person signing the document will not work for another
organization that is a direct competitor of their current employer during employment and usually for a
specified length of time after employment ends
contract that carries harsh financial penalties should one party to the
agreement disclose what they know of the proprietary information
formal presentation in which you ask for something and that is delivered (usually) to potential
investors in a startup
competition that may have cash prizes or mentorship opportunities for winners; you are
expected to present your business idea in the form of a presentation, usually with a pitch deck
slide presentation that you create that gives a quick overview of your product and what you’re
asking for
brief story of a sentence or two that states a problem affecting many people
and offering a solution that is innovative, unique, insightful, or all of these
what a customer sees when they use your product; having a variant of a UI is not
necessarily grounds for establishing a patent, but having unique design in the broader sense may help
you to secure patent protection
summary describing the benefits (value) customers can expect from a particular product
or service
agreement between an individual employee and a company states that
ownership of innovations belongs to the company, even if an individual makes substantial contributions
to the product
Summary
Chapter 7 Telling Your Entrepreneurial Story and Pitching the Idea 287
288 Chapter 7 Telling Your Entrepreneurial Story and Pitching the Idea
7.1 Clarifying Your Vision, Mission, and Goals
The most basic formula for telling the story of your innovation is the problem-solution narrative. 
Entrepreneurs are problem solvers, but they need to strategize to battle competitors and to weather the risks 
inherent in starting a new venture. Vision and mission statements are crucial to planning a venture. Vision 
statements are broader than mission statements. Entrepreneurs can set attainable goals with the help of the 
SMART goals framework. All of these tools—vision statements, missions, and SMART goal formulation—help 
build on the venture’s origin story and serve as a general and specific organizing narrative.
7.2 Sharing Your Entrepreneurial Story
This section outlined the importance of conceptualizing and communicating your venture in narrative form. 
Not every startup venture is a fairy tale, but if you can recognize and apply trusted story formats, you can help 
establish prominence for your brand, your products, and their specific features. Eventually, your story might 
be the genesis of a corporate narrative if the startup grows to become one. There are advantages and 
disadvantages to crafting stories. The advantages are that stories help you communicate the problem your 
innovation addresses, the solution it offers, and its market need. The disadvantages are that a story can create 
the fear of missing out in consumers and can set unattainable, rigid goals that can cause you to miss key 
factors in the venture’s development.
7.3 Developing Pitches for Various Audiences and Goals
A pitch is a request for support, eitherfinancial investment or some kind of support. A great pitch takes into 
account the intended audience and the goal of the talk, and prioritizes information accordingly. In other 
words, it answers the questions Who? (Who are we pitching?), What? (What are we pitching to them?), and 
Why? (Why are we pitching: What is the “ask”?). Once you establish these elements, you need to develop a 
professional pitch deck and include engaging materials that share your passion and communicate your vision. 
Your pitch should paint a picture of a successful product or service delivering strong returns for investors or 
for those who choose to work for you or do business with you.
This section offered an outline of elements for a professional pitch deck and provided a few details about what 
ought to be included. Pitches may vary in length and should take into consideration the demands of contest 
rules and the quirks of potential investors. That said, there are elements that almost every pitch needs to 
include, and they are presented in the approximate order in which they might appear in your pitch deck. In 
general, you should cover all elements of the pitch as outlined here, but the level of detail may vary based on 
the audience. The entrepreneur should ask the key contact what specific area(s) she should cover so as to 
make the best impact.
We also discussed crafting different pitches with different senses of vision in mind, which can be particularly 
helpful post-pivot when an organization has a product but needs to adjust it to target new markets. Finally, we 
looked at the elevator pitch, which is miniature version of your more complete professional pitch and an 
introduction to your vision. The pitch before the pitch, if you will, should be clear, concise, and catchy—enough 
to get an investor’s attention without driving him or her to hop off the elevator.
7.4 Protecting Your Idea and Polishing the Pitch through Feedback
Protecting your intellectual property is something you must plan for as an entrepreneur. In crowded 
marketplaces, small innovations or variations on a theme might be difficult to patent, and the process takes 
time; thus, not every product or iteration needs to be patented. Investors are often more interested in the 
potential of a leader and her or his team than the potential of an idea. With that in mind, the protection of an 
idea shouldn’t supersede building a great team or pitching your idea widely enough to tap into appropriate
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funding channels.
A patent can protect your intellectual property. Other protections are nondisclosure agreements, work-for-
hires, and noncompete agreements. If someone breaks a contract, your only recourse is through legal
channels. It is better to conduct thorough research to be as confident in your team as possible before you
share your ideas, designs, and prototypes with those who will be helping you make your innovation a reality.
Entrepreneurial learning comes from seeking feedback on your ideas from potential customers and investors.
Feedback on your pitch itself can help you refine how you present those ideas.
7.5 Reality Check: Contests and Competitions
Pitch competitions may be global, national, or regional in scale. There is no single model for a pitch
competition, but teams can prepare based on the terms that organizers set forth, and they can anticipate the
need to demonstrate key core elements including value proposition, marketplace and competition, funding
strategy, brand, and team. Winners of pitch competitions would do well to examine any contracts they must
sign before accepting cash awards or investments; some deals are structured unfavorably for the
entrepreneur.
If you lose a pitch competition or contest but enhance your network of contributors and collaborators and/or
find a mentor, it has been a successful early effort. Consider developing your collaborator network while still in
school using social media tools and entering into college competitions, some of which are listed in this
chapter.
Review Questions
1. ________ is like the origin story for a brand.
A. problem-solution narrative
B. purpose
C. mission statement
D. vision statement
2. Identify the correct terms used in this text for setting SMART goals.
1. specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound
2. specific, marketable, attainable, relevant, time-bound
3. specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely
4. specific, measurable, attractive, relevant, time-bound
3. What is defined as the thing your organization does that people will pay for or contribute to?
A. earnings statement
B. profit proposition
C. value for revenue proposal
D. value proposition
4. When an entrepreneur’s story becomes part of the mythology of a corporation and its purpose, this is
known as a/an ________.
A. mission statement
B. vision statement
C. purpose statement
D. corporate narrative
Chapter 7 Telling Your Entrepreneurial Story and Pitching the Idea 289
5. When someone supports your products and your brand so much that they begin speaking on your behalf in
person and on social media, they are known as a/an ________.
A. brand advocate
B. corporate narrative sponsor
C. impetus
D. entrepreneurial drive
6. In previous decades, a term for a related phenomenon was “Keeping up with the Joneses.” This refers to a
sense that if we are not living our best life, having the most fun, enjoying the best foods, fashion, and so on,
then we are not living the life we should. This term can refer to both a short-term concern and a general
anxiety that others are enjoying life more than we are.
A. brand advocacy awareness
B. FOMO, or fear of missing out
C. “Jonesing”
D. happy ever anxiety
7. Pitches have different purposes, depending on the target audience. The constant in every pitch is that it
________.
A. must be short
B. makes a request for support
C. includes six elements and about ten slides
D. is derived from a corporate narrative
8. An abbreviated pitch that you memorize is called an elevator pitch. Meant to be given in person, is should be
________.
A. brief
B. memorized
C. connected to a request for more time to make a more complete pitch
D. All of these options are correct.
9. A graphic worksheet that sets forth the value proposition of any startup and allows you to identify
stakeholders, and key inputs and outputs is the ________.
A. business model generator
B. business model canvas
C. business mobility canvas
D. business meditation and creativity matrix
10. An agreement between an individual employee and a company that states that innovations belong to the
company, even if an individual makes substantial contributions.
A. nondisclosure agreement
B. work-for-hire agreement
C. noncompete clause
D. patent
11. A ________ is a license granting exclusivity, as in the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell a specific
product.
A. patent
B. UI
C. nondisclosure agreement
D. noncompete clause
290 Chapter 7 Telling Your Entrepreneurial Story and Pitching the Idea
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	Chapter 7. Telling Your Entrepreneurial Story and Pitching the Idea
	Glossary
	Summary
	Review Questions