Women 2.0 Business Plan Competition
Teams with at least 50 percent female ownership are invited to submit their business ideas on a 7×7 inch paper napkin. Pitch 2008 is intended for growth companies and the judging panel will ask “Is this a fundable venture?”. Finalists will be invited to pitch in front of a judging panel and live audience for a chance to win one-on-one meetings with some of the top venture capital investment firms in the world. Previous year’s prizes were meetings with Michael Mortiz, Sequoia Capital and Tim Draper, Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
This year, prizes include a meeting with Esther Dyson (bio below).
Esther does business as EDventure. She sits actively on a variety of boards, including that of 23andMe, Yandex (Russia), Boxbe, Eventful, Meetup Inc., NewspaperDirect, WPP Group, and CVO Group. Esther spends most of her time with emerging companies, emerging markets and emerging technologies. Her past investments have included Flickr (sold to Yahoo!), Medstory (sold to Microsoft), Postini (sold to Google), and Brightmail (sold to Symantec). She posts actively on Flickr, Dopplr, and the Huffington Post, where her blog is called Release 0.9—a sly reference to Release 1.0, the seminal newsletter she wrote/edited from 1982 to 2006. Esther is also on the board of several nonprofits: the Santa Fe Institute, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Eurasia Foundation, and the Sunlight Foundation. She swims every day and loves the pool at the Bayerischer Hof.
How to Submit - Deadline to Apply is April 1, 2008
The Women 2.0 Business Plan Competition submission consists of 2 parts:
1. Business Plan (Apply here)
You will be asked several questions about your business and to submit a financial plan. If you need more time or would like to update your application after you have submitted, you can always log in again and edit your application at any time prior to the closing date of April 1st, 2008.
2. Napkin
Submit your business idea on a paper napkin no larger than 7×7 inches. Make sure your name and contact info is on the napkin so we can match it with your online application. Napkins will be exhibited to the public at the conference. If you do not wish to participate in the exhibition, please state on the napkin. By default, your napkin will be exhibited. Napkins must be received by us no later than April 1st, 2008. We will announce the mailing address for this napkin at a later date.
Semi-finalists will be notified by April 10, 2008 and are required to submit a PowerPoint presentation and a 2 minute video pitch by April 15, 2008. Finalists will be notified by April 22, 2008 and will pitch to a live audience and a judging panel consisting of venture capitalists, seasoned entrepreneurs, and successful women executives at the Women 2.0 Conference and Pitch Night on May 10, 2008. If you are selected as a finalist, the entire team must be present.
Why should I apply?
You have an idea of how to change the world – it’s a pretty great business idea but you have not really tested it out or maybe you already have a beta out. You are driven and curious to know what investors and other entrepreneurs think of this idea. You are eager and keen to seek feedback. You are now looking for more ways to improve your idea to take it to market. You are smart, ambitious, and excited to make a change in the world with your idea. All submissions will receive written feedback from judges.
Eligibility and Rules—Women 2.0 Business Plan Competition
The business plan must represent the original work of members of the team. You can submit as many business ideas on napkins and online applications as you want. You may have a team of up to SIX individuals. At least half of the team must be female or the majority shareholder must be a female—this is a Women 2.0 production after all! Submissions that do not adhere to the submission process and rules will be disqualified.
