Washington University's Olin Business School is partnering with a business school trade publication to launch a new pitch competition for prospective entrepreneurs.
Olin is partnering with Poets&Quants, a business education news website, on a new IdeaBounce pitch contest, with a $50,000 prize.
The competition, WashU Olin's BIG IdeaBounce powered by Poets&Quants, is open to all current undergraduate and graduate school students or any prospect interested in a graduate business school degree. Proposals should be original business ideas that are for-profit, nonprofit and/or with social, environmental or sustainable impact.
The competition's first round calls for ideas to be submitted by Jan. 7, 2022, via this online registration form. Teams selected for Round 2 will be required to send in a 2-minute video "elevator" pitch. The top three teams will present their business proposals to a panel of judges at a live event in St.Louis on March 3, 2022.
Submissions to WashU Olin's BIG IdeaBounce powered by Poets&Quants will be judged on eight criteria: problem, solution, market, competition, value creation, investment needed, team and, for second-round video submissions, presentation.
The winning team, as selected by the judges, will receive $50,000 in seed money for their proposed venture.
Doug Villhard, Washington U's academic director for entrepreneurship, said of the new competition in a statement, "It really promotes the entrepreneurial spirit that is present here at Olin and permeates so many business school programs. I can't wait to see the entries come in. It's going to be a lot of fun."
"We are excited to co-host this competition and shine a light on some of the best new ideas in business schools today, and that $50,000 prize to the winner would give any entrepreneur one heck of a head start," John Byrne, editor-in-chief of Poets&Quants, said in a release. Byrne will serve on the judging panel, which will be announced later, officials said.
Poets&Quants this fall named Washington U's Olin as the world's best MBA program for entrepreneurship for 2022, the third year in a row it recognized the school.
Olin's IdeaBounce serves as an online and event platform for sharing ideas and making connections in the entrepreneurial community. It sponsors the Big IdeaBounce, which also uses a 2-minute pitch video judged by an experienced panel and offering prize money. The typical IdeaBounce is just for students at the university, while the new competition with Poets&Quants is open to anyone, Villhard told the Business Journal.
