This week the Office of the Vice President for Research at Virginia Tech made a rather exciting announcement: VT KnowledgeWorks will be hosting the Game Changers Challenge, an opportunity for entrepreneurs to qualify for a $25,000 "running start" loan as well as a package of free startup assistance services.
A subsidiary of the Virginia Tech Research Center devoted to enabling the creation of new innovative ventures, VT KnowledgeWorks supplies fledgling startups with the resources necessary to plan, launch, and grow their company. Which would explain why they're putting on the Game Changers Challenge.
In order to qualify, individuals must first meet the following criteria as depicted on Virginia Tech's website:
- The product or service to be provided by the venture must either be consumed (not simply re-marketed) by another business or be integrated into a more complex end-product for downstream sale.
- The targeted buyers must constitute a relatively narrow demographic niche that can be addressed with limited resources.
- The proposed product or service must powerfully address some widely acknowledged niche need.
- High leverage must be obtained by the $25,000 (not just the first $25,000 out of a $1 million needed for launch, for instance).
- The entrepreneurial team must be able to fill the technology leadership roles in the proposed venture.
- The team must be committed to locating business operations in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center.
- Any intellectual property related to the enterprise must be appropriately owned or licensed by the enterprise.
Finalists will be chosen by the good folks over at VT KnowledgeWorks and proceed on to make a 15-minute presentation to the Running Start Committee. Teams will not be allowed to watch their competitors as they make their case to the judges, for it's a qualifying process, not a contest.
While the deadline for applications isn't until November 1, entrepreneurs interested should start refining their business pitch now. The criteria seems to be more particular than for most new venture challenges, so the better your proposal the more likely you are to acquire that impressive sum of money and free startup assistance services. Good luck!
