Hello fellow students,
Entrepreneurship is picking up steam at the University of Michigan! Have you heard?
On Monday, September 12th, the Entrepreneurship and Venture Club from the Ross School of Business with support from the Zell Lurie Institute will kick-off Michigan’s first campus-wide Business Model Competition. Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or learning about the subject for the first time, this is a great opportunity to get involved!
Here’s what you need to know about the competition:
- Unlike the traditional business plan, the business model canvas is not a static document. It’s something that should change as you validate or disprove your hypotheses about your business. In this competition, you will have less than 72 hours to develop a model and see how much progress you can make in validating it.
- You won’t do it alone. Be prepared to team up with students from across the university who bring unique insights and ideas to your team. We’re inviting graduate and undergraduate students alike because entrepreneurship knows no bounds. You will meet them and form teams at our kick-off. Come ready to learn and have some fun!
- The most successful teams will get a chance to pitch. We will be grading you on the final canvas you turn in that shows your progress and the video pitch you submit. The most accomplished teams, based on clarity, energy and creativity, will pitch Thursday, September 15th in Blau Auditorium the night before Brad Keywell from Groupon gives his keynote at Entrepalooza.
It would be fantastic accomplishment to win this competition but our hope is you leave with so much more. You will start to build a network of entrepreneurs across the university. You will learn how to test and validate an idea and turn it into an actionable business model. And you might even leave with a team that moves forward to do amazing things!
Registration will open Wednesday, August 31st. Space is limited so look for our next communication to secure your spot.
Jonathan Palay
Co-President
Entrepreneur and Venture Club