New Business Contest
Business contest open for submissions
Last day to submit your new business proposal
March 1, 2014
Business Fair, presentations & selection
Who organizes the new business contest?
The new business contest is organized by a group of куда сходить в Тюмени community volunteers. It is supported by Valley County, the Cities of Cascade, Donnelly & McCall, the McCall Area Chamber and Cascade Chamber, the Valley County Economic Development Council, University of Idaho Extension and the McCall College. More…
The prizes are sponsored by businesses, organizations and community members (not through public funds). Visit our sponsor page!!
Who is eligible to participate in the business contest?
Anyone is eligible, but both business ownership and business location must reside in Valley County or Meadows Valley once established.
What are the rules?
All contestants must submit a business plan that should include:
- A summery with information on the product or service.
- An explanation of what unique skills or abilities will enable you to execute this plan.
- A marketing strategy demonstrating your knowledge of the potential market and how you will take advantage of it.
- What are your expected revenues? What are your expected costs?
- An objective way to measure your success- milestones,etc.
- How does the plan contribute to a more healthy and vibrant community and how does it contribute to building the resiliency of the area?
Plans should be between 5-7 pages and may be done in any format that fits the uniqueness of the ideas.
Each proposal for the new business contest will be judged by a panel that includes representation from businesses, the legal, financial and non-profit organizations and the community at large.
Business plans compete with each other based on their expected contribution to the local economy and community (More…).
[Business plans can gain bonus points for a variety of distinctions. Since the idea behind the business contest is stimulate the local economy through local entrepreneurship, plans for locally owned businesses that use local resources or local suppliers in a sustainable matter would earn extra points. For example: Valley County stopped recycling glass in 2012, which added to our waste stream (both in bulk as well as in economic sense). A business that would use the glass waste as input to a profitable business would gain points on several fronts]
There are two showstoppers that you should know about (other than the requirement for the business and owner to reside in Valley County or Meadows Valley):
- the new business should not provide an equivalent product or service already rendered by existing local businesses. More…
[For example: you may suggest a business that directly competes with an already business in reasonable proximity to you. That added competition may potentially be good for customers, but it often means a wash for the local economy. However, the idea behind this new business contest is to stimulate diversification of the region's economy. Only contestants with new or sufficiently different business models will therefore be eligible.] - A business plan should be deemed feasible by the judging panel.
There will be a judging rubric provided with more detailed information on what earns bonus points.
How about classes or coaching?
The business division of the McCall College will provide a first set of two workshops on September 25 and October 8 from 7-8:30PM, room 220. These workshops will be taught by Dr. Bruce Moore and explore design and strategizing of a business plan to implement the participant’s unique business idea. Dr Moore has an MBA and taught business classes at NNU. He also has a PhD in organizational development. For more information contact Bruce Moore at .
A second set of workshops on October 23 and November 6 will be held at the McCall -Donnelly High School computer lab and will offer several mentors to give individualized feedback and answer questions. There will be computers available and technical help.
Participants can bring a thumb drive or email their work to their home computer.
The goal of the workshops is to clarify what a business plan
looks like and what creating one can do for you. It is hoped that
participants, whether they attend all the workshops or just one, can
come out with a plan that will actually be of value even if they do not win the contest.
Call 208.880.4799 for more information, or register on this website to keep you informed about the contest, classes and mentoring.
As a side note: if you are thinking of starting a venture that includes more than just a few people, or you come from an established company, we recommend you follow a (free) online course at Udacity.com. In this course Steve Blanc, a seasoned entrepreneur and consulting professor at Stanford, shares his experience on building lean start-ups.
Having said so, networking and talking with other entrepreneurs is always (if not more) important. So do consider joining some of the free classes mentioned earlier.
How and where do I submit the plan?
You can submit your business plan electronically through this website after January 1, 2014 (or call 630-4620 for more info).
You can also sign up to stay informed if you are not yet sure yet if you are going to submit a business plan, but want to test the waters through classes and mentoring.