The entrepreneurial incentive

Last weekend I was a judge at the Youth Business Plan competition at BUILD. I've written about their organization and founder/CEO in a previous post, and I'm always excited by what they do as they blend two my favorite interests, entrepreneurship and education, to make a difference in the life of hundreds of kids. In short, they take the kids who're at risk of dropping out of high school and get them studying, graduating and even getting into college by using the hook of starting their own business venture. During this process they learn about biz plans and everything that entails, and get to present to a group of judges, with winning plans getting funding (upto $1000) and incubator privileges. This is not too far off from what we far more seasoned entrepreneurs do. It was amazing to see the poise with which these high school freshmen handled questions about their competition, execution timeline, operating costs etc. from the judges (who were the de facto investors group).

There were some other very interesting parallels between the high-tech startups and the businesses pitched by the kids.

• Variations on a theme. There were a ton of t-shirt concepts, similar to the current 'social networking' flood, which made the rare 'planter' idea stand out.
• Prototypes have punch. The best-received plans all had a sample/prototype that could be seen and touched.
• Passion matters. The teams that showed the most enthusiasm, as a team, not just individuals, got more points.
• Preparation is critical. The teams that had done the most up-front work seemed most likely to follow through on execution.
• Feasibility trumps. Though some teams had more interesting ideas, or more compelling 'CEOs', or better ROIs, the winning team was the one that seemed most likely to succeed on execution, demonstrated by how well they handled every aspect of the presentation, from attire and eye-contact to market research and sales plans. They showed preparation, passion and a clear understanding of how they will make what the customers want and how to sell to them. Like any other venture, they were the safest bet for the investor - the dream of every entrepreneur.
• Social networking is everything. They were all going to use MySpace and Facebook to get the word out - in their case, it was real.
  

This was the most fun I've had with business plans lately. The future's brighter because of organizations like BUILD - check them out, you may find it interesting and maybe end up helping them.