We have been out of touch here on Mingtiandi for a few days, but only because we have been busy getting ready for the big contest. We wish it could be a beauty contest, but since industrial property really isn’t all that sexy, we have had to settle for entering the Smith School of Business China Business Plan Competition.
The competition is organised by the Robert H Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, and gives new companies the chance to compete for prizes, while finding out how their business plans stack up against other startups. (Of course, as a Vikings fan, I’m in favour of anything named after Robert Smith — heh, heh). The contest will be judged by faculty and staff from the Smith School, as well as by professional venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.
Entering the contest added a few extra days work to the the already busy schedule, but the rewards could be very rewarding indeed — first prize is US$25,000. That would buy a lot of web hosting!
If we are lucky enough/good enough to advance to the second round of the contest, then we would need to submit a 25-page business plan by September 15th. Should we make it to the finals, then we would be competing in a live competition with the prizes to be awarded in Beijing on 29 October. Wish us luck!
To enter the contest, we were required to submit a two-page summary of the project, including details of the market need, revenue model, competitive environment, marketing plan and financial projections. Naturally, we already have a pretty good idea of what all these elements of the plan are about, but that doesn’t mean that we were ready to condense our brain-child down into a two-page double-spaced summary. Plus five years of financial projections. Another weekend bites the dust — no wonder I’m still single 
Still this should be a useful exercise. We could win US$25,000. We could gain some much needed publicity, and we will gain some useful practice presenting the virtues of our project, both in writing and in person, that could come in handy should we decide to seek some investment further down the road.
Will keep you posted on our progress in the contest, and wish us luck!
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