At least two, though it is likely that more than two will be needed to provide the variety of skills and talents needed and to carry out the work involved.

No. Teams can consist of eligible students from any of the invited schools in any combination, as well as other persons. An eligible student is one who is in good academic standing at the junior through doctoral level at one of the invited schools. At least half the team's members must be eligible students and one of them must be designated as the team's leader/contact person.

Invited schools for this year's competition:

All CUNY senior colleges and the Graduate Center; Columbia University; Cooper Union; Fordham University; Manhattan College; New York Institute of Technology; New York University; Pace University; School of Visual Arts; Yeshiva University.

No. You do not need a complete team at the concept paper stage, but only eligible students can submit concept papers. You also must have registered for the competition. Should your paper be passed by the judges, you will have to create a qualifying team within two weeks.

It is your responsibility to find members. Come to the kickoff fair, September 19^th (Baruch College, NVC 14-220, 10a.m.). Talk to your friends and classmates - some of them may not have been able to make it to the kickoff, but they still can join the competition. Clubs also are a good source.

No. One concept paper per team.

No. However, you can merge your team with another, although a team, merged or otherwise, can submit only one business plan. If your team is disqualified at some point, you may join another team. Similarly, your team may take on members from a disqualified team.

Round One requires a concept paper; the judges will evaluate the business concept with an eye towards deciding if the concept is promising -- that is, if there is potential to develop the idea into a feasible business.

A concept paper is a concise proposal outlining the products or services to be offered, the market to be served, the competitive potential of that offering in the market, and an exposition of the team's skills as related to carrying out the proposal. Papers exceeding two pages will not be accepted.

You need a realistic, marketable idea , either for a profit-making business venture or a socially conscious enterprise (non-profit, earned income, or eleemosynary), that fills a need that currently is either unmet or not well satisfied. Therefore, the business must be an original idea or one that significantly improves upon similar existing ventures. Your business must not already be in existence. Exception: for the social track, ventures that start under the sponsorship of, or as divisions of, existing organizations, a common practice for social enterprises, are permitted. However, the business plan for such ventures must incorporate means for the enterprise to become its own independent entity within a reasonable time frame.
 

Concept papers must be submitted as email attachments in doc or rtf format compatible with MS Word 2000or later for the PC, to Professor Dumas barry.dumas@baruch.cuny.edu with the subject line:

your business name, track, concept 08-09. Do not use any other subject line. Do not put the paper in the body of the email. No other form of submission is acceptable.

Make sure your submission is virus-free, that your attachment opens with Word, that it does not exceed two pages total except for a cover page, with reasonable font sizes and margins, and that the email "sent time and date" is no later than 12:00 noon Eastern Daylight Savings Time, October 2, 2008, as evidenced by the email header. Submissions that don't meet these requirements will not be accepted. 

The paper must have an email "sent date and time" no later than 12:00pm (noon) EDT Thursday, October 2, 2008, as evidenced by the email header. Late submissions will not be accepted. See the Calendar of Events for other important due dates.

The team leader/contact person will be notified of the Round One results by email. Eligible teams proceed to Round Two.

Each eligible team develops a detailed draft business plan. Early in this phase, teams must be appropriately configured and have a confirmed membership. During this round, teams must show that plan development is proceeding at an appropriate pace, as assessed by the teams' mentors. Insufficiently configured teams, (see "The Team Concept" in the Competition Description) and those not proceeding apace will be disqualified. Draft plans are evaluated by the competition judges.

The draft business plan should be complete except for minor polishing and minor omissions. Draft plans have a maximum length of 20 pages plus 10 appendix pages. Plans that are late or that exceed length maximums will not be accepted.

Two written copies of the draft plan along with two copies each of which is on a single CD-ROM disc, must be hand delivered to the Field Center on the 2nd floor of the Newman Vertical Campus, Room 2-140. Submissions are due no later than noon, Thursday, March 19, 2009. No plans will be accepted after that date and time. The written plans are for file archives only and are not seen by the judges. Therefore, the disc plans must be complete.

The entire plan on disc must be a single file, in MS Word2000 or later doc or rtf format for the PC or an Adobe Acrobat pdf file for the PC. Any illustrations, spread sheets, etc., must be embedded in the Word document or pdf file and are included in the page limit. No other formats are acceptable; only one file per plan is acceptable. Submission that do not comply with these requirements will be rejected.

The team leader/contact person will be notified of the Round Two results by email. Qualifying teams proceed to Round Three. Teams not qualifying for Round Three are eligible to continue developing their plans with assistance from the Field Center.

Teams submit fully developed business plans and make oral presentations. The principal difference between round 2 and round 3 is that the final business plan is expected to have filled in any items missing from the draft plan and to be a polished professional piece of work.

The rules for final plan submission are the same as for draft plan submission. See the Calendar for due date.

The team leaders/contact persons are notified of the Round Three results by email. Winning teams also are posted on the competition web site.

The winners of the past eight years of the competition are posted on the competition web site.

Mentors are assigned to teams that pass the concept stage. Your mentors may utilize other professionals, at their discretion, to help with specific issues. Bear in mind that mentors are guides and coaches - no mentor will do the work for you.

Information is posted on the web site, http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/bcec/college/ Check this site frequently, as information changes.

First, check the all parts of the competition Web site -- information does change. If you don't find what you need, send an email to Professor Dumas (barry.dumas@baruch.cuny.edu) with your query. Be sure to note your team name in the subject line along with bcec 2008-2009, and your name in the body. Emails must come from the team leader/contact person only.