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Idea Criteria

This competition is an opportunity for all ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ students to develop new and creative ideas that solve relevant real-world problems and can support the economic growth of our community. This competition explicitly seeks business ideas linked to UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Minimum Requirements 

• All entries must be original work of eligible teams and free from any claim of copyright, patent, or other restriction. The business idea should not violate any intellectual property rights. Plagiarism of ideas will result in disqualification.
• Proposed business ideas are expected to be financially feasible.
• The proposed business must complement the mission of the H-E-B School of Business and Administration and ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ.
• The organizers of the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Pitch Competition reserve the right to remove students who enter business plans for ventures or proposed ventures that are offensive, illegal, and inconsistent with the values of the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ.

Expectations

Participants will increase their chances of reaching the final stage of the competition by conducting customer and market research analyses to assess the viability of their business idea.

Registration for the Spring 2027 Pitch Competition will open in January 2027.

• One participant per team must submit the registration form.
• Each participant must acknowledge the competition rules and guidelines
• All participants agree that their business idea represents the original work of the student members and are responsible for obtaining all copyrights, trademarks, and patents, if necessary.
• Each participant also grants permission to publicize their name, a brief description of their business idea, and their photograph during final presentations.

• The proposed business idea must be wholly owned by the participating team members for the duration of the competition. It may not infringe upon any third party's copyright or other intellectual property rights.
• Cross-disciplinary teams within ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ are encouraged. A cross-disciplinary team may consist of students enrolled in different ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Schools or programs.
• Each team can submit only one business idea.
• Participants are restricted to joining only one team to avoid conflicts of interest between business ideas and lack of commitment to one business idea.
• Past ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Pitch Competition award winners are not eligible to enter the same business idea. However, teams or team members who have received a previous prize or funds from ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ can compete if their business idea submission differs entirely from their prior submission.
• The competition organizers shall have the final authority to determine team eligibility to participate should there be a circumstance other than those listed above

• January - Deadline to submit applications to this competition (11:59 p.m.)
• February - Deadline to submit Pitch videos. See the Pitch Guidelines below.
• February - Finalists will be announced.
• March - Final Pitch Presentations and awards reception

A business pitch typically includes the following key components, structured around clearly identifying a problem, presenting a unique solution, demonstrating market potential, highlighting your team's capabilities, and concluding with a compelling call to action:

• Define the problem. The most important thing is to identify a problem that is worth solving. If your product or service doesn’t solve a problem that potential customers have, you don’t have a viable business model. A clear problem statement will help you focus your solution.
• Describe your solution. Once you have clearly defined the problem you are solving, you need to explain your solution. Solve one problem and do not stretch the solution to solve multiple potential problems. In this section, you show the link to your solution to the a UN SDGs.
• Know your target market. In the target market section of your elevator pitch, you will define exactly who has the problem you are solving and figure out how many potential customers you will be trying to sell to.
• Describe the competition. Every business has competition. Even if no one has come up with a solution similar to what you have come up with, your potential customers are solving the problem they have with some alternative. As you think about your competition and existing alternatives, think about what advantages your solution offers over the competition.
• Who’s on your team. In the “team” portion of your elevator pitch, you should talk about why you and your business partners are the right team to execute your vision, and why your team’s skillset is precisely what is needed to lead your company to success.
• Include a financial summary. For a great pitch, you must understand your business model. You will want to ensure that you can build a profitable company based on your assumptions. You should have a forecast completed so that you can talk about the numbers if you get questions and provide the financial forecast if your potential investors are interested in learning more about your business
• Show traction with milestones. Here you will talk about your upcoming goals and when you plan to achieve them. If you have already accomplished notable milestones, you should mention those.