Why Enter?

Great business ideas will not get funded unless entrepreneurs present their ideas in a clear, compelling story that is focused on the needs of investors and customers. A common downfall of new start-up businesses is that business plans are often technology focused, jargon-filled and not market oriented.

The Ignite Clean Energy program aims to give clean energy entrepreneurs a competitive edge in the funding race by training contestants in the best practices for creating money-winning business plans.

“ICE has been great. Where else can you go from new faces to colleagues in what will hopefully be a long-term business partnership in the span of just a few weeks? A long way to go yet before we are future ICE sponsors, but the contest certainly accelerated our business development curve. Open discussion, frank mentors, networking, judges' feedback. The future will be either very green, or very dark, and we hope to help make the difference. The organizers and sponsors of ICE should be deservedly proud of what they are building.” ICE 2008 Contestant

When you enter into the competition you will:

• Learn how to write a business plan
• Get an opportunity to have your idea funded
• Get assistance with finding a team
• Practice pitching to investors with feedback
• Get mentored by world-class entrepreneurs and service providers (lawyers, financeers, technology, sales)

Why Else? Just in case you needed yet other reasons…

Why Compete in the Ignite Clean Energy Business Plan Competition?

• Low Risk, High Reward
• Learn
• Mentor, Coaches and Judges
• Events and Programs
• Network
• Win
• Leverage
• Publicity

Low Risk, High Reward
All events and programs held by the Energy Special Interest Group (ESIG) for the Ignite Clean Energy Business Plan Competition are free (some associated events have nominal fees). Your risk is the time invested. When you want to start a company, wasted time is a risk, so we work to provide high quality programming that will help you learn, network, win or some combination thereof.

Learn
You may be the world's expert on your technology or you may have been at the top of your business school class, but if you have not learned how to communicate technical concepts to business people and business issues to your technical colleagues, you are handicapping yourself.

Many investors will tell you that the best ideas will always rise to the top, regardless of how poorly presented. That is true to a certain extent, but what if the investor to whom you are speaking is not expert enough to appreciate the impact of your technology on a market he understands? What if he does not recognize the market for which it might make a difference? What if she just misses the point of your technology because you don't explain it in a way that is meaningful to her?

The question is, why take the risk of your idea not getting the chance it deserves because you haven't framed it well? Investors generally fund the team as much as the idea and many will take a good team with an average idea over an average team with a good one. And when you think about it, regardless of what you do for the rest of the life, you will almost certainly have to convince investors that what you want to do is what they should invest in, whether that investor is an angel or venture capitalist or bank, a potential partnering company, a boss, a grants program manager, or your friends and family.

In other words, the skills we will help you develop are the skills that will make you more effective throughout your career: you will be able to communicate your ideas to a broader range of people in a way that they find compelling.

The Energy SIG provides several opportunities and resources for learning how to pitch your idea:

Mentors, Coaches and Judges

Each team will have at least one mentor assigned to them if not more. The mentor must go through an application process, must be a member of an accepted mentoring organization, commit to a certain level of support for the team, and promise not to achieve financial gain from the team during the Competition;

Teams that want it will receive professional coaching on their Executive Summary and/or their pitch from the MTTC or the MITEF;

All teams will receive feedback on their Executive Summaries in writing. Those teams that qualify for the Semifinal will receive fifteen minutes of verbal feedback from their judging panel.

Events and Programs
ICE Events
ICE Tutorials & Seminars
Energy SIG Events & Programs
MITEF Events & Programs
On-Line Resources
Website
Forums
On-Line Courseware
Ask an Expert

Network
Meet other likeminded entrepreneurs, meet experts in the field!

Win
Yes you can!

Leverage
One of the most frequent reasons cited by those starting a company for not competing in ICE is that they simply do not have the time to enter a competition. This is the worst reason possible, because if you do not take the time to develop and practice a compelling pitch, you are going to be wasting an inordinate amount of time and possibly credibility. Further, you will be missing low-risk opportunities to get to know successful entrepreneurs, service providers and investors in the Clean Energy Cluster who could be of invaluable aid to your fledgling company's future. 
Another type of leverage is that all business plan competitions require some type of summary of your business in order to evaluate it. Whether that summary is a pitch, an executive summary, a full-blown business plan, or some combination, your work in ICE is completely portable. Take advantage of our mentoring and coaching to develop and fine-tune your pitch, then use it in as many other competitions as you want.

If you are serious about starting a company now or just want to learn to be a more effective entrepreneur, the Ignite Clean Energy Competition is a low risk, high reward program that will provide you with skills that will serve you well throughout your career.

Publicity
Get your company out there! Be seen by investors! Be heard by customers! Meet other world class team-mates who can take your business to the next level and beyond.