The Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship and the Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises (EEE) in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management have announced a call for submissions for the 2016 Panasci Business Plan Competition. The competition accepts business plan ideas from graduate and undergraduate students in all schools and colleges at SU and SUNY-ESF. The two-day competition will take place April 15-16.
“Panasci is one of the premier campuswide business plan competitions in the country. It brings together some of Syracuse University’s best and brightest who have a unique idea and have done the hard work of putting together a thoughtful business plan,” says Terry Brown, executive director of the Falcone Center. “Over the past several years, the competition has become more intense as the quality and creativity of business ideas has significantly improved.”
On the first day of competition, 16 semi-finalist teams will be selected to present to a panel of expert judges. Five teams will advance and compete for the grand prize on the second day. The top three teams, chosen based on their plan’s potential for growth and attraction of outside financing, are awarded prizes of $20,000, $7,500 and $2,500 respectively.
Additional financing is awarded to teams deemed to have an idea with the greatest potential for positive impact on society and the natural environment (Fetner Prize in Sustainable Enterprise: $5,000); the idea that exhibits leading-edge technology and innovation (Goldberg Prize in Technology & Innovation: $2,500; the idea that best addresses low-income seniors (50+) on various nutritional, income and housing needs (AARP Foundation Prize: $5,000); and the idea that best embodies the spirit of invention and creativity, by proposing a consumer product that will significantly improve upon yesterday’s solution (Architectural Mailboxes Consumer Product Innovation Award: $5,000).
“My experience writing the business plan and pitching my business to potential investors was unequivocally the most valuable experience I’ve had at my time in school,” says Scott Friedberg ’14 BS, ’15 MS and founder of Gilded Social. “If anyone is serious about starting a business, Panasci is a must.”
Throughout the spring semester, teams will work to write a comprehensive business plan. EEE faculty members will work with students to improve their business plans for the competition in a weekly business plan laboratory. The Falcone Center also offers special sessions with partnering accounting and law firms, providing financial presentations and critical guidance in areas such as intellectual property.
Golden Gear, created by Daniel Goldberg, is a previous winner of the Panasci Business Plan Competition.
To participate, intent to compete and entrant certification forms are both due by Jan. 21. Printed copies of the forms are available at the Falcone Center, Suite 116 in the Whitman School. Teams may also register online. An orientation to the competition will be held on Thursday, Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. in Whitman SOM Room 101 and is open to all students.
Notable winners of previous Panasci competitions include thriving businesses Dream Water, an all-natural liquid sleep supplement; Golden Gear, LLC and Rylaxing LLC, both named one of America’s Coolest College Start-ups by Inc. magazine; and ThunderCakes, a remote location bakery.
The Panasci competition is made possible by support from Henry A. Panasci, founder of Fay’s Drugs and former chairman of Cygnus Management Group, a venture capital and management consulting firm.
For more information, contact Lindsay Wickham, Falcone Center events and communications manager, at 315-443-3550 or lwickham@syr.edu.
