Basic Info

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Key Dates

• Feb 23rd14th: Application closes at midnight

• Feb 26th and 28th17th – 19th: Preliminary judging

• Feb 29th20th: Teams notified if they will be advancing to the prelims

• March 7th and 8th: Preliminary competition, virtual via Zoom

• March 8th7th: Top 12 15 teams announced, 3 teams in each track will advance to the finals

• April 4th3th: Travel to Boise and pre-competition events

• April 5th4th: Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge, in-person at Jack’s Urban Meeting Place (JUMP) + Award Ceremony

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All teams must apply to compete in the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge.

Applications for the 2024 2025 IEC are now open.

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1. Business Name

2. Describe your business idea in 7 words or less.

3. Describe your business in greater detail, including the problem you’re solving.

4. Describe who your ideal customer is and why they would pay for your product, service, or solution.

5. What uniqueness or competitive advantage does your team/solution/service have over existing competition?

6. Please describe any progress or traction your business has experienced.

7. Please describe how you plan to generate revenue. If you have already generated revenue, please provide more details.

8. Does your venture have a website?

9. At what stage do you consider your venture/business to be at?

10. Please select any of the following buckets / tracks your company fits within.

11. Please list all your team members' names and their roles in the business.

12. Tell us why you are the right team to execute on your idea.

13. If you have a 30-60 second video, please enter in the URL (suggested but not required)

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1. How well do they understand and address the market and/or customer segment they are going after? (20%)

   • Was the typical target customer described? 

   • Is the customer segment identified? 

   • Is it clear how the solution will reach customers? 

   • Has the group tested their theories and validated their target customers?

2. How strong is their value proposition? (20%)

   • Is it clear what problem is being solved? 

   • Is the solution clearly explained? 

   • Is it clear how the solution addresses the problem? 

   • Is the solution different from what is out there today? 

   • Has the group validated the problem by talking to users and doing competitor research?

3. How much progress or traction have they demonstrated? (10%15%)

   • Please note: This can look different for each team, and is not based solely on revenue.

   • Some forms of traction include:

     • Confirmed interest through customer interviews and/or secured partnerships

     • Proven need for service or product

     • Waitlist for service or product

     • Website created and interest generated

4. How likely is the team to grow their traction and/or revenue? (10%15%)

   • Does the team have traction or a plan to gain/grow traction? 

   • Does the team have revenue or a plan to gain/grow revenue?

5. How realistic and sustainable is their revenue model? (10%15%)

   • How will the team pay for it (i.e self-funded/capital/loans/grants)?

   • Is it clear what the customer is paying for (i.e product/service/model)? 

   • Does this type of revenue strategy make sense for the customer group?

6. The likelihood of this idea turning into a real business. (10%)

7. How was the overall quality of the application? (20%10%)

   • Was the pitch clear? 

   • Were the slides easy to understand? 

   • Did the team seem well prepared?

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Venture College will be in close communication about logistics, guidance, and updates. The best teams will make the most use of their time by doing the following:

1. Grow your business and build traction: Above all, use this time to get as much traction and validation as possible. Past winners have hit the boosters to go all-in and make business progress.

2. Pitch Practice: Use Venture College as a resource to schedule pitch practices, review the pitch template, etc. Pitch to friends, professors, anyone who will listen to your pitch.

3. Get Your Assets in Order: We will be asking for the following things -

   1. Your official business name

   2. Business logo + team photo &/or headshots of team members

   3. Brief description of the business

   4. More detailed student info and pre-competition forms A quick 30 second video about your business (if you want to change the one from the application)

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Please note the following about the live pitch portion:

1. All teams will generally need nee

2. Doed to follow the IEC pitch deck template.

3. Teams competing will give a 4 minute pitch using a pitch deck (Google Slides recommended).

4. Judges will have a 4 minute Q&A session after each pitch.

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1. Team Intro - Just needs your Business Name, Logo for a 10 second intro

2. The Problem - Sell judges there is a problem worth solving - and why current products or companies haven’t solved it

3. Your Service/Product - Explain what your service/product is or does, and the value it provides to customers.

4. Market Opportunity: The whole world might need your product - but who really really needs it now. You need to thread the needle and show this could be a big idea but you are laser focused on a beachhead to launch the idea.

5. Go-To-Market: On Slide 5 - you tell me a specific sub-segment who will love your business. Now you need to tell how you are going to market to them and launch the business through them.

6. Revenue Model: How you make money ($35 one-time or $35/ a month per user) and any relevant costs (especially if you are a product based-business).

7. Progress to Date: Sell the judges this isn’t just an idea. You have progress and traction.

8. Next Steps: What are your next steps to grow the business. How could IEC funds help?

9. Team: Brief overview on why judges should believe you are the team that can execute on your next steps and actually grow the business.

10. Questions: - Simple slide to help you thank judges and open up for questions.

11. Additional Slides: Highly recommend adding any additional &/or extra slides after your last slide to use as points of reference during the judges' Q&A. These slides help illustrate your preparation and allows you to keep slides that may not have made it into your timed pitch.

Pitch Deck Tips

Please note the following suggestions or tips:

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