The Fort Lewis College School of Business Administration is hosting a business plan competition modeled after the TV show “Shark Tank” where students and recent graduates can win up to $5,000 in startup money for their business.
The Competition
“We recognized there was a need and also a desire from students to do this, and so we just moved forward,” Michael Valdez, associate professor of management and co-director of the business plan competition, said.
In the past, the only business plan competition offered at FLC was embedded into a business course and eventually went away, but upon a recommendation from a board of trustees member the interim dean approached Valdez about running the competition, he said.
The competition, open to FLC students and recent alumni of all disciplines, prompts participants to write a business plan that covers finances, accounting, marketing and outlines the steps they would need to take to start their business, Madison Beamer, a contestant, FLC senior and business engineering major, said.
The competition is broken down into three main parts that will take place in March, starting with an evaluation of the business plan submissions, Valdez said.
“What we’ll do then is take all of those submissions and we’ll whittle it down to about 10 or 12 teams,” he said.
Those teams will then come together on Saturday, April 9.
“That’s when we’re going to have the Hawk Tank actual presentation of it,” Valdez said.
There will be three rounds throughout the day, narrowing the groups down to five and then the final three, he said.
The final three will be announced at the celebration banquet, where the prizes of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000 will be awarded to first, second and third place, respectively, he said.
The prize money will most likely come from the competition’s multiple sponsors and FLC, and is still being solidified, Valdez said.
“The vision is that it would be the college as well as our community stakeholders all chipping in for those prizes,” he said.
The Participants
Currently, there are about 70 teams registered for the competition, although there will most likely be a few that dropout, Valdez said.
“I think one of our key visions was how we could get all students at the college involved,” Valdez said. “I would love to see a fifty-fifty split of half SOBA students and half non-business students, and if I don’t see that at least at a small scale then I haven’t achieved my goal.”
Beamer is working on a business plan for a custom consulting service for sustainable growing systems with a FLC alumni who studied engineering and art, and is an environmental studies major.
“So that could be aquaponics, hydroponics, greenhouses, where and what to put in the garden, but I don’t have the knowledge base to start that side of the business,” she said.
Beamer’s group member already builds greenhouses and provides the experience for that side of the plan.
“He is very much the engineering brain,” Beamer said.
Community involvement
“It’s definitely a lot of work in terms of trying to coordinate things, but I’ve been really blessed with the number of individuals that have reached out to help,” he said.
For example, First Southwest Bank volunteered three judges last week, he said.
“These are bankers that have full time jobs and families, but they understand the importance and the value of this in our community and for our students and recent alumni, and so they’re putting skin in the game and that’s really neat,” Valdez said.
As part of the competition, the organizers are also hosting workshops, and utilizing a
mentorship program, he said. Working with the Student and Alumni Networking Club, an RSO on campus, they have been able to reach out to students from all disciplines.
“If you’re not a business student, or even if you are and you don’t feel like you have the skills and resources to do this, we’re going to provide to the best of our ability the resources to make you successful,” he said.