Correction appended
A medical device prototype, a picture-based social network and a mobile gaming system may not compete in the marketplace, but they did compete on campus in last year's Business Plan Competition, hosted by the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Society.
Undergraduate students will again have the chance to enter the competition and win $5,000, according to DES executive board member Justin Burris '15.
Contestants will submit project proposals next week and the winners will be rewarded money to pursue their ventures. The competition's top three contestants will advance to the semifinals of the Tuck School of Business's Dartmouth Venture Entrepreneurship Contest, where they will compete with nine other teams for first place and $25,000 in prize money.
All twelve semifinalists are guaranteed $1,000 in prize money, Burris said. The Dartmouth Venture Entrepreneurship Contest offers a total of $59,000 in prize money.
Last year's DES second-place winner, Alison Stace-Naughton '11, went on to win the Tuck contest with her prototype of a medical device used in endoscopic surgery, according to Burris.
Last year, Delos Chang '14 won first place with a proposal for a social networking site that would allow users to share experiences through pictures. The site, Memeja, uses comics to eliminate the language barrier that exists in sites like Reddit and Facebook, Chang said.
"I learned how to synergize with other cofounders more than anything else," Chang said. "I was the lead developer, but I learned more from running a startup than from coding."
Chang hoped to develop a final product by working with YCombinator, a Silicon Valley startup accelerator, but was unable to do so, he said.
Terrance Bei '13 was awarded third place for mobile gaming with augmented reality features. Burris emphasized that ideas from any field can be successful in the competition.
Chang said that proposals that solve real problems perform the best in the competition.
"If you are not solving a problem, then no one will want what you are developing because there is no need for it," he said.
The DES contest has three rounds spanning four weeks. Each team or participant first submits a letter of intent and a summary briefly describing the idea, and students are invited to submit more than one pitch.
The contest received 61 entries in 2011, its first year.
One week after receiving submissions, the judging panel will announce the first round of eliminations, leaving 20 teams in the semifinals, Burris said. The semifinalists will be asked to submit a PowerPoint pitch, and five will then be selected to continue to the final round.
This round will consist of a 20-minute presentation and subsequent Q&A session in front of the judges, Burris said.
"Outside cash prizes, the competition will also give a great chance to network with Dartmouth alumni who are successful entrepreneurs or venture capitalists," Burris said. "It will improve your business expertise and be helpful in future entrepreneurship attempts."
Five venture capitalists two professors from Tuck and three Dartmouth alumni will judge this year's competition, Burris said.
"This competition is a great way to encourage people to get their ideas full circle and get feedback from people in the field," DES president John Michel '14 said. "The real goal of the competition is to get undergraduates excited and involved in entrepreneurial ventures."
Only one member of the team has to be a Dartmouth undergraduate, DES executive board member Vikram Narayan '15 said. One of this year's competitors has a partner who attends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Business Plan Competition starts Feb. 6, and the Dartmouth Venture Entrepreneurship Contest semifinals will take place March 18.
Beside the yearly business competition, DES last supported bringing Lore, a social course management system, to campus in the Fall.
