How to Apply
Initiative Timeline
March 19, 2008
New Venture Concept Proposal due
Official Rules and Submission Requirements
The Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative (ESEI) seeks to encourage entrepreneurially oriented students to develop and grow new ventures based on their own concepts.
ESEI recognizes that no set of rules, no matter how thorough or carefully developed can ever cover all circumstances. However, all teams are expected to abide by specific rules provided below. ESEI reserves the right to disqualify any team that violates the rules, regulations or the spirit of the Initiative.
Venture and Team Eligibility Guidelines:
- The Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative supports student created, managed, and owned ventures.
- NEW RULE CHANGE: The Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative is open to all students across the university and the team lead of the venture must be an ASU student at time of award. That means that seniors graduating in May are encouraged to apply as the venture can be worked on after graduation.
- The team leader should be in good standing and enrolled in at least one-three hour course throughout the award year (July – June, fall and spring semesters respectively).
- The team leader can be enrolled in any ASU program as either an undergraduate or graduate student.
- If the applying team leader graduates during the award year, a co-team leader that will be a registered ASU student must assume the team leader responsibility for the remainder of the award year for Edson Initiative purposes.
Team Composition:
There is no restriction on team size, however three to five people on the team is suggested.
Multi-disciplinary teams are highly encouraged.
Non-students may be members or the venture’s management team, however only enrolled ASU students are eligible to apply as the team leader.
Nature of Ventures:
The Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative is seeking new, independent ventures in the seed, start-up, or early growth stages. Generally excluded are the following: buy outs, expansions of existing companies, real estate syndications, tax shelters, and franchises.
Orientation/Training Sessions
Attending a training session will give you a better idea ofwhat goes into planning for a new venture and how to write a competitive new venture concept proposal. It will also give you an opportunity to meet fellow students who may have similar venturing interests. See the Calendar for more details. Attendance of a session is NOT required to submit a New Venture Concept Proposal but is highly recommended.
Start developing your new venture concept
After attending one of the training/orientation sessions and finding a team, start developing your venture concept. Be sure to review the instructions on the application (Word or PDF) and the judging criteria, as well as understanding the rules for use of funds.
Seek advisors and/or mentors
Once a general plan has been developed, seek out advice from those familiar with your chosen industry, both on and off campus.
Submit your New Venture Concept Proposal and Team Application
Due no later than 5 p.m. Monday, March 19, 2008, the Concept Proposal is a written conceptualization of your new venture. Teams not meeting this deadline will not be qualified for review. The proposal should be a clear yet concise representation of your ideas for the judging panel. Therefore we suggested that the paper should be around 10-12 pages in length. An appendix (15-pages maximum) may also be submitted.
Submissions must include
- Four (4) hard copies of the New Venture Concept Proposal (including Appendix),
- For ease of handling, 3 of the copies should be professionally bound and 1 copy should be stapled/clipped and NOT bound. Three ring binders or folders are not acceptable.
- The team application form must be the cover on all hard copies. This means it should be the very first page viewed at the top, and should precede your proposals cover page. Only one signed copy of the second page of the application containing the Equity question is required for all for-profit venture applications and should be included in the non-bound copy.
- Hard copies are to be delivered to the Edson office or received through mail/shipment by the deadline date to Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, Attn: Scott Perkofski, 1475 N. Scottsdale Rd. Suite 200, Scottsdale, AZ 85257.
After Proposals are Submitted
All proposals submitted on time that meet qualifications will be reviewed and select proposals will be advanced to the semifinalist round. Semifinalist will go through a second review process and from this pool a group of finalists will be selected. Please do not contact the Edson office regarding your proposals status. Emails will be sent to team leaders providing status of team’s advancement to the each round.
Prepare for finalist presentations
Finalists will be invited to give a presentation to the judging panel on either Thursday, April 24th or Friday, April 25th, 2008 prior to the final announcements of the awards.
Award Notifications!
All finalists will be notified by May 5th, 2008 followed by Official Award Letters to awarded teams.
