By Khalida Sarwari
To make a business come to life, it takes a dream and a plan, and in the Silicon Valley there seems to be no shortage of either. One avenue for entrepreneurs to get on their feet is the Silicon Valley StartUp Cup, back for its second year.
Those familiar with the competition may remember it by a different name in its inaugural year: the Santa Clara County StartUp Cup. The name was changed, said organizer Alice Fenton, to expand the field of competitors. But the spirit of the competition remains the same: providing an outlet for entrepreneurs who want to take an idea to market or grow an existing new business.
“It’s for anyone who has an idea for a business, no matter what the idea, and is interested in getting it started,” Fenton said.
Entrepreneurs are asked to come prepared with answers to such questions as the name of their business, the target market and customer base, how they plan to finance the business and how they plan to make money.
As of early June, 25 business models had been selected to move on to the first round, taking place June 26-27 at CreaTV in San Jose. From there, the finalists will be whittled down to 12. That group will then advance to the second round in September, and then the top seven will go on to the third and final round in October.
In between the rounds, each entrepreneur receives coaching from business experts in sessions held at West Valley College. An awards celebration to announce the top three winners will be held at West Valley on Nov. 14.
In selecting the top 25, Fenton said she and other organizers focused on the diversity and quality of entrepreneurs.
“It’s really exciting for me to see this much diversity this year,” she said.
Entrepreneurs advance based on how good their pitch is in each round. The first pitch will be seven minutes long, the second five minutes and the final pitch will be two minutes. Each time, the judges–a panel of seven to eight seasoned professionals–will ask the entrepreneurs questions and give them suggestions on how they can make their business model a success.
Throughout the process, the judges and coaches determine whether the entrepreneurs have integrated the feedback they were given into their business model.
In between pitches, the entrepreneurs receive coaching advice from expert mentors on understanding customer development, bootstrap funding techniques, team development and revenue generation. They also give the entrepreneurs tips on how to improve their plan as well as pitching techniques.
“In the judging portion judges not only judge the pitch, but they also coach,” Fenton said. “Judges will listen, and then there’s a Q&A and they make suggestions as to how they can move their business models forward.”
New judges in this year’s competition are Saratoga City Councilman Manny Cappello; Greg Meyer, community relations manager at Meriwest Credit Union; Andrea Skov, principal partner at Guild Associates; and Brad Vernon, senior architect and engineer at Alcatel-Lucent.
Back for their second year of judging are Bruce Knopf, the county’s director of asset and economic development, and Kris Stadelman, director of the North Valley (NOVA) Workforce Board.
As an added bonus, the top 12 finalists will be given a DVD of their pitch to review during a subsequent coaching session, and all 25 entrepreneurs will receive a recorded copy of their pitch.
At the conclusion of the competition, the judges will select the top three business models, which will be announced on Nov. 14 at an awards celebration during Global Entrepreneurship Week. The winners of StartUp Cup will receive targeted coaching time focused on their business model needs: the first place winner will receive 20 hours; second place, 15 hours; and third place, 10 hours.
The winner of the first StartUp Cup was Andy Kogelnik, whose 2½-year-old company, Open Medicine Institute, is a combination of genomics, bioinformatics and social networking.
To see the 2013 top 25 finalists list, visit siliconval ley.startupcup.com.
