- University of San Francisco International Business Plan Competition
= History =
The
University of San Francisco International Business Plan Competition was initiated by Mark V. Cannice, Ph.D., Associate Professor with the University of San Francisco School of Business and Executive Director and Founder of the USF Entrepreneurship Program [http://www.EntrepreneurshipProgram.org] . It began as the USF Business Plan Competition in 2000 for USF students and by 2002, it had participants from other universities although it was mandated that there would be at least once USF student as part of each team.By 2003, it was renamed as the USF International Business Plan Competition with the Grand Champion, Mobius Microsystems, from the University of Michigan. The panel of judges included venture capitalist partners with the following firms:
* Alta Partners
* ArrowPath Venture Capital
* Asset Management Company
* Battery Ventures
* Bay Partners
* Burrill & Company
* Crosslink Capital
* Draper Fisher Jurvetson
* Garage Technology Ventures
* Globespan Capital Partners
* Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
* McCown De Leeuw and Company
* Mohr, Davidow Ventures
* Opportunity Capital Partners
* Partech International
* Vanguard Ventures
* Venture Strategy Partners2004's Competition drew 25 teams from around the world with an equally impressive panel of judges (e.g.
Shawn Fanning ), and was featured in SF Chronicle in three separate SFChronicle articles. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/04/01/BUG7H5UL5H1.DTL&type=business] [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/04/03/BUG5R601QO1.DTL] [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/04/05/BUG3A604JH1.DTL]In 2005, it was renamed as the USF-Pacific Specialty Insurance International Business Plan Competition in honor of its largest donor of $50,000. It was also the first time that the Competition was held in conjunction with the San Francisco-Silicon Valley Global Entrepreneurship Research Conference, and was once again featured on SFChronicle [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/12/BUGCIBOAPF1.DTL] . Judges included Intuit Chairman
Bill Campbell , Co-founder of Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. Dan Gordon, and CEO of Pacific Specialty Insurance [http://www.mcgrawgroup.com/] Mike McGraw.Approximately 90 business plans were submitted from six continents to qualify for the 2006 USF-PSI International Business Plan Competition. 20 were selected for the event held at the Miyako Hotel from March 22nd to 25th with the top team automatically qualifying for Moot Corp at UT Austin. By this time, the competition is renowned for its panel of top-notch entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in the Bay Area, and was featured on CNET for the first time [http://news.com.com/Cancer+cure+company+wins+business+plan+challenge/2100-1008_3-6054488.html] .
The 2007 USF Contest, held March 25 - 28, was considered by many judges and participants as the best event yet with a remarkable panel of judges and slate of contestants, with the winner (a life science proposal) coming again from the Univ. of Illinois at Chicago.
To listen to the Elevator Pitches from this year's competition click [http://usfmbapodcast.com/2007/04/01/22-elevator-pitch-business-plan-competition/ here] . April 1st, 2007
The 2008 Contest will be held April 3 - 5 in San Francisco. Interested graduate teams should contact Professor Cannice at cannice@usfca.edu.
Other Achievements
In Fall 2006, a list compiled by The
Entrepreneur Magazine [http://entrepreneur.com/] in partnership withThe Princeton Review [http://princetonreview.com/home.asp] placed USF's MBA Entrepreneurship Program as one of the Top 25 graduate programs.Current News
The 2008 Contest was held April 3 - 5 in San Francisco. In years to come, interested graduate teams and venture capitalists should contact Professor Cannice at cannice@usfca.edu.
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