2015 Spartan Challenge entrepreneurship competition offers more than $20,000 in prizes

Case Western Reserve University undergraduate students, as well as students from Cleveland Institute of Art and Cleveland Institute of Music, are invited to participate in the 2015 Erony Spartan Challenge, a mentored entrepreneurship competition.

The competition consists of two stages: Business Concept and Business Planning and Mentorship.

The Business Concept stage of the competition involves multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate students forming and working in teams on a business concept. Teams will develop oral “elevator pitches,” a one-page written executive summary and a two-page presentation describing their concept and ideas.

The second stage of the competition—Business Planning and Mentorship—will include mentoring of teams on the business planning process with a focus on identifying their first “critical path” milestone. Teams will define the overall scope of work, the management and human resource contributions needed to launch the product or service, and the multitude of ways in which the plan can fail (assess risk). Successful teams will have identified the funding and external resources required to take their plan to the next level.

The top three teams from the Business Planning and Mentorship stage will be awarded funding ($10,000, $5,000, $2,500) to enable them to begin implementation of the business concept; additional cash prizes will be awarded. A business mentor will be a part of the team going forward to ensure team success.

Teams interested in applying to the 2015 Spartan Challenge are asked to register and submit a “Letter of Intent” electronically to Colin Drummond, associate professor at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, at colin.drummond@case.edu by Jan. 17, 2015.

There will be a contest information session on Monday, Jan. 19, at 1 p.m., in Nord Hall, Room 410. Refreshments will be served. Alumna and competition founder Joyce Erony (WRC ’81) will present. Students interested in participating should plan on attending.

More information is available at bme.case.edu/SpartanChallenge.