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Rules & Elegibility

Rules for the 2020 Southern Nevada Business Plan competition were last updated February 28, 2020. Please read carefully and note these rules are subject to change. 
 

Eligibility

  1. Entrants must be 18 years or older at the time of entry and legal residents of Clark, Nye, or Lincoln counties.

  2. The plan must indicate that the business will be incorporated in Nevada either prior to, or after the competition, and that the principal business address will be located within Clark, Nye, or Lincoln counties.

  3. Entries can be submitted by an individual or a team. In the case of a team, one entrant must be designated as Team Leader and be prepared to act as the point of contact throughout the Competition.

  4. No individual may be included as a “team member” on more than one business plan, and no business may enter more than one business plan.

  5. Employees of the UNLV Lee Business School, their immediate family members and/or those living in same household are not eligible to enter the Competition.
     

Conditions of Entry

  1. Entries must be a new business idea and represent the original work of the entrant(s). New businesses should not have received more than $200,000 in equity-related capital (such as seed capital or institutional funding), or generated more than $100,000 in gross revenue prior to the Competition.

  2. Any business in any industry is eligible to enter. The potential economic impact of the business will be an important factor in determining the winner so a business based on a single location or single deal may be at a disadvantage to a business with more growth potential.

  3. Participants that have already secured funding from any source including other competitions must disclose the amounts and sources at the time of entry, or as soon as they become aware of any funding commitment during the duration of the Competition.

  4. The business may license technology from another company for manufacturing and/or distribution purposes. Revenue streams from the business should not be based solely on deriving revenues from the licensing of its own technologies.

  5. The plan may not contain fabricated information about (but not limited to) the following: backgrounds, experience and educational level of members of the management team stage of product development, product performance claims, or market survey results.

  6. Participants should follow the instructions www.snbpc.com to enter the contest.
     

Process

  1. All entrants must submit an Executive Summary, between 3-5 pages in length, in the preliminary round via email to entrepreneurship@unlv.edu. The executive summaries will be judged according to the judging criteria and all teams will receive feedback on their scores in each category along with the average scores of all other teams (for comparison purposes). The deadline to submit is April 6, 2020.

  2. All entries will be subject to prescreening before being sent to the preliminary judges. At the sole discretion of the competition organizers some submissions may be eliminated from consideration at this stage of the competition.

  3. The top five executive summaries will be required to submit a full business plan. The body of the plan is limited to a maximum of 30 pages, including the Executive Summary but excluding the Cover Page and Table of Contents. Appendices is limited to an additional 15 pages. Anything beyond this limit will be omitted from judging.

  4. Business plans will be judged according to the judging criteria and all teams will receive feedback on their scores in each category along with the average scores of all teams in each category.

  5. The top five business plans will proceed to the final round. Finalists will be required to present their business plan. Details about the presentation will be sent out when finalists are notified.

  6. The judges will include investors, bankers, business professors, media representatives, and other distinguished members of the business community.

  7. The entrants will retain all rights to the plan regarding its use at all times prior to and following the Competition.

  8. Due to the nature of the Competition, we will not ask judges, reviewers, sponsors, staff or the audience to agree to or sign non-disclosure statements for any participant. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by entrants should be considered information that will likely enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged or presented in these sessions.

  9. The decisions of the judges are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
     

Prizes

  1. All finalists will be awarded a recognition certificate at the final event.

  2. The five finalists will have the opportunity to present their plans to a judging panel which will include investors and Competition sponsors.

  3. Awards to the grand prize winner of the Competition will only be issued in the name of the company as set forth in the plan. The organizers do not assume any liability for the manner of distribution or performance of prizes by sponsors or donors.

  4. All finalists must agree that, should they be chosen as the grand prize winner, they will use prize winnings to establish or continue business operations in southern Nevada.

  5. No substitution or transfer of a prize is permitted by the winner.

  6. All federal, state and local taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner.

  7. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply.

  8. For a list of current prizes, please refer to the Prizes page at www.snbpc.com.
     

Disclaimers

  1. There is no guarantee, expressed or implied, that any business will receive an award. Should no entries into the Competition meet the entry criteria, should no entry have a reasonable chance for success and should the judges determine no winner exists for the Competition, no award will be made.

  2. By participating in the Competition, entrants agree that neither UNLV, nor members of the judging panel, sponsors nor their designated organizations, assume any liability whatsoever for any disclosures of business plan information which may be made (whether inadvertently or otherwise) by any judge, reviewer, staff member, audience member or other individual connected with, participating in, viewing, hearing, or receiving information from the Competition.

  3. Each semi-finalist must sign an affidavit of eligibility and publicity/liability release.

  4. The University reserves the right to change these Official Rules at any time, in its sole discretion, and to suspend or cancel the Competition or any entrant’s participation in the Competition should unauthorized human intervention or other causes beyond the University’s control, affect the administration, security, or proper conduct of the Competition. No responsibility is assumed and entrants waive all claims for lost, late or misdirected entries, or for any problems of technical malfunction.

  5. Entrants who violate these Official Rules, tamper with the operation of the Contest or engage in any conduct that is detrimental or unfair to the Competition, or any other entrant (in each case as determined in UNLV’s sole discretion) are subject to disqualification from the Competition. UNLV reserves the right to disqualify any entrant at any state of the Competition.

  6. By entering, participants, without limitation, release and hold harmless the University, the Organizers, the Sponsors, and the Donors from any and all liability for any injuries, loss, or damage of any kind in connection with the Competition.

  7. By entering this Competition, participants agree to waive any right to claim ambiguity or error in these Official Rules or in the Competition itself.

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