Biz plan competition industry - $375 Million?

How to find, enter, or organize business plan competitions

Business plan competitions are big business for startups these days. A 2009 McKinsey & Company report found that total funds from prizes have more than tripled over the past decade and now surpass $375 million. There are 3 great resources on the web to help you find, enter, and win business plan competitions.

1. Vator.tv - Vator, which stands for innovator, is true to its name when it comes to business plan competitions. I believe that Vator's innovative, scalable and feature-rich platform for business plan competitions is the future. With 50,000-plus entrepreneurs members Vator is one of the leading entrepreneurial communities on the Web. Create your competition today.

2. Istart.org - Istart is a relatively new business plan competition platform. The website, which is owned by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, offers a platform for business plan competition administrators to create competitions. It also allows student entrepreneurs to search and enter competitions, as well as, post business plans to the site or even find a job at a startup.

3. BizPlanCompetitions.com - This is the best resource on the web for finding business plan competitions. You can search through their list of competitions. You can look at their unique business plan competition calendar which posts the deadlines for over 100 business plan competitions. Finally, you can even look for competitions that are geographically located near you.

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