Lock Haven PA SBDC Pitch Competition

Posted April 21, 2015 By Josh Fegles

Palo Alto Software has been actively involved in business planning and supporting business success for 25+ years. LivePlan, our flagship software, was designed to help businesses succeed and grow faster through creating a plan that is used for business strategy as a living document. LivePlan is an effective way to help small businesses pitch to investors, write a bullet-proof business plan, and keep track of as well as be able to forecast financials.

The goal of this competition is to engage all Lock Haven University and Pennsylvania College of Technology entrants in an invigorating, exciting, and memorable event that helps their educational goals. It will drive engagement from new and existing students, community members, and local supporters of small businesses as they learn about how to increase effectiveness through cloud-based collaboration tools. Participants will use the newest business pitching and planning software, LivePlan, to produce actionable/trackable business pitches that can be used in future learning and beyond the classroom. Each entrant will use the LivePlan software and the “lean planning” approach while also giving them the opportunity to win over $4,000 in cash and prizes to help further their business success.

Along the way, Palo Alto Software will provide free webinars that include small business tips and advice on the most effective ways to use LivePlan with your business (you can register below).

How to Enter:

To be eligible, entrants need to be current students at Lock Haven University or Pennsylvania College of Technology. The competition is open to both undergraduates and graduate students in any major and entrants can be either full time or part time students. To enter the competition, participants are required to complete and submit the “Pitch Page” feature on LivePlan.
Sign up for a LivePlan account here.
Once you have completed the Pitch Page, publish your pitch, and copy the URL into this submission form. For help publishing your page, see the images below.

See Sample LivePlan Pitch Page for inspiration

Note: If you make any changes to your page after submission simply click the “Update it now” button on the Pitch page and it will automatically update the URL/link.

How to publish your page:

stepstopublish

Submissions will be judged based on:

Completeness of entry
Quality and clarity of communication
Perceived feasibility of forecast elements
Strength of communication of the unique challenges and solutions
Individual appeal of final Pitch product (to judges panel)

Calendar of Events:

Aug 31 – Contest is live and open for entry
Sep 16 and 17 – Webinar:”Training on how to use LivePlan to create a business plan” – View Recorded Webinar
Oct 5 – ENTRY DEADLINE | Submit Pitch page *** Deadline extended to October 9^th ***
Nov 18 – Live event in PA for top 10 entrants to pitch live
Nov 20 – Inform winners and announce in email
Nov 23 – Distribute Prizes

Prizes Include:

3 Winner Placements: Best Business Pitch, 1st Runner-up Business Pitch, 2nd Runner-up Business Pitch

$4,000 cash (1st – $2,500, 2nd – $1,000, 3rd – $500)
Mentoring by Palo Alto Software for one year including 4 free 1-hour live short sessions (1/quarter) ($4000 value)
Free LivePlan account for 1 year
Media release announcing winner