Palo Alto Software Announces $10,000 Business Plan Competition for US Entrepreneurs
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The Eugene, Oregon-based company launches its inaugural “LivePlan $10,000 Boost” business plan competition with a $10,000 prize awarded to the first place prize winner.
Eugene, Oregon July 17, 2012
Palo Alto Software, developer of the number-one selling business planning software tools — Business Plan Pro, Sales and Marketing Plan Pro, and its new cloud-based business planning and tracking tool, LivePlan — announces its first nationwide business plan competition, the “LivePlan $10,000 Boost.” The competition officially opens 12:00 p.m. (PDT), July 17, 2012, and accepts completed entries until 11:59 a.m. (PDT), August 24, 2012.
Among the distinguished group of judges are Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Evangelist for Apple, co-founder of Alltop.com and author of New York Times best seller, Enchantment; Diane Fraiman, principal at Voyager Capital and former Silicon Valley technology executive; Tim Berry, founder and president of Palo Alto Software; John Jantsch, best-selling author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine; and Kristen Koh-Goldstein, president and co-founder of Newco Solutions, and she has experience managing software investments for an internal fund at Goldman Sachs.
Plans will be judged on a variety of criteria including quality of content, business viability, financial projections and investment potential.
Palo Alto Software CEO, Sabrina Parsons, says “Our team is immersed in the culture of entrepreneurship and our products help empower thousands of entrepreneurs to launch their very own businesses every year, so hosting this competition is a natural. We realize the significance of a $10,000 boost for a small business owner.”
Parsons added, “We’re also excited to introduce this competition since participants will be utilizing LivePlan, our new, cloud-based business planning and financial tracking tool. LivePlan helps entrepreneurs create their business plan, and allows them to measure, adjust, and adapt in real time. Tracking your business ups and downs and having the ability to be nimble is essential in today’s ever-changing marketplace. LivePlan helps small business owners do this easily and efficiently.”
There will be a total of five finalists, but only one entrepreneur will win a $10,000 grant furnished by Palo Alto Software, Inc. All finalists will receive in-kind prizes. Total value of our in-kind prizes exceed $15,000. These prizes were hand-picked to help Boost small businesses, and provided by the following generous sponsors: LegalZoom, D&B Credibility Corp., Duct Tape Marketing, Shopify, MasterPlans, and PRWeb, a service of Vocus.
The LivePlan $10,000 Boost is for US-based companies only, and complete competition rules, including submission guidelines, can be found at https://www.liveplan.com/boost. On August 7, at 10 a.m. (PDT), Palo Alto Software will host a free “How to Maximize LivePlan” webinar to address questions regarding either the competition or the LivePlan application itself with participants submitting questions via the Twitter hashtag #LivePlanBoost. Winners will be announced via free live webinar on September 10 at 10:00 a.m. (PDT). At which time, our CEO, Sabrina Parsons, will also share valuable feedback from our expert panel of judges.
Important Dates/Times: (all times are PDT)
- July 17 , 12:00pm: LivePlan $10,000 Boost officially launches
- Aug 7, 10:00am: Free live webinar: “How to Maximize LivePlan”
- Aug 24, 12:00pm: Deadline to share your completed business plan within the LivePlan app
- Sep 10, 10:00am: Free live webinar: “Boost Winners Announced”
About Palo Alto Software, Inc.
Palo Alto Software, Inc. develops tools and provides content resources for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The company’s flagship product, Business Plan Pro, is the best-selling business-planning software in the U.S. retail market, according to NPD Intelect. The company’s new SaaS (software as a serivce) application, LivePlan, is the most complete online business planning and small business tracking tool on the market. The company’s content site, Bplans.com, ranks as the highest-trafficked business planning web site, with over 1 million unique visits a month. Palo Alto Software was founded in 1988 and is privately-owned corporation based in Eugene, Oregon. For more information about Palo Alto Software products, visit http://www.paloalto.com.
