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<span data-cke-bookmark= Overview "1" style="display: none">&nbsp;</span>

= <span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-familysize:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;medium">ABOUT</span></span id> =<div class="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-7788-ff05-9ac5-b0548923b928page" title="Page 2"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><span style="colorfont-family: rgb(0lucida sans unicode, 0lucida grande, 0); backgroundsans-color: transparent; verticalserif"><span style="font-align: baseline; white-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">The Rice Business Plan Competition is a distinguished graduate-level student startup competition. The competition It is hosted and organized by the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, it will now be entering its 14th year since inceptionRice University's internationally-recognized initiative devoted to the support of entrepreneurship. The growth of the program is evidentIn 18 years, since &nbsp;commencement; it has grown from 9 nine teams competing for 10k $10,000 in prize money in the beginning of the decade2001, to 42 teams from around the globe will compete world competing for an estimated more than $1.3 million in prize money this year. &nbsp;Participants of the competition will be given the distinct pleasure of meeting cash and networking with over 250 venture capital principals, early stage investors, and successful entrepreneursprizes. &nbsp;</span></span></span></span>

<br/><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-7788-ff05-9ac5-b0548923b928"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">Students will be given the opportunity to redefine and tune their business plans and elevator pitches with hopes of receiving funding to successfully commercialize their product. &nbsp;The judges of the competition will evaluate the students as real-world entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds. &nbsp;Ranking each team/presentation based on which company they would invest in. &nbsp;Overall it is a mock trial for the students to prepare &nbsp;for real world altercations. With &nbsp;Some gaining the necessary capital to begin with their entrepreneurial endeavor.</span></span>OBJECTIVE</span></span>=

<span style= Purpose "font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">The competition is designed to give collegiate entrepreneurs a real-world experience to pitch their startups to investors, receive mentoring, network with the entrepreneurial ecosystem, enhance their startup strategy, and learn what it takes to launch a successful startup.</span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-774d-06d9-7b81-0c4a7ad00285size:medium"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); backgroundJudges will evaluate the teams as real-color: transparent; verticalworld entrepreneurs soliciting start-align: baseline; whiteup funds from early-space: pre-wrap;">“The goal stage investors and venture capital firms. The judges are asked to rank the presentations based on which company they would most likely invest. In fact, 84% of the 275 judges at the 2017 RBPC said they were considering investing in a team that pitched at the 2017 RBPC is or said they referred a team to provide the best overall educational and entrepreneurial experience of any business plan/new venture competition…”</span></span>an investor in their network.</span></span>

<span style= Distinct Difference From Other Offerings"font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">Past competitors have received over $20 million from investors they met at the Rice Business Plan Competition. Alumni from the RBPC have raised more than $1.6 billion in funding and have generated more than 25 successful exits, valued at nearly a billion dollars.</span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; colorsize: rgb(0, 0, 0); white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1;medium">RBPC is a proven program that has developed into a prestigious entity that fosters successful enterprises.</span>BENEFIT</span></span>=

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-7753-81f3-d25a-22445fc2ed0e"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); backgroundfont-colorsize: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">138 past competitors have successfully launched their businessesRBPC &nbsp;provides an intense, immersive experience over the course three days for student startup founders to pitch to investors, receive multiple rounds of feedback and have raised in excess of $600 million in fundingadvance their startup.</span></span></span></span>

<span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small;medium">There will be over $1 million in prizes, and all 42 teams who compete at Rice University in Houston are guaranteed to win cash prizes. The minimum cash prize is $500 and the grand prize winner receives a $300,000 investment (typically in the form of a convertible debt note, without geographic restrictions.)</span></span><div class="page" title="Page 5"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">= <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-7753-81f3-d25a-22445fc2ed0esize:medium"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); backgroundfont-colorweight: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;700">Teams will participate and present their proposal within a three day period.</span>ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS</span></span></span>=

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-7753-81f3-d25a-22445fc2ed0e"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); backgroundfont-colorsize: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">First Day) Practice Round and Elevator Pitch Competition</span></span>Teams must meet all the following eligibility requirements in order to be selected to compete:</span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;">= <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-7753-81f3-d25a-22445fc2ed0esize:medium"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); backgroundfont-colorweight: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;700">Second Day) First Round and Feedback SessionStudent Enrollment</span></span></span><br/span>==

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-7753size:medium">The competition is for degree-81f3seeking students currently enrolled on a full-d25aor part-22445fc2ed0e">time basis <span style="colorfont-weight: rgb700">(51</span>i.e., in the academic year from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018). This includes students who graduated, or will graduate any time after July 1, 512017. (For example, 51December 2017 graduates are eligible to compete); background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre. Students who graduated before July 1, 2017 are not eligible to participate. Adjustments may be made for teams from non-wrapU.S. universities that have a different academic calendar;">Third Day) Semiplease contact the RBPC director if you are from a non-Final, Shark Tank U.S. school and Final Round</span></span>feel this applies to you.</span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;">= <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-7753-81f3-d25a-22445fc2ed0esize:medium"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); backgroundfont-colorweight: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;700">Following link gives a breakdown of prizes and awards given to superior competitors.Outside Funding Limitations</span></span></span><br/span>==

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;">[http://alliance.rice.edu/Prizes/ <span style="font-familysize: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85medium">All ventures must be seeking outside equity capital, 204); backgroundtypically early-color: transparent; textstage venture capital investment or early-decoration: underline; verticalstage angel investment. All ventures must be “for profit” entities. This is an early-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://alliancestage pitch competition, therefore, startups that have raised more than $250,000 in equity capital from sources other than the students or their friends or families prior to July 1, 2017 are not eligible to compete.riceStartup teams may have raised ANY level of equity funding AFTER July 1, 2017.edu/Prizes/</span>]</span></span>

=== Sponsors<span style="font-family: Arial; fontlucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;serif">:</span> ===<ul style="marginfont-top:0pt;margin-bottomsize:0pt;medium">Equity funding awarded as part of an accelerator/incubator program does count toward funding limits.</span><li/span> <span style="font-sizefamily:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-colorThe following do not count toward funding limit: transparentResearch and other grants; vertical-align: baselinecompetition winnings; white-space: pre-wraptraditional loans;">1-Service LLCand any friends and family funding.</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style=="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="backgroundfont-colorweight: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ABI Digital Solutions</span><700">Revenue Limitations</span></span></span><br/li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aquinas CompaniesVentures with more than $100,000 in revenues in prior academic years (before July 1, 2017), LLC/ Linebeck/Alpha Devare excluded.</span></span></span></span></li><li>== <span style="font-sizefamily:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">Austin VenturesPrior Activity</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-alignsize: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">Bank Both student and other team members may have worked on an idea or new technology in previous academic years, or in the case of Americathe student team members, even prior to entering graduate school, provided that their venture’s revenues and equity capital raised does not exceed the above limits.</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style=="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="backgroundfont-colorweight: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">BBVA Compass Bank</700">Team Composition</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bennu<This is a competition primarily for graduate-level students. All graduate students, not just MBA candidates, are eligible to participate in the competition. This includes, but is not limited to, PhD candidates, MBA students, MD candidates, JD candidates, and other Masters candidates. Competing team members may be from different disciplines and/span>or different universities.</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-alignsize: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">Blue Lance</span>However, undergraduates are allowed to compete fully, as long as at least one member of the presenting team at the RBPC is a currently-enrolled graduate student and a member of the venture’s startup management team, and part of the team that presents in the competition (competing team). In other words, a team of two students could be comprised of one undergraduate student and one graduate student. Alternatively, a team of five students could be comprised of four undergraduates and one graduate student.</span></span></span></li><li><span style=="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">BrandExtractMinimum Team Size</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium">The presenting team that competes at Rice University must include at least two current students and not exceed five current students. In other words, at least two members from each startup team must travel to Rice to compete, and both of these two members must be current students. The purpose of this rule is to encourage startups to enlist at least two founders in order to increase the potential for a successful startup.</span></span> == <span style="backgroundfont-colorfamily: transparent; verticallucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;serif">BusinessMarkers Radio Show</span>style="font-size:medium"></spanstyle="font-weight: 700">Maximum Team Size</span></span></lispan><libr/><span style="font-size:small;">= <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="backgroundTeams may bring up to five startup team members who participate in the presentations on Friday and Saturday. In other words, at least two and no more than five startup team members may participate in the verbal presentations on Friday and Saturday. Others involved in the venture (non-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chai Onestudents, faculty advisors or mentors) are welcome to travel to Rice with the competing student team, but are prohibited from participating in the presentations or Q&A sessions. More than five students can travel to Rice with the team, but only five students can serve as presenters. In fact, we encourage the team to bring a faculty, staff or other advisor with them to the RBPC, and we will invite them to attend our special lunch with the Dean of the Rice business school on Friday afternoon.</span></span></spandiv></spandiv></lidiv><li>div class="page" title="Page 6"><div class="layoutArea"><span stylediv class="font-size:small;column">== <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="backgroundfont-colorweight: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;700">Comerica BankTeam Presentation</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-alignsize: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">ConocoPhillips<at least two student members of the startup should participate in every round of presenting the startup’s investment pitch (i.e., the startup business plan presentation) on Friday and Saturday, April 6-7. Of the team members presenting, at least two of them must verbally present in the rounds they are involved in. To “verbally Present” means give/span>speak at least 20-30% of the presentation. The intention is that at least two team members share speaking responsibilities in the presentation section. The Q&A does not count toward the presentation time.</span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-familysize:arialmedium">The team may divide speaking time in their presentation however they choose,helvetica,sans-serif;"but a minimum of two members must speak at some point in the main presentation.</span></span> <span idstyle="docsfont-internalfamily:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4eserif"><span style="backgroundfont-colorsize: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">Content Active</span>The exception is the Elevator Pitch Competition on Thursday, April 5, where only one member of the team will be able to give the 60-second presentation.</span></span></span></li><li><span style=="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="backgroundfont-colorweight: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DuaneMorris700">Student Involvement</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internalsize:medium">The competition is for student-guidcreated and student-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-spacemanaged ventures, including new ventures launched by licensing university technology. Students participating in the competition (i.e. members of the founding team) are expected to: pre-wrap;">Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-familysize:arialmedium">(1) be a driving force behind the new venture,helvetica<br/>(2) have played a primary role in developing the business strategy (3) have key management roles in the startup venture,sans-serif;"and<br/>(4) own significant equity in the startup venture.</span></span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"> <span style="backgroundfont-colorfamily: transparent; verticallucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;serif">Energy Ventures</spanstyle="font-size:medium">In general, a member of the student team should be CEO, COO, or President of the venture, or members of the student team should occupy 50% or more of the functional area management positions that report directly to the CEO, COO, or President.</span></span> </span></li><listyle="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small;medium">Members of the student team are expected to own equity in the new venture. It is anticipated that students should own at least 20% of the total equity in the venture or at least 50% of the equity owned by the management team. One objective of this rule is to exclude ventures formed and managed by non-students who have given little or no equity to students for helping to develop the business strategy or create an investor pitch deck.</span></span> <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internalsize:medium">However, we recognize that the equity structure of some new university-guidbased ventures may not yet be established, the 20% equity ownership rule may be waived in this situation. This waiver will be examined on a case-4755190dby-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Enterprise Future Networkcase basis.</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">In addition, we recognize that if the Intellectual Property (IP) is owned by the university, it is likely that a license for that IP may not have been finalized at the time of the competition. A license to the IP is not required to compete at the RBPC, but we encourage student teams to seek an option to obtain an exclusive license to the IP or provide other evidence that the startup will have ability to obtain an exclusive license to the IP in the future. The owner of the IP should be aware that the team is competing using that IP.</span></span> == <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">Ernst & YoungFaculty Involvement</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium">Each team MUST have the endorsement of a faculty or staff advisor at their school and must provide contact information for their faculty advisor, regardless of whether or not the advisor will travel with the team to Rice University. All faculty advisors will be asked to confirm the eligibility of the team.</span></span> == <span style="backgroundfont-colorfamily: transparent; verticallucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-align: baseline; whiteserif"><span style="font-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">Essex Woodlands Health Venture</spanstyle="font-weight: 700">Nature of Ventures</span></span></span><br/li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="backgroundThe competition is for new, independent ventures in the seed, start-up, or early growth stages. Generally excluded are the following: buy-color: transparent; verticalouts of existing businesses, expansions of existing companies, real estate syndications, tax shelters, franchises, licensing agreements for distribution in a different geographical area, and spin-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finger Interestsouts from existing corporations. Licensing technologies from universities or research labs is encouraged.</span></span></span></span></li><li>== <span style="font-sizefamily:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">FLS AssociatesPrior Activity</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-alignsize: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">Fly VaxTechnologies may be presented in the RBPC only once. Competing team members may participate in the RBPC more than once if entering with a new venture/new technology.</span></span></spandiv></spandiv></lidiv><lidiv class="page" title="Page 7"><div class="layoutArea"><span stylediv class="font-size:small;column">== <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="backgroundfont-colorweight: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;700">FortunePrize Payments</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <lispan style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small;medium">Award payments will be issued to either the Company or the Team’s affiliated university. All required taxes will be withheld, and tax refund documents issued by Rice University.</span></span> == <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">Fulbright & JaworskiRequired Forms</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="backgroundEach team will be required to provide appropriate documentation to receive award payments which include W-color: transparent; vertical9 and/or EIN forms for US teams, and W-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gimmal8 BEN forms for International teams No prizes can be awarded without the required forms submitted.</span></span></span></span></li><li>== <span style="font-sizefamily:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">Goose Society of TexasSectors</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-alignsize: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">Haynes Business plans and Boone</span>companies should fall into one of four categories, or sectors:</span></span> === <br/span></li><lispan style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small;medium">Life Science</span></span><br/> === <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">Heinlein Foundation– includes (but not limited to) Medical Devices, Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Health IT, Biotechnology.</span></span> === </span></span></li><listyle="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small;medium">Energy/Clean Technology</span></span><br/> === <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"size:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent– includes (but not limited to) Sustainability, Water, Battery Technologies, Control&nbsp; vertical-align: baselineSystems, Smart Metering, PV Technology, Natural Gas, Transportation/Mobility, Oil & Gas Technologies, Algae, Fuel&nbsp; white-space: pre-wrap;">Houston Angel NetworkCells, Hybrid Vehicles.</span></span> === </span></span></li><listyle="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small;medium">Information Technology</span></span><br/> === <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color– Includes (but is not limited to): transparent; verticalMobile Apps, Software, Digital Media, Consumer Web, B-align: baseline; whiteto-space: pre-wrapB Applications, Enterprise Software, SAAS, Internet, Web, Virtual Reality, Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial&nbsp;">Houston Business JournalIntelligence, Drones, Hardware, Robotics, Unmanned Vehicles.</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style==="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium">Other Innovations</span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Houston Technology Center<></span><br/span></span></span></li>=== <li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-familysize:medium">– Includes (but is not limited to):arialAdvanced Materials,helveticaNanotechnology,sans-serif;"Composites</span></span> <span idstyle="docsfont-internalfamily:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4eserif"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-alignsize: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">Insperity<Teams must choose one sector/category for their companies. Teams may chose a second sector/category, though a second sector/span><category is optional and not required. Please choose sectors/span>categories that best align with your company’s product, technology, system or mission.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baselinesize:medium">The RBPC Selection Committee and the Rice Alliance have the final decision on which teams are invited to compete in the Rice Business Plan Competition and reserves the right to include or exclude any teams for any reasons.&nbsp; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jones Partners</span></span></span></span></li><li>= <span style="font-sizefamily:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">Jones School Career Management Center (CMC)COMPETITION FORMAT</span></span></span>=</spandiv class="page" title="Page 11"></lidiv class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><lispan style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small;medium">The Rice Business Plan Competition takes place over 3 days with 5 segments of competition. Teams are required to participate in all segments that apply to them.</span></span> == <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">KauffmanElevator Pitch Competition</span></span></span></span></li>== <li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="backgroundThis this fast-color: transparent; verticalpaced event has all teams competing against each other for the best 60-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byerssecond pitch to attendees. The Pitch takes place Thursday evening. There are cash prizes for top 5 best Elevator Pitches. This scoring does NOT factor into the overall scoring of the Rice Business Plan Competition.</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style=="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium">Business Plan Competition First Round&nbsp;</span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MAANA<></span></span></span></span></li>== <li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">McGuireWoods LLP</span><In the First Round, all teams in the competition will be divided into seven flights. The flights will consist of six teams, “clustered” by industry sector, to the extent possible. Current sectors are: 1) Life Science, 2) Energy/span>Clean Technology, 3) Information Technology, and 4) Other Innovations. Judges will be assigned to flights based on their background and areas of expertise.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internalsize:medium">The first and second place teams from each of the seven flights in the First Round plus the top-guidscoring third place team overall will advance to the Semi-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"Final Round, and the teams who finish third through sixth place in their flights will advance to the Challenge Round.</span></span> == <span style="backgroundfont-colorfamily: transparent; verticallucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;serif">Mercury Fund</span></spanstyle="font-size:medium">Business Plan Competition Semi-Final Round, Challenge Round&nbsp;</span></span></li>== <li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internalsize:medium">The Semi-guidFinal Round and the Challenge Round will take place concurrently. The Semi-4755190d-771f-7bfaFinal Round, composed of the top 15 teams from the First Round, will be placed into 3 flights of 5 teams each. Flights will not be sector-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"specific.</span></span> <span style="backgroundfont-colorfamily: transparent; verticallucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-align: baseline; whiteserif"><span style="font-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">MicrosoftThe top two teams from each Semi-Final Round flight will advance to the Final Round (6 teams total).</span></span></span></span></li><li> <span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-familysize:arialmedium">The Challenge Round,helveticacomposed of the remaining 27 teams from the First Round,sanswill be placed into 7 flights of 4 teams each (one flight will have only 3 teams). Flights will not be sector-serif;"specific.</span></span id> == <span style="docsfont-internalfamily:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4eserif"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-alignsize: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">MinuteMan PressBusiness Plan Competition Final Round&nbsp;</span></span>== </span></span></li><listyle="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:smallmedium">The top six teams from the Semi-Final Round (2 from each flight) will compete in the Final Round, the last part of the Business Plan Competition. These final 6 teams will be in one flight;"the flight is not specific to any sector.</span></span> == <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrapCocktail Reception & Company Showcase&nbsp;">Miller, Egan, Molter & Nelson LLP</span></span></span></span></li>== <li><span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:smallmedium">Teams have one final opportunity to discuss and promote their business ideas with investors, judges, sponsors, local business members. Attendees will vote on the Best Showcase Company during the reception. There is a prize for Best Company Showcase.&nbsp;"</span></span> = <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">Murphree Venture PartnersJUDGING & SCORING</span></span></span>=</spandiv class="page" title="Page 12"></li><lidiv class="layoutArea"><span stylediv class="font-size:small;column">== <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">NASA Johnson Space CenterGeneral Evaluation Criteria</span></span></span></span></li>== <li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-familysize:arialmedium">The competition simulates the real-world process of entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from early-stage investors and venture capital firms. The judges function as early stage venture capital investors deciding on which business venture they would most likely fund. The quality of the innovation, the size of the market, the competitive differentiation, the strength of the management team, and the clarity and persuasiveness of the written plan and oral presentation,helveticaall influence the judges’ decisions. Ultimately,sans-serif;"the winning team should be the team in which the judges would most likely invest their money.</span></span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"> <span style="backgroundfont-colorfamily: transparent; verticallucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-align: baseline; whiteserif"><span style="font-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">NASDAQ OMX GroupMost of the judges of the RBPC come from the investment community and are involved in making early-stage investment decisions on an ongoing basis. Judges are provided a scorecard that is used as a guide and used for feedback to teams. However, Incultimately the judges based their ranking on where they would invest their money.</span></span></span></span></li><li>== <span style="font-sizefamily:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; whitefont-spaceweight: pre-wrap;700">nCourageJudging Criteria</span></span></span><br/span></li>== <li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-familysize:arialmedium">While judging the competition,helvetica,sans-serif;"judges will be asking many details questions about business viability and investment potential. Consider how your business plan and presentation responds to the following:</span></span id><ul style="docslist-internalstyle-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4etype: none"><li><span style="backgroundfont-colorfamily: transparent; verticallucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-align: baseline; whiteserif"><span style="font-spacesize: premedium">-wrap&nbsp;">New World VenturesIs the startup addressing a big problem and is there evidence that customers will be willing to pay for their</span></spanstyle="font-size:medium">solution?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internalsize:medium">-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e" &nbsp;Will the technology work? Is their evidence that the technology will solve the problem (e.g., lab results, field</span><span style="backgroundfont-colorsize: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg LLP</span></span>trials)?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-familysize:arial,helvetica,sansmedium">-serif&nbsp;"Is the problem big enough to build a company around? What is the size of the addressable market?</span></span></li><li><span idstyle="docsfont-internalfamily:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4eserif"><span style="backgroundfont-colorsize: transparent; verticalmedium">-align: baseline&nbsp; white-space: pre-wrap;">Opportunity Houston/GHP</span></span>What is the competition? Does the startup have a significant, sustainable competitive differentiation?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium">- &nbsp;Is there intellectual property (IP)? What is the status of licensing of the IP? Does the startup have access to a</span><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">Oracle</span></span>license or option to license the IP? Are there other startups pursuing this market with similar IP?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent &nbsp; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">OWL Investment Group</span></span>Does the management team understand its strengths and any gaps in the current team?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-familysize:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"medium"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent &nbsp; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Padgett Group</span></span>Is the team coachable? Is this a team I want to invest in and work with?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline &nbsp; white-space: pre-wrap;">Palo Alto SoftwareHow long will it take to generate revenue? How much additional product development is required?</span></span></spanli></spanli></li><lispan style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:smallmedium">- &nbsp;"How much investment will the company need in order to reach breakeven cash flow?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internalsize:medium">-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e" &nbsp;Does the startup understand key milestones that need to be reached? Does the team have a fund raising strategy</span><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-alignsize: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas, P.C.</span></span>tied to those milestones and value inflection points?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-sizefamily:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline &nbsp; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pearland Economic Development CorporationIs there a credible exit available within a reasonable timeframe?</span></span></spanli></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"li><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4esize:medium"><span style="background-color: transparent &nbsp; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Phillips & Reiter, PLLC</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RedHouse Associates</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">S3 Ventures</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sandi Heysinger and Dick William</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sante Ventures</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Silicon Valley Bank</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shell/Shell Energy Ventures</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Silver Fox Advisors</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sim-Tex, Inc.</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">V.S. Elgohary</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Statoil</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SURGE Accelerator</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TiE Houston</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thompson & Knight</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TOTAL</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trailblazer Capital</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">U.S. Department of Energy</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Venture Fellows</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">UK Science & Innovation, British Consulate-General, Houston</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Waste Managment</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whitehall and Company</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-771f-7bfa-e63c-ab04c4222e4e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Winstead</span></span>Should I invest in this business?</span></span></li>

<span style= Impact Achieved For Students And Campus"font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">Before arriving at the competition, each team will be assigned to a first-round flight of 6 teams. Judges assigned to each flight will review the written submission of each of the six teams in their flight and complete Part I of the RBPC Scorecard online for each plan in advance of the competition. The feedback will be provided to the teams prior to the competition. An example of Part I is below.</span></span>

=== <span style="backgroundfont-colorfamily: transparent; color: rgb(51lucida sans unicode, 51lucida grande, 51); fontsans-family: Arial; serif"><span style="font-weight: bold; white-spacesize: pre-wrap; line-height: 1;medium">Highlights This feedback is designed to help assess the key aspects of the Competition include:startup and alert the team to questions that might be raised by the judges during the competition on campus. The scores provided to the teams in advance are for feedback purposes only, and will not be used to determine advancement or winners.</span></span> ===

<span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small;medium">During the competition, in each of the rounds, each team will be ranked against the other teams their flight relative to the judges’ perceived investment opportunity. For example, in the first round, teams will ranked from 1 to 6, where 1 = highest: most likely to invest, and 6 = lowest: least likely to invest)</span></span> == <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60esize:medium"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); backgroundfont-colorweight: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;700">Real-world opportunities to gain the necessary knowledge that is &nbsp;required to successfully accelerate a new business.Scoring in Competition Rounds</span></span></span>== </span><ul style="marginfont-topfamily:0pt;marginlucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-bottom:0pt;serif"><li><span style="font-size:small;medium">There are five rounds of scored competition throughout the event, and all teams will compete in 4 of them:</span></span> === <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60esize:medium">Elevator Pitch&nbsp;</span></span> === <span style="backgroundfont-colorfamily: transparent; verticallucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-align: baseline; whiteserif"><span style="font-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">“Chance All attendees at the Elevator Pitch competition will judge the competition. Judges will score each team that presents on a scale of 1 (excellent) to receive mentoring from investors 5 (poor). The teams with the best (i.e., lowest) aggregate overall scores are the winners. All 42 teams are required to present their elevator pitch on Thursday evening. Each pitch will last up to but not exceed 60 seconds. The Elevator Pitch Competition is a stand-alone event and experienced entrepreneursdoes not factor into a team’s scoring for the Business Plan Competition. There are cash prizes for the five Best Elevator Pitches.</span></span> </span></span></li><listyle="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:small;medium">Judges should evaluate each team based on how convincingly they present their business concept, such that the judge would want to learn more about the company as a potential investor. The best teams are those teams that an investor would want to schedule a follow-up meeting for further discussion because they believe this company represents a strong investment opportunity.</span></span> <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="backgroundfont-colorsize: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">Scheduled opportunities We encourage teams to network with potential venture capitalists clearly and succinctly describe the problem they are solving, their solution, and competitive advantage. Teams are allowed, but not required, to have a small, hand-held prop if appropriate. The prop will simply be displayed and not passed around. No power point presentations or other investors for three daysaudio-visuals are allowed.</span></span> === </span></span></li><listyle="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:smallmedium">Business Plan Competition First Round&nbsp;"</span></span>=== <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-alignsize: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;medium">High caliber In the First Round on Friday, teams will be clustered by industry segment to the extent possible, and judges will be divided based on their area of judgesexperience. Current groupings include: 1) Life Science, 2) Energy/Clean Technology, all senior level investors3) Information Technology, entrepreneurs and industry leaders4) Other Innovations.</span></span> <span style="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"></spanstyle="font-size:medium">Each judge will assess the investment potential based on the criteria listed above. Comments on each team’s strengths and areas for improvement will be written on a comment sheet and given to the teams at the end of the day on Friday.</span></lispan><li/div><span style="font-size:small;"/div><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">Opportunities The winning team from each of the seven flights will be determined by the judges ranking of the teams within each flight. This ranking will be determined Friday afternoon after all of the teams have presented to the judges. The judges will rank the teams within their flight from 1 (most likely to receive individual feedback during 3 separate sessionsinvest) to 6 (least likely to invest).</span></span></spandiv></spandiv class="page" title="Page 14"></li><lidiv class="layoutArea"><span stylediv class="font-size:small;column">=== <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span idstyle="docsfont-internalsize:medium">Semi-guidFinal and Challenge Round</span></span> === <span style="font-4755190dfamily:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60eserif"><span style="backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">2013: $The winners of the Semi-Final Round will be chosen in the same manner as in the First Round. Judges will rank teams from 1(most likely to invest) to 6 (least likely to invest).5 Million + in prize money was awarded with all In total six teams winning at least one cash award”will advance to the Final Round.</span></span> </spanstyle="font-family:lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"></spanstyle="font-size:medium">The Challenge Rounds are formatted differently than the Semi-Final Rounds and will provide competitors with a third type of presentation experience. Each will have a total of 25 minutes for presentation and Q&A. However, there will be no specified time limits on the presentations or Q&A. Judges are encouraged to ask questions throughout the presentation. The winning team in each flight of the Challenge round will be determined in the same way as the other rounds by a ranking by the judges. This ranking will be determined after all four teams have presented to the judges. The judges will rank the four teams in the Challenge Round from 1 (most likely to invest) to 4 (least likely to invest).</lispan></ulspan>

=== <span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="font-family: Arial; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recent recognition:</span></span> ===<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,lucida sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2013unicode, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 Top Ten Best U.S. Graduate Entrepreneurship Program – Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2011 NASDAQ OMX Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award – GCEC</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;medium"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serifFinal Round&nbsp;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2011 National Model MBA Entrepreneurship Program – USASBE</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2011, 2009 Marketer of the Year – American Marketing Association</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2009 Outstanding Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership - GCEC</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2009 Excellence in Technology Entrepreneurship Award - GCEC</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2009 Outstanding Technology Entrepreneurship Program – USASBE</span></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-774f-4ce2-fc53-6fa14d71f60e"><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2008 Houston’s Greatest Economic Development Ally – Greater Houston Partnership</span></span></span></span></li></ul>

<span style= Steps Requried to Bring Resource On Campus"font-family: lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:medium">The winning teams in the final round will also be determined by the judges’ ranking of the teams. This ranking will be determined Saturday afternoon after all of the teams have presented to the judges. The judges will rank the six teams in the finals from 1 (most likely to invest) to 6 (least likely to invest).</span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span style="backgroundfont-colorsize: transparent; color: rgb(0medium">The rankings from each of the judges will be aggregated and the teams with the lowest total scores will be the winners. As in the previous rounds, 0in the case of a tie, 0); white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.15;">Detailed explanation on entering competitionthe team with the most number of first place scores will be declared the winner.</span></span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-7756-bb71-952f-64d5630b2597">[http://alliance.rice.edu/Eligibility/ <span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgbmedium">Cocktail Reception & Company Showcase at the Awards Banquet (17Saturday evening, 85, 204April 7); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://alliance.rice.edu/Eligibility/</span>]</span><br/><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-7756-bb71-952f-64d5630b2597"><span style="color: rgbAll attendees of the Awards Banquet are eligible to judge the Company Showcase. All attendees will be given 2 tickets to give to a team(0, 0, 0s)of their choosing. The team with the most tickets is the winner.&nbsp; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); backgroundfont-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-spacesize: pre-wrap;medium">Detailed explanation on submitting a proposal.</span></span>Contact</span></span>=

<span style="font-size:small;">= <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;">Catherine Santamaria<span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-7756-bb71-952f-64d5630b2597">[http://alliance.rice.edu/Submission_Requirements/ <span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://alliance.rice.edu/Submission_Requirements/</span>]</span><br/><span id="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-7756-bb71-952f-64d5630b2597"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;">''Director, Rice Business Plan Competition''<spanbr/><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0713); background-color: transparent; vertical348-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The program is open to all graduate-level students.3190<br/span></span></span>[mailto:rbpc@rice.edu rbpc@rice.edu]</span>

<span style="font-size:small;">= <span style="font-family:ariallucida sans unicode,helveticalucida grande,sans-serif;">Mary Lynn Fernau</span id> ="docs-internal-guid-4755190d-7756-bb71-952f-64d5630b2597"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[http://alliance.rice.edu/Compete/ http://alliance.rice.edu/Compete/]</span></span></span></span><div><br/></div>

<span style= Contact Information"font-family: =lucida sans unicode,lucida grande,sans-serif">''Marketing Director, Rice Alliance''<br/>(713) 348-5374<br/>[mailto:mlfernau@rice.edu mlfernau@rice.edu]</span>

<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rice Business Plan Competition, contact is at rbpc@rice.edu or you may call (713) 348-3443.Created by<br/>Mailing Address<br/>Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship<br/>Rice University, MS-531<br/>PO Box 2932<br/>Houston, TX 77252-2932</span></span>=

&nbsp;[http://universityinnovation.org/wiki/User:Haan.nguyen304 Ha An Nguyen&nbsp;]<div class="page" title="Page 3"><br/div><span data-cke-bookmark="1" style="font-familydisplay:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;none">&nbsp;</span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold; white-space: pre-wrap;">Physical Address<br/div></div></div></div></div></div>Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship<br/div>Jones School, Room 134<br/div>Rice University<br/div>6100 Main Street<br/div>Houston, TX 77005-2932</spandiv></spandiv>

<br/><span style="font-family[[Category:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold; white-space: pre-wrap;">Phone: 713-348-3443<br/>Fax: 713-348-3110<br/>Email: rbpc@rice.edu</span></span>Organizations]]