OFFICIAL 2001
HSVC RULES
1.
Proposed ventures
must be profitable, regardless of tax-exempt status. If the business has tax-exempt status, it must be sustainable
without grant subsidies.
2.
Each team must
include a current MBA student from any business school in the U.S. or abroad.
3.
A proposed venture
must be a stand-alone enterprise and not a subsidiary or a branch of an
established company.
4.
Plans must be
original ideas or substantial improvements on businesses in the existing
marketplace.
5.
The amount of prior
funding and maturity of the operation will be considered during the judging
process, with preference in favor of earlier-stage startups.
6.
Only those teams
submitting executive summaries by January 22, 2001 will be eligible to advance
to later stages of the competition.
7.
Teams selected as
finalists must travel to Berkeley at their own expense on April 13-14, 2001 to
present their plan to the panel of judges.
8.
HSVC 2001 will not
automatically reject plans for non-U.S.-based ventures, however the Competition
will not explicitly seek judges with expertise in non-U.S. markets. If a venture is not U.S.-based, judges will
assess the plan's viability to the best of their abilities given their
knowledge of relevant conditions in the target market. Entrants who propose a non-U.S. plan
recognize that judges may or may not be able to evaluate the plan, and that if
not, this will factor against the non-U.S. plan.
9.
Plans will be judged
according to the feasibility of the business concept, as well as the
feasibility and scope of the venture’s stated social and/or environmental
purpose. Specifically, plans will be
evaluated according to the following criteria:
v Your company's beneficial impact on society, as
measured by a combination of SROI calculation and proximity to core mission of
the business. Although all plans will be considered, more points will be
given to those companies whose missions seek to solve a serious social or
environmental problem. Impact must be
demonstrably greater than the industry standard.
v Viability as a business, as measured by a
combination of the financial return on analysis ("FROI") and the
team's research into assumptions underlying the FROI calculation (i.e., market
research, competitor analysis, etc.). Check back here soon to read about
pitfalls made by last year's entrants and for
more resources to strengthen your
business and your business plan.
v How well integrated the social and financial
missions are.
v Strength of the company's management team.
This criterion can be a deal-breaker for funders. While teams must
include at least one current MBA, we encourage you to include on your
management team at least one seasoned professional from the field or a
related field. Click here to search the competition's matchmaker database
and for suggestions on how to strengthen your management team (http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/socialventure/teams/).
v Rigor and validity of the plan's Social Return on
Investment (SROI) calculation. Click here for an example of an SROI
calculation (http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/socialventure/applicants/howto.html). Check back soon for a list of quantified
impacts from last year's plans and some potential pitfalls.
v Whether the company will follow socially
responsible business practices (e.g., measure its net environmental and social
impact, encourage family-friendly practices among employees, recycle, reduce
emissions in manufacturing, etc.) Check back soon for a list of common
business practices that can enhance any company's (whether social venture or
not) contribution to its community and its environment. While socially
responsible business practices are not synonymous with a social venture, we
encourage entrants to think holistically about the social/environmental impact
of business practices not directly related to the company's mission.
JUDGING
PROCESS
Teams in this year’s
competition will compete in three rounds, beginning in January 2001.
Entering teams must
register for the competition by submitting an executive summary of their plan
by NOT LATER THAN 5:00PM PST, MONDAY, JANUARY 22. Please refer to http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/socialventure/applicants/index.html
for an outline of a sample executive summary.
Executive summaries will be screened by the Competition Organizers
according to the entry requirements detailed above, and up to 60 qualified
teams will be notified of their eligibility for future rounds of the
competition by January 29.
Qualified teams will be
asked to submit full business plans for the first round of judging by 5:00PM
PST on Tuesday, February 20, 2001. For
Round One submission requirements, please see http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/socialventure/applicants/round1.html. These plans will be distributed to judges
with expertise in the plan’s vertical business category (e.g., health,
environment, human capital development, education), and evaluated according to
the HSVC Judges’ Scoresheet. Each team
participating in Round One will receive written feedback from the reviewing
judges, whether or not the plan is selected to advance in the competition. Round One judges will meet at the Haas
School of Business on March 5, 2001 to select eight finalist teams to compete
in the final round of the competition.
Finalists will be notified by March 8.
The competition will
culminate April 13-14, 2001 with a private presentation by each of the eight finalist
teams to the judging panel at Haas. The
grand prize-winner will be announced that weekend, as well as Honorable
Mention awards.
OTHER QUESTIONS?
Please
visit http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/socialventure/faq.html
for responses to other frequently asked questions.
Last updated 02/12/2001
