Starting the New Year off with a bang, the first annual "StartUps Go Public alternative to a Business Plan Competition," sponsored by Fundingroadmap.com and Grow Public, Inc., promises world-wide exposure to all of its contestants, and one winning startup the opportunity to "Go Public" in 2011! http://zfer.us/LOY9j
The Contest
Launching on January 12th, the "StartUps Go Public" competition is free to enter to the first 5000 paid subscribers to The Funding Roadmap who check the box inside their Funding Roadmap platform and choose to enter the contest. Once signed up, contestants will create their presentations within Funding Roadmap's Virtual Marketplace using the executive summary and video features available within the Funding Roadmap platform to compete with others for the chance to win the grand prize, sponsored by Grow Public, Inc., along with other products, services and special discounts provided by the contest's corporate sponsors - a prize package worth more than $100,000!
The "StartUps Go Public" competition will showcase and nurture entrepreneurial talent from across the United States, challenging aspiring business owners and those excited by this unique venture startup process to take their ideas from the napkin stage to reality, while providing existing early stage businesses a whole new way to access that ever-elusive startup capital. What’s different about the "StartUps Go Public" Competition is that unlike most business plan competitions which are sponsored by universities and colleges and open only to their students,this is open to the entire startup community across the country and will provide it's contestants with direct access to business mentoring, marketing and other alternative funding options long after the contest is over. The Funding Roadmap and Grow Public, Inc. hope to offer real world experience to entrepreneurs of all levels, helping them to become better prepared to launch businesses and to seek any and all avenues for funding as they grow.
Prizes and Added Value to Contestants
"StartUps Go Public" contestants who enter in the first 30 days will have the opportunity to win additional prizes, including and iPad, but more importantly will gain access to business development support and coaching webinars throughout the contest to help them make better strategic decisions as they prepare for the judges' review process, courtesy of the competition's corporate supporters. Win or lose, "StartUps Go Public" promises to help all contestants come away better prepared to launch successful ventures and seek funding from a universe of possible investors.
Contestants also receive free marketing and mentions by contest sponsors on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Some may even be discussed and/or interviewed in one of several PR Newswire campaigns, and are encouraged to use their own social networks as well to help promote their entry in the"StartUps Go Public" Competition. "It's a great way to impress investors with your contacts, connections and just as importantly, the fan base you've built around your entry." says Greg Wehmeyer, Co-Founder and CMO of Grow Public, Inc.
The "StartUps Go Public" alternative to a Business Plan Competition is limited to 5000 entries - slots that contest sponsors expect will fill up quickly. Followers on the contest's Facebook and Twitter pages will be alerted when the entry roster is full, at which time entrants will have 60 additional days to complete their Funding Roadmap and post it on the marketplace for final review by the judges.
Subscriptions to fundingroadmap are $59.95 a year. Visit www.fundingroadmap.com for more details.
About The Contest Organizers
Funding Roadmap has created a new industry standard by reinventing the business plan into a cloud based reporting system - the only one of its kind. "We’ve seen that investors and lenders can’t efficiently process the demand for capital with old paper and template business plans, making them a poor instrument for conveying the ideas and facts necessary for presenting to investors." states Ruth Hedges, CEO of The Funding Roadmap. "This reinforces investors’ tendency to go with people they already know, or more often with no one at all, crippling innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit necessary for an economic recovery. Our SBA and GAAP compliant virtual platform changes everything!”
Its many features allow the Funding Roadmap reporting system to outperform traditional static business plans, giving startups the ability to change course, based on evolving circumstances and information, to reach their goals. "The key to success in the new dot com era is flexibility. Entrepreneurs who think they can wing it in their business planning process and bluff their way past tough questions during the due diligence process, sadly, lose opportunities for funding that can never be regained." says Hedges. "Using The Funding Roadmap, startups have the ability to develop, grow and evolve their ideas on the fly,modeling their assumptions and considering alternatives before committing any significant resources. This is as true for our "StartUps Go Public" competition as it is for the real world."
Funding Roadmap opens up possibilities for funding and collaboration in ways old fashioned business plans never could, while providing an easy and clear cut method for benchmarking, posting, pitching and providing due diligence reporting to an ever-expanding world of possible investors and lenders. Using Funding Roadmap's collaborative business planning and reporting technology helps startup entrepreneurs discover what it really takes to launch a company. This is an important asset for the small business sector as it looks to reassert itself as an engine of job creation. "The Internet is alive with startups and small businesses looking for capital." Hedges says. "We want to show startup companies the varied new and innovative ways for raising capital, and launching or expanding a company, and Grow Public’s involvement in this competition is a case in point."
"Grow Public, Inc. believes than an early entry into the public equity markets, with the help of private equity seed capital, helps limit the risks once shouldered by a single Venture Capital funding source, while maximizing ROI for them over the longer haul, and allowing the startup to retain majority ownership of their venture." Wehmeyer says. "Our strategy of leveraging the viral nature of social media to promote brands, not shares of stock, leading up to a public launch, along with a measured approach to driving up desire for an offering within the market once shares begin trading is what we call "the perfect storm" for startups, their funding sources and investors at large. Ruth and her team have reinvented the business plan, Grow Public has reinvented funding!"
http://www.fundingroadmap.com/contest.php
