Judges & Mentors
Submit your idea!
Deadline: January 31
The success of our annual Governor's Business Plan Contest doesn't exist without all the volunteers who graciously donate their time to judge the plans or mentor the start-ups.
Judging the competition is a great opportunity to help shape entrepreneurial high-growth companies throughout Wisconsin. BPC judges include investors, academics, experienced entrepreneurs and other professionals interested in the development of high-growth companies that will define Wisconsin’s future.
The BPC is run in two written phases, a recorded presentation phase and a live presentation phase. The first phase is essentially an “elevator pitch” of roughly 250 words, the second phase is a 1,000-word executive summary and the third phase is a narrated pitch deck of up to 15 minutes. The final phase of the contest is a presentation by the top three finalists in each category. The four categories are Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, Information Technology and Life Sciences.
The contest will run through the online portal. Scores and feedback for the first three phases are collected online from registered judges. The final presentation phase will be scored live by judges during the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference.
Please remember that as a BPC judge you need to:
- Remain impartial and at a discreet distance from the participating teams during the competition. If there are any conflicts of interest, please let the contest administrator know immediately and we will assign that plan to another judge.
- Guard the confidentiality of the business plans reviewed during the competition.
If you would like to serve as a judge for the contest, please email Julie at info@govsbizplancontest.com for instructions on creating an account.
Mentors
Serving as a mentor for the Governor’s Business Plan Contest is a great opportunity to interact with innovative leaders working through the challenging process of building a new business. BPC mentors are innovative business leaders within the state that have volunteered their time and expertise to assist the entrepreneurs participating in the competition. Throughout the contest, contestants will have the opportunity to submit questions – mentors will be able to directly respond to the questions by email.
If you are interested in participating as a mentor, please email Julie at info@govsbizplancontest.com for more information.
Contestants can submit questions to a pool of BPC mentors at any point throughout the contest. Please email your question, along with all the relevant information, to mentors@govsbizplancontest.com.