Overview & Judging

The Panasci Business Plan Competition spurs the entrepreneurial spirit of Whitman students in creating growth-oriented business models. Entrant teams can range in size from as small as one student to more than five members on the team.

Teams first submit their entries for judging in the preliminary round, the Overview phase, which takes place in early February. The independent panel of outside judges reviews all preliminary entries, then narrows the field to a group of teams which proceed to the second round, the Business Plan phase.

In the Business Plan phase, the qualifying teams finish researching their new venture ideas, then write and assemble a complete business plan. Student teams should follow the outline provided.

These complete plans are reviewed by the judging panel, and judged on the basis of a number of perspectives, including the concept, the market, the economics of the business, operations, management team, financing needed, and so forth.

Click on the presentation type for judging guidelines for the oral and written plan presentations.

The completed business plans are due by early April. The judging panel reviews the plans submitted, then selects 15 teams to proceed to the final round--the Presentation phase. The final round take place over two days. On day one, each of the 15 teams will have 20 minutes to present their business plans to the judges. The judges will have 10 minutes to question the presenters. At the end of day one 15 teams are cut to four. Winners are determined and awards are presented after a second round of presentations on day two.

The Panasci Business Plan Competition rewards both the innovativeness of the idea and the quality of the plan, including innovative thinking regarding new markets, products and services, coupled with the ability to strategize on how to make it happen. The prize money is an incentive to form new companies with promising business ideas.