Eureka! 2007, the 10th annual business plan competition hosted by The Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT Bombay, has been initiated as a multi-round event open to participants globally. Previous competitions have already witnessed the launch of over 15 successful start-ups, including multimillion-dollar ventures like MyZus and eInfinitus.

The event seeks to facilitate entrepreneurship by assisting individuals who want to build their own enterprise from scratch, showcasing business plans through this competition to those looking to either invest, or partner with those planning to start their own ventures.

IIT Bombay says the Eureka! Business Plan competition is counted amongst the top five competitions in the Asia-Oceanic region in terms of participation, prizes and resources and is intended to provide a platform for intending entrepreneurs to test the business potential of their ideas. The competition provides participants necessary resources in terms of a unique mentoring process and transparent judging of the participant''s business plans.

Eureka! 2007 is a three-stage event:

Stage 1: Executive summary
The executive summary round involves the submission of a three-four page summary in fewer than 1600 words of the proposed business plan. The write-up should briefly describe the company, the product or service and the unique opportunity that the participating team would offer. It should also provide a short description of the key management team members and an outline of the investment being made.

Stage 2: Mentoring process
The mentoring process gives the qualified Eureka! teams an opportunity to interact with seasoned entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and faculty. These mentors use their expertise and experience to help the teams refine and further develop their business plans.

• Intensive mentorship programme from 30 October to 9 December 2007. Each Eureka! second stage qualifier will be assigned a mentor from a panel for a specified duration to advise the team on various aspects of their business plan. The communication between the mentor and the team will be mainly through mails. Meetings between the team and the mentor may be arranged as per the mentor''s convenience.
  
  
• Submission of a draft of business plan.
  The teams selected in the second round, after going through the intensive mentorship programme will have to submit a draft of their business plan. The format of the draft must follow the guidelines that will be given to the short listed teams. Teams will be allowed to participate in the mentors'' meet only if they submit a rough draft.
  
  
• The mentors'' meet on 9 December 2007 at the ''e-summit'' during the second stage will enable the short-listed participants to discuss their business plans with three mentors from different domains of expertise and seek their guidance towards refining and further developing their plans. Each mentor would interact with three teams and each session would last approximately 45 minutes.
  
  Submission of the Business Plans
  This stage calls for an exhaustive business plan that covers all details from ''vision to mission'', ''organisation to ownership'', and marketing and exit plan strategies. The selected teams, after mentoring and guidance from corporate members, have to submit their detailed business plans and a renewed executive summary.

Stage 3: Final business plan submission and presentations (February 2008)
The finalists would present their business plans to a panel of venture capitalists and incubators towards securing funding / incubation for their start-up. They will also be required to make a presentation before the Eureka! jury panel followed by the awards ceremony and open media presentations. The final draft of the business plan will have to be submitted a week before the final presentation. The presentations will be made in Mumbai, India.

Targeted Deadlines:

For the first round submission of the executive summary: 30 September 2007.

Incentives for participants:

• Resources worth more than Rs14 lakh
• Opportunities for possible venture capital funding via a wide network of VCs
• Business incubation opportunities from 20 business incubators across India
• Business consulting to finalists provided by Economic Laws Practice (ELP)
• Intensive mentoring to Eureka! second-stage finalists
• Award for the best entry oriented towards the rural sector

Prizes:
Eureka! 2007 has the following prizes awaiting the competition''s winners:

• First prize: Rs400,000
• Second prize: Rs250,000
• Third prize: Rs150,000
• Best entry in rural category: Rs100,000
• Top Student Team: Rs 50,000 (amongst the remaining finalists)

For registration and other details about Eureka! 2007, log on to www.eureka.ecell.in