The Fowler Business Concept Challenge

Round One: Online submissions due by October 24
Each individual or student team will create a concept for a new business or social venture and submit a five-page explanation of the product or service by 11:59 p.m. on October 24. Submission requirements differ by track (see detail in the Requirements tab below). Sixteen semifinalists in each track will be chosen from these submissions to advance to the semifinals on November 18.

Round Two: Semifinalists pitch live November 18, 8-11:30 a.m.
Semifinalists will prepare a 10-minute presentation of their concept and present it on November 18 to a distinguished panel of judges from the entrepreneurial, business and investment communities.

Round Three: Finalists pitch live on the afternoon of November 18
The top four teams in each division will advance to the finals. Finalist teams will present their 10-minute presentations on the afternoon of November 18 to a new panel of judges from the entrepreneurial, business and investment communities.

• Winner: $15,000 per team
• Runner-up: $7,500 per team
• Second Runner-up: $5,000 per team
• Third Runner-up: $2,500 per team
• Most Effective Presenter: $1,000 per team

The competition is open exclusively to all University of St. Thomas undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows registered in the semester of the competition. Students can participate as individuals or as part of a team. Teams typically consist of two to three members. All members of a team must be current students with a valid St. Thomas student ID.

Submissions should be new concepts, not already existing companies. No concepts that have won or placed in the finals of a previous Fowler competition may be submitted again. Students are allowed to re-submit a concept that was previously accepted to the semifinal competition, so long as the concept did not advance to the finals round. Students may submit as many business concepts as they like, but students are limited to one concept eligible to compete in the semifinal and final competition.

Provide a brief description of your business concept following the prompts outlined below. Your submission can be a maximum of five pages, double-spaced, 11-point type.

1. A concise description of the proposed business and why it is unique/compelling.
2. Target Market – Who is your customer? What customer problem will you solve? How does your customer solve that problem today? What other solutions will compete for that customer?
3. Proposed Solution – What is your product or service? How will it solve the problem? How will your solution create exceptional value for the customer? How is it different from and superior to other solutions in the market?
4. Market Opportunity – Provide a preliminary estimate of the size of the potential market (number of customers that can be reasonably addressed).
5. Business model – How will you deliver this solution to your customer affordably and effectively, and how will the venture make money (revenue model)?
6. How does your concept contribute to the common good? — how does it support human flourishing among its key stakeholders? Are there potential harms to stakeholders or society, and how will you mitigate those?
7. Why Should Someone Invest in Your Venture? Explain why you will be successful.

1. Social impact focus area – What is the social problem you want to help solve (e.g. reduce food insecurity in the Twin Cities; reduce chemical run-off into the Mississippi; reduce the opportunity gap in low-income schools, etc.)?
2. Proposed solution – What product or service will you offer to address the problem? How will your solution help alleviate the problem?
3. Population served
   • Who is impacted by the problem? How do they experience the problem today? How do they try to solve it today? How will they be impacted by your solution?
   • Are there other “customers” or stakeholders you must serve in order to deliver or fund your solution or impact? (For instance, Love Your Melon sells hats to consumers in order to raise money to donate hats and funds for children experiencing cancer and to the nonprofits that serve them). Who are these customers? Why will they want your offering?
4. Compelling advantage – How is your solution different from and superior to other solutions in the market? How does your solution create exceptional value for all it serves?
5. Business model – How will you deliver this solution to your customer affordably and effectively, and how will the venture make money (revenue model)? How is your revenue model connected to your goal to deliver social impact?
6. Potential social impact – How many people can you impact, or how many customers can you reasonably address? How will you measure the success of your venture? What measures or metrics will you use (e.g. number of clients fed; decrease in chemical run-off, etc.)?

To submit your concept, create a free account with Reviewr. You will need your concept name, your chosen competition track, the student ID numbers for each person on the team, and your business concept document. Submit your Concept here. 

Judges will select up to 16 teams as semifinalists in each track. These teams will be given additional instructions to prepare their presentations for the judges.

The judges will select the top four semifinalists from each track to move on to the final round in the afternoon. A new panel of judges will select the winners in each track.

Preliminary submissions will be judged by a reviewer panel using the following criteria (equally weighted):

• Originality - business idea is new, novel and unique
• Clear and compelling value proposition - legitimate, recognized need; appropriate solution
• Competitive advantage - creates more value for customer than alternative solutions
• Market opportunity - adequate market size; viable revenue model
• Feasibility - reasonable prospect of funding and successful implementation
• Clear understanding and articulation of impact on stakeholders and society - demonstrate understanding of potential benefits, harms, ethical issues, that might arise in conjunction with this concept and how to address them
• Well-researched - demonstrates clear understanding of customer/customer need, market, competitive set, solution requirements

• Originality - social venture concept is new, novel and unique
• Clear statement of social value proposition/environmental impact - legitimate, recognized need; appropriate solution
• Compelling advantage - creates more value for customer/client than existing solutions
• Social impact - the size of environmental impact, size of population served; potential to impact a significant number of people, size of reduction of risk/loss
• Feasibility/Sustainability - viable business/revenue model that does not continue to depend on donations; the reasonable prospect of successful implementation
• Well-researched - demonstrates clear understanding of the social/environmental problem, customer/environmental need, market, competitive offerings, solution requirements

• The Fowler Business Concept Track: Overview
• Fowler Business Concept Challenge Crash Course
• What is a business model?
• How to size the market

• The Fowler Social Venture Track: Overview
• What is Social Entrepreneurship? Social Enterprise 101
• Quickstart brainstorming exercise for The Fowler Social Venture Track
• Social venture business model example
• Measuring Social Impact

• Concept Ideation Worksheet
• Build the Case for your Concept
• Business Modeling