Yes--students that are currently enrolled or were enrolled in the 2023-2024 academic calendar year, including those who graduated in December or another month, are eligible to compete.

Yes-- part-time students are allowed to participate as long as they are currently enrolled or were enrolled during the 2023-2024 academic calendar year.

All presenters must be eligible students in all stages of the competition. You may have team members or advisors who are not students work with your team. For business ventures that are incorporated, your business must be majority student-owned (more than 50%). For teams that are unincorporated, the majority of contributions need to come from students, such that should an organization become incorporated, the organization would be majority student-owned.

The application will open in January 2024 and will be available at nybpc.org or on the MHRBPC website.  All students across the state fill out one statewide application to compete in the regional competitions. Upon submission of your application,  your regional organizers, roberta.diggins@marist.edu or Cynthia.worrad@marist.edu will be in contact with you.

The complete rule book can be found on several pages of the MHRBPC website.

A maximum of two teams from each track will be selected.

Yes--student teams are eligible to compete as long as they haven't raised more than $100,000 in cumulative public and private capital, including other business plan competitions, but excluding grant funding. 

Judges use the NYBPC rubric to evaluate each team at both the regional level and state level. Judges are asked to evaluate companies according to the following criteria: Market Opportunity, Competitive Advantage, Management Capability, Financial Understanding, Roadmap/Growth Strategy, and Sustainable Business Model. Judges focus their deliberations on the long-term viability and sustainable competitive advantage of each venture.

No-- judges and participants do not sign confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements, just like in an actual investor presentation.  Entrepreneurs need to learn how to effectively pitch their idea, technology, and business model to investors without disclosing confidential information.  Teams should not include any confidential information in their applications or pitch decks.

IP protection is the responsibility of the applicant.  In general and for the NYBPC, it's best to focus on the problem, high-level overview of a solution, and how the solution makes money, without getting into too much detail on the product/service. 

As stated by a local attorney: Steve Ackerman of Saile Ackerman law firm based in Poughkeepsie, NY:
"Pursuing protection by obtaining a patent is the most likely approach.  It would be best to find a patent attorney to discuss next steps, and the discussion should include the costs and timeline for obtaining patent protection, why a patentability search is a good idea, and the importance of getting a patent application filed before you disclose your idea to any third party.  You'll also want to start thinking about how you might produce, market, and sell a product that includes your invention, and how to finance the costs of starting a business and paying for the patent process.  As an alternative to selling the product yourself, you may consider just obtaining a patent and finding someone else to make and sell the product, though this has its own challenges."