$25,000 Entrepreneur Contest: All Graduate Students may Register to compete for $25,000 and the chance to present their new business proposals before Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists at the University of San Francisco 2004 International Business Plan Competition. (http://www.businessplancompetition.org)

The University of San Francisco Entrepreneurship Program is now accepting business plan proposals from all graduate students from every nation for the USF 2004 International Business Plan Competition. Graduate Student Entrepreneurs will compete for the opportunity to present their best business ideas before leading Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists and Chief Executives. Total Cash Prizes are $25,000. Submission details are at http://www.businessplancompetition.org.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 10, 2003 --Today the University of San Francisco MBA Entrepreneurship Program announced that the Call for Proposals period continues for its next international business plan competition, to be held on April 1-3, 2004, in San Francisco, California. The competition is located in the global epicenter of entrepreneurship, and it is internationally recognized for providing participating graduate students with unprecedented exposure to premier venture capital firms. Previous judges have included partners with Benchmark Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Garage Technology Ventures, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, and many others.    

Students compete directly for total cash prizes of $25,000, but more importantly, they vie for the opportunity to present their best new business ideas to many of the worlds most respected and influential investors and entrepreneurs," said Professor Mark Cannice, Director of the Entrepreneurship Program and Competition at USF.

Jeffrey G. Wilkins, a graduate student at the University of Michigan and the 2003 USF Competition Grand Champion for his company, Mobius MicroSystems, indicated that,
"The USF Business Plan Competition brought together a diverse and truly competitive field of participants with an absolutely outstanding and genuinely interested panel of judges. The result was a chance to pitch our business to insightful VCs and entrepreneurs, giving us some of the most valuable feedback our management team has received to date, while networking with talented student entrepreneurs from around the world. All of this combined with the energy of San Francisco made the USF competition an invigorating experience for the Mobius Microsystems team."

Tahsin Alam, an MIT graduate student and 2003 USF Competition Runner-up for his company, Ferrate Solutions, concurred, saying, "It was wonderful to be at USF. .. The USF business plan competition stood apart in my mind because of two reasons - one is its international nature, and the other, the exposure to venture capital firms."

Currently enrolled graduate students should submit a three to five page executive summary of their seed stage start-up for consideration. The proposal submission deadline is February 10, 2004, although early submissions are encouraged with lodging scholarship opportunities. More information regarding the competition and submission guidelines can be found by visiting http://www.businessplancompetition.org, or by email to Professor Mark Cannice at cannice@usfca.edu.

In April 2003 Entrepreneur Magazine ranked the University of San Francisco among the Top 100 Entrepreneurial Universities in the United States.
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