IDEA Competition

1.  Application Step 1 – Basic personal and idea information: Tell us about yourself and your idea.
2.  Application Step 2 – Business Plan, if you have one completed.
   We will want an Executive Summary, Description of Product/Service, Market Size/Potential/Opportunity, Sales and Marketing Plan, Operating/Development Plan, and Financials
   • PLEASE NOTE: This step is not required to be completed until February. If you have the information ready to submit, you are welcome to upload it at the time of registration, but it is not necessary at the time of registration.

All eligible applications are advanced to round one of the competition.

Registration opens November 1st, 2021!

Innovation comes in many forms. While many of our past winners have had innovative product ideas, we are also looking for entrepreneurs with innovative services, processes, or business models. Innovation can be revolutionary. At times, it is simply an improvement or an incremental advance.

Here are just a few examples of business innovation in northwest Minnesota:

• Digi-Key – innovative business model
• Mattracks – innovative products
• Central Boiler – innovative products
• Northern Woolen Mills – innovative sales model
• Wells Technology – innovation in product development
• Weave Got Maille – innovative sales model
• LaValley Industries – innovative products
• Insect Inferno – innovative process

Not really. IDEA is more than an invention competition. IDEA is about the commercialization of ideas – in other words, turning great ideas into great businesses. An idea is only a beginning. It takes skill, strategy, and execution to turn an idea into something more. That is the purpose of the IDEA Competition – to help you turn your great idea into a profitable business venture.

Application process – The IDEA process starts once you submit an application. Once you have submitted your application, IDEA will review it for eligibility. If your application is deemed eligible, you will be accepted into the Dream Builders Round of the competition, when our IDEA Competition selection committee will place participants into categories, such as Emerging Entrepreneur, Young Entrepreneur, etc. We do not yet know the categories; they will be determined based on entries received.

 

Round One – For the first round, you will have to submit a business plan, startup costs, and cash flow projections. The IDEA judging panel will review and score your materials and provide you with feedback on your plan and financials. The highest scoring round one applications will be advanced to the IDEA finals.

 

Finals – If you are chosen as an IDEA finalist, you will be asked to refine your business plan and financials based on the feedback you have received from round one. You will also be required to create a 30-second video and an oral presentation for the IDEA judging panel.

 

Winning the Competition – Based on the final business plan, financials, video, and oral presentation, the final judging panel will select winners who may receive a cash award, valuable professional services (accounting, legal, marketing), and attention in the media. Runners-up may also receive a prize, including potentially cash or complementary services. Additionally, a winner or runner-up will also be named a Minnesota Cup semifinalist.

 

All IDEA participants are winners! Simply going through the process has helped past participants refine their business strategies and better position themselves for commercial success, despite any prize they may or may not have been awarded.

For both round one and the IDEA finals, a panel of judges will read and score each applicant on several key areas, with 1 to 10 points awarded for each of the following judging criteria: business opportunity, business model, strength of entrepreneur team, strength of financials, and strength of marketing plan.

IDEA does not encourage submitting applications for more than one idea. The effort to launch just one idea is quite exhaustive. Applicants are encouraged to enter the competition with the idea that has the greatest potential to generate revenue.

To be eligible, you must be either a resident of Northwest Minnesota, or own a business that is located in Northwest Minnesota. Award monies will not be disbursed to any individual without either proof of residency or proof of business location within Northwest Minnesota.

For the purposes of the IDEA Competition, Northwest Minnesota includes the following counties: Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and Roseau.

Either an individual or a team of up to four persons is eligible.

This year, the IDEA Competition is launching no-cost registration!

We do ask, and expect, that all registrants be committed to developing their idea into a successful business, with a willingness to commit the time necessary to work with our consultants in developing all necessary plans.

IDEA organizers will take reasonable steps to protect participants’ intellectual property, and we ask that you also take appropriate steps to protect your ideas.

Electronic and hard copies of business plan entries will be viewed by or distributed to judges and organizers only. Our judging panel – comprised of experienced investors, executives, business service professionals, and entrepreneurs – is accustomed to hearing ideas, business pitches and new deals on a regular basis. Each member respects the entrants’ confidentiality rights and signs a confidentiality agreement as a condition of their participation; however, IDEA will not arbitrate any disputes over judges’ handling of entries. Additionally, if there is a relationship between a member of the judging panel and an entrant, it will be disclosed to other judges for that particular entry, and the judge will recuse themselves from judging that entry if it is determined that a conflict of interest exists.

First and foremost, as an entrant, you are free to exclude any material you feel to be truly proprietary and at risk of disclosure. However, business plans that are incomplete or missing information will be very difficult for our judging panel to evaluate and the scoring of your application may be affected. If there is material that you will be sharing that is truly proprietary, whether you are sharing it with IDEA or anyone else, you should take appropriate steps to protect yourself. We recommend that you go to the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the most up to date information and resources on patents.

If you are part of a team, intra-team confidentiality is the sole responsibility of team members, and we will not arbitrate any disputes among team members that arise during the competition. Individuals or teams advancing to the final round will be required to submit a brief statement of their venture to be used for public relations purposes. This may be as general or specific as a team desires, but it should be considered public information. We expect all judges to act ethically. Special note: all developmental work done with the Northwest Small Business Development Center will be confidential and a signed confidentiality form will be in place prior to beginning consulting work.

• Batchelder Family
• Christian Brothers Inc.
• Keith Johanneson Family
• Steiger Family
• Don Ricke
• Mark Larson and Ron Stordahl
• William (Bill) S. Marvin
• Dennis and Glen Brazier
• Andy Wells
• Edgar Hetteen

• Michelle Landsverk
• Grant Oppegaard