Moot Corp Competition Newsletter



The Super Bowl of World Business Plan Competition		October 2006

In This Issue

	Thanks to Our Sponsors New Lunar Ventures Competition Launches Utah Entrepreneur Challenge Joins Participating Competitions Calling All Sponsors Looking for a Few Good Mentors Save the Date for Texas Moot Corp Competition

New Lunar Ventures Competition Launches

Students and faculty are invited to participate in the inaugural Lunar Ventures student business plan competition. Sponsored by NASA and the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines, the Competition challenges students in business, engineering and science to collaborate in creating business ventures related to space and associated technologies. Teams should consist primarily of graduate students, although undergraduate participation will be acceptable. A cash award of $25,000, in-kind services, and potentially a $100,000 investment are planned for the winner.

Each Lunar Ventures business plan proposal is to identify a business opportunity related to lunar and cislunar (Earth-Moon system) space exploration and development. For obvious reasons, “lunar venture” will be interpreted broadly. A venture may be one that is to operate in space; or it can involve a commercial activity on Earth that may eventually lead to business operations utilizing, or even located in, space.

Calling All Sponsors

The Global Moot Corp Competition is a worldwide event for graduate students building real start-up companies. The Competition launches their fund raising process. To compete a team must have won one of the regional competitions, and be staffed with MBAs and other graduate program participants. Each May, up to 40 teams from around the world make their way to Austin, Texas to participate and network in three days of competition. Business Week calls this program "the Super Bowl of World Business Plan Competition" and many participants go on to start their businesses, frequently raising institutional venture capital in the process through their Moot Corp experience.

Domestically these teams include the business schools at institutions such as Babson, Carnegie Mellon, Chicago, Michigan, Northwestern, Pepperdine, and UCLA. Internationally, where the program draws about 40% of participants, it includes many of the leading business schools in Europe, South America and the Pacific Rim. Teams participating typically have 4-5 team members and a faculty advisor. An innovative mix of consumer, technology, medical and service based companies from around the world make their way to Austin each year for the competition.

Sponsorship continues.

Looking for a Few Good Mentors

The MOOT CORP Program is soliciting individuals interested in providing entrepreneurial expertise to student teams enrolled in the New Venture Creation course which leads to the Texas Moot Corp Competition. The course’s objective is to help MBAs develop the skills necessary for creating a new venture, with a particular focus on communicating through written and verbal presentations.

The Mentor Program is intended to be an informal service for students seeking to formulate and execute successful business plans. Individuals with the appropriate expertise will have the opportunity to provide business plan critique and feedback to startups in an informal hands-on way.

Read more about the Mentor Program.

Save the Date for Texas Moot Corp Competition

The Texas Moot Corp Competition is open to all graduate level University of Texas students. The Competition follows the same rules and guidelines as the Global Moot Corp Competition. See Rules for more information. The top teams from the Semifinals will compete in the Texas Moot Corp Finals. The winner of the Finals will represent the University of Texas at Austin in the Global Moot Corp Competition in May.

Important Dates