The VC Busiiness Plan Contest is closed - thanks to all who have submitted entries

Special Session on Venture Capital in the Computer Security Industry (including a 1-page Business Plan Contest)

Find out what the people with the money are looking for! Enter the 1-page business plan contest and get feedback from leading VCs (easy to do, no cost, no risk)!

The global IT security market is over $5 billion dollars with a growth rate of about 15% annually. Areas such as security appliances, intrusion detection systems, and anti-spam are growing even faster. Clearly such a large, expanding market leads to many venture opportunities. This session will explore the role of venture capital in this market and what VCs are looking for in funding both startups and existing companies. It will include presentations by the three top finishers in the business plan contest, a question-and-answer panel, and awarding of prizes.

The business plan contest allows anyone to enter a 1-page plan related to computer security (hardware, software, peripherals, accessories, services, or systems).

A panel of leading VCs will judge the entries, and the top three finishers will get to make 10-minute presentations of their plans during the Session. The VCs will then award first through third prizes based on both the original plans and the presentations. All entrants will receive grades and comments from the VCs.

Session Description:

About the Organizer, Moderator and Lead Consultant:

Nathan Joyner is the Vice President of Technology at Pacific Ridge Capital, an investment banking company focused on underserved emerging growth/middle-market companies and institutional investors.  He has previous experience at Intel where he led product launches and served global customers for PC and server related products.  He received an MBA from USC and a BSEE from Washington State University. 

Vikram Karnaker is a Manager in the Corporate Development Group at STEC, a maker of high-reliability memory and storage solutions. He has previous experience as an investment banker at Peter J. Solomon. He received his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sara Rauchwerger is a business consultant with BG Strategy. She has given presentations all over the world on how to make winning proposals.

Submitting Your Plan

The contest involves the submission of 1-page business plans using the form available. 

Your business plan must not exceed one page in length (10-point type) and must be submitted by e-mail.  Our panel will assign the submissions numerical grades, and we will invite the top three submitters to give 10-minute presentations of their plans during the conference session.  The panel will then select first, second, and third place winners on the basis of both the plans and the presentations.  Everyone who submits a plan will get a grade sheet by e-mail with suggestions for improvements. 

Panelists’ decisions are final, and any ties will be broken by the organizer.  So take this opportunity to see if that idea you’ve had floating around is something that the folks with the money like.  You will also get good press coverage and contacts if you impress the panel.  The top three winners will be specially recognized in a press release at the end of the conference.

The idea must be related to telecommunications equipment (hardware, software, peripherals, accessories, services, or systems).  All submissions will be kept confidential, and no copies will be retained by anyone.

Business Plan Example

You should use the example plan that follows this template as a guideline. The subject is absurd, but the plan answers all the questions noted above in exactly one page. 

You can find excellent educational material about creating a business plan on Guy Kawasaki’s website at www.garage.com (Garage Technology Ventures, Guy Kawasaki was an early Apple employee and Macintosh evangelist who is now a visionary VC). 

Most of the advice is quite simple.  VCs want to know how your plan will make them money.  They want to see strong (and preferably unique and patentable) technology, reasonable and realistic cost and time estimates, a large, well-defined market coupled with sound plans to reach potential customers, easily understandable competitive advantages over other products, and an experienced, well-qualified team.

Download an example plan