The Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest (GLEQ) is a year-around educational program offering classes, training, coaching and mentoring to help entrepreneurs start, develop or accelerate high-growth business.  GLEQ participants are eligible to compete in one of three business plan paths: 1) New Business Idea, 2) Emerging Company, or 3) SmartZone Award. 

GLEQ's New Business Idea path is targeted at entrepreneurs with little or no business start-up experience. This path - offered twice a year - provides basic business plan training and education, as well as networking opportunities with potential team members, coaches, angel investors, government resources and others. You may enter the competition in this category as many times as you like, until you win and are elevated to the Emerging Company category.  Eligible participants will submit a 5-page executive summary that captures their innovation, relevant experience and market opportunity.  Coaches will assist with the development of the executive summary and judges will provide feedback.  The first place prize in this category is $5,000.  The second place prize is $2,500.

GLEQ’s Emerging Company path is for entrepreneurs with some business or start-up experience. The path has two distinct rounds.  In the fall, the team submits a five page executive summary, and in the spring the team completes a full 12-page business plan.  You can compete in either cycle at any time and can enter as many times as you like until you win and are no longer eligible to compete.  Coaches will assist with the development of the executive summary and judges will provide feedback.  The entrepreneurs submitting the top 6 business plans will have a chance to present their business pitch to a panel of judges in the final round of the completion.  The first place prize in this category is $25,000.  The second place prize is $10,000.

GLEQ's SmartZone Award is a $100,000 award for ventures ready for pre-seed capital.  ..

The deadline to enter the next round of competition is Wednesday, March 28.  New business executive summaries  and emerging company business plans are due Monday, May 14.  SmartZone documents, which include a business plan, financials, and a SmartZone letter of recommendation are due April 30.    Go to www.gleq.org to register.
 

Start Garden is a new $15 million venture capital fund that invests $5,000 in two business ideas every week.  Backed by the DeVos family of Grand Rapids, Start Garden is designed to remove the barriers for an idea to become a project and a project to become a start-up business.  Each week, Start Garden will invest in two ideas submitted to the website www.startgarden.com.  Each idea will receive $5,000; one will be chosen by Start Garden team members and the broader community will select the other by voting for ideas they like via the website.  Each person who receives the initial $5,000 investment has 60-90 days to get some traction with his/her idea, and return to give an in-person update at a public event.  The update informs Start Garden management and mentors which candidate made a smart use of the funds.  Ideas can receive an additional $20,000 to continue to move forward.  Projects that demonstrate success and continued growth can ultimately receive as much as $500,000 in incremental investments.  Ideas must have the potential to become a business, and that business must be located in Michigan.  To learn more or submit your business idea, go to www.startgarden.com.

Anyone who is starting a business or already has a business should have a well-practiced "elevator pitch" prepared.   An elevator pitch is a concise, carefully planned description of a business idea or current business.  The pitch should be delivered using language a 4th-grader could understand in the time it takes to ride up an elevator - usually 90 seconds!  It's important to have your pitch ready to go anytime, anywhere, because you never know when you'll have an opportunity to talk to a potential investor or future customer.

Click here to read an article that will teach you how to develop a pitch that's right on.  It also includes a link to an online pitch-builder tool from Harvard Business School - also very helpful and easy to follow.  To go straight to  Harvard's Elevator Pitch Builder, click here.