Issue 1: Feb-Mar 2004

A Resource for UC Discovery Grant Students

February/March Focus: What's the Plan?

Starting a business is not all about good ideas – it takes money too. Sooner or later you will have to convince someone to lend you money or invest it in your risky new venture. A convincing business plan can demonstrate how their risk will be rewarded. A plan should describe the business opportunity and how you intend to exploit it. It’s both a selling document (convincing your investor that the business will be a strong one) and a planning document (forcing you to identify and justify your approach) in one.

How to get started? Many UC campuses have business plan competitions, where you can learn the art of writing a good plan and even win funding for your idea. In this edition we’ve highlighted some campus business plan competitions so you can get into practice.

6th Annual UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition
For UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco

Big Bang! UC Davis Business Plan Competition

UC Irvine Business Plan Competition

UC Santa Barbara Business Plan Competition

UC San Diego Business Plan Competition

UCLA The Knapp New Venture Competition

On-line Business Plan Resources:

Writing a Business Plan: Advice from the US Small Business Administration
Writing a Business Plan: Inc.Com’s “Build a Strong Business Plan, Section by Section”
Sample business plan

Please email us with your feedback, comments, and recommendations for upcoming events or resources: futureentrepreneurs@ucdiscoverygrant.org

If you are/were a UC Discovery student, we’d like to hear from you!
Please take a moment to fill out our UC Discovery trainee survey.