Judging Criteria

Teams will be judged throughout the competition at three unique Milestone Reviews, as well as at the end of the competition.  The first three rounds of judging will focus on the progress each Venture is making, and the specific criteria used will depend on the round.  No teams will be eliminated in the Milestone Reviews.

1st Milestone Review: The first round will be judged by the venture’s Mentors and Board Members. This Milestone Review shows how the team is using the Business Model Canvas  to confirm that the team really knows and understands their idea or product, and has identified an initial and appropriate market need to meet. It will focus on what has been learned as the result of customer discovery and product development efforts performed “out of the building.”  They must also know how they will demonstrate or prototype their product, and what their initial budget will be.

2nd Milestone Review: The second round of judging will be done by a different group of Mentors and Board Members from other Ventures. It will demonstrate, based on a yet again updated  Business Model Canvas, that by this time the team can describe and successfully convey to others not already familiar with the Venture its full business model and plan, with accompanying financials and timelines. It will be a dry run for the final judging, and is intended to reveal the deficiencies that can be corrected by the final presentation deadline.

Final Judging will be done by a panel with ties to Michigan including VCs, members of the academic and business communities, and experienced entrepreneurs. The panel will review the final presentations and determine the winners of the Clean Energy Venture Challenge.  Important judging criteria will include, but are not limited to:

  • Market need, potential and scalability
  • Product Definition
  • Customer definition and identification, and communication strategy
  • What will be the form of your prototype or product demonstration?
  • Go to market plan
  • Defensibility from competitors and identification of sustainable competitive advantage
  • Cost and Revenue forecast
  • Team identification, including skills needed, quality, dedication and breadth
  • The Venture’s timelines
  • Required capital investment, and plan for the use of funds raised.
  • The ROI plan (progression of cap tables) that will attract investment
 

Comments are closed.