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.  It will occur in the middle of the Skill Building Phase.  This Milestone Review is intended to confirm that the team really knows and understands their idea or product, and has identified an initial and appropriate market need to meet.  They must also know how they will demonstrate or prototype their product, and what their initial budget will be.

2nd Milestone Review: This round will also be judged by the Venture’s Mentors and Board Members.  It will occur partway into the Acceleration Phase.  Ventures, as they pass this point, must confirm that they are having customer discovery and market feasibility conversations, and creating pivots as needed.  They should show they have gathered enough information to define the size of their addressable market, know who the competition is and how they serve the intended customer, and be able to describe their financial model for income and expenses.

3rd Milestone Review: The third round of judging will be done by a different group of Mentors and Board Members from other Ventures.  It will occur near the end of the Acceleration Phase.  It will demonstrate 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
     

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