Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition

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Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition

Have you noticed a problem at school, at home, or in your community that you want to solve? Have you imagined solutions and creative new systems to major problems but been frustrated at not knowing where to start?

Introducing the 2022 Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition!

Designed specifically for students with no prior experience, the Ideas Competition is an easy way to get your toes wet and see if entrepreneurship could be right for you. All you need to apply is an idea, no matter how small!

The first round of the competition will take place on campus, and top students from each of four tracks will be selected to win $1,000 each. These four winners will join finalists from each school in the Blackstone LaunchPad network for a national round of the competition, for the chance to win a $10,000 prize. Apply now before it is too late!

This competition has four tracks:

  • Social & Climate Impact
  • Health & Life Sciences
  • Consumer Products & Services
  • General

Winners from each campus will go on to compete in the National Round competition, where BXCF and StartupTree will select and award $10,000 to the grand prize winner in each track.

Application Questions:

  1. The name of your venture.
  2. What is your idea? Be specific on what exactly your venture/organization is going to make or do.
  3. How did you come up with the idea, what problem is it solving, and why are you uniquely passionate or qualified to take this solution forward? 
  4. What is the business model and how do you plan to sell to customers? 
  5. If you do not have customers yet, please describe who would be your market and/or who would pay.

Thursday, October

01

5pm – 7pm

Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition Info Session and Kick-Off – Applications Open

ANTrepreneur Center

Friday, October

28

11:59 pm

Applications due!

Monday, October

31

11:59 pm

Winners announced!

🌄PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition is designed to provide students with early-stage ideas to compete for cash prizes!

More importantly, participating students will gain access to the LaunchPad program on their campus, to get the support on their entrepreneurship journey and skill-building.

This signature program supports LaunchPad’s goal in de-risking entrepreneurship, broadening accessibility, and diversifying engagement with a focus on recruiting underrepresented and under-resourced students to participate.

The competition is virtual, hosted on the StartupTree platform.

🚝CHOOSE YOUR TRACK

Participants will need to select 1 of the following 4 tracks.

  • Social and Climate Impact
  • Health & Life Science
  • Consumer Products & Services
  • General 

🏆PRIZES

The winners of the [Campus Round] will take home $1,000. Furthermore, four (4) finalists from each campus will move forward to the [Network Round] competing for $10,000 in additional prize money to further develop your idea.

👤ELIGIBILITY

The applicant must…

  • be a current student (undergraduate or graduate-level) ​
  • be a founder/co-founder (i.e., the person with the original idea)
  • be in the earliest stages – have an idea or have just started building on an idea
  • create a profile on Startup Tree and apply as an individual or in teams of  2​

📆IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

  • October 13th: Application for Campus Round Open
  • October 28th: Deadline for Campus Round 
    • All applications must be submitted by October 28th at 11:59 PM
  • October 29th-31st: Campus Round Deliberation Period
    • Applicants will be evaluated and scored
  • November 1st – November 16th: Winner from each track across each school invited to finalist network round
    • If you are selected as Finalist, you will be invited to the Network Round
  • November 16th: Deadline for Network Round Finalist Participation
    • More information and link to apply will be shared with Finalists
  • December 6th: Network Round winners announced

Start here to turn that idea into a reality.