The registration deadline for the 7th HPI BPC is May 12th (extended until May 19th). Please send an E-Mail with the following team information and the presentation for phase l to Nadja.Hatzijordanou(at)hpi.de.

l. Please provide the following team information:

1. Team name / name of the company

2. Describe your business idea in one sentence

3. Contact details from each team member:

• Name, surname, E-mail, team function (e.g. CEO, CTO, Marketing, Finance)
• HPI connection (e.g. HPI (alumni) Bachelor / Master / PhD student, HPI staff, D-School Basic Track / Advanced Track, no HPI connection
• Current activity and employer (e.g. medicine student in 6. semester Charité, working student at Signavio)

4. Is the company already founded? If yes, since when?

5. Have you already received funding? If yes, what kind of funding (e.g. Exist)?

6. How long have you been working on the idea?

ll. Attach the presentation for phase l (business idea), which consists of 6 slides:

1. Cover sheet:

• Team name / name of the company
• Slogan
• Elevator-Pitch for phase l with the following (or a similar) sentence structure: For (target group), who has (customer need), (product name) is a (market category) that (one key benefit).

2. Team: Who are you? Why are you the right people to solve the problem?

3. Problems / customer need: Which problems do you want to solve?

4. Target group: Who is the target group? Who shall use / buy your product / service?

5. Product/ Solution: What is your offered solution for the problem? What is it that the customer buys from you?

6. Value proposition: What value does your product or service provide?

Please use the note section for additional information. The slides have to be in English and as pdf (Caution: please include the notes).

The winners of the Business Plan Competition receive a prize of up to € 100,000. This is composed of the following:

• HPI stipend for up to three team members for one year with a maximum value of € 50,000 (monthly volume depends on university degree).
• Investment offer from the HPI Seed Fund of up to € 50,000.

Further, the winners receive:

• Business coaching from the E-School team for one year
• a press release

• A team must consist of at least two entrepreneurs 
• At least one of the founders must be associated with HPI (an HPI student, alumni, PhD candidate or employee, or a graduate of the d.school in the Basic or Advanced Track) 
• The sense of co-founder means that the party holds significant shares in the start-up, or will hold these shares after the founding of the company
• Business ideas must be serious as well as IT-relevant

Kick-off event and registration

• Do I have to register for the kick-off event? No. Come to the E-School, Campus III, Rudolf-Breitscheid-Str. 189, Room G3. E15/16 on April 25th at 5 pm and ask all your questions about the competition.
• Do I have to register for the business plan competition? Yes. The team must register by e-mail by 12 May 2019. Further information can be found under "Information about registration".
• When is a team member associated with HPI? The HPI is associated with when one of the team members has a direct HPI connection in the form of HPI Bachelor, HPI Master, HPI Doctoral, HPI Alumni, HPI Staff, D-School Basic Track, D-School Advanced Track.
• Can I participate as a single person? No. A team must comprise at least two members. We will be happy to help you find another team member.
• What status should my business idea have in order to participate? Basically, participation is worthwhile if you want to work out or validate the usual contents of a pitch deck (e. g. team, problem, solution, value proposition, business model, market, competition) in a structured way. A basic "too far" or "too early" is not defined. A foundation does not stand in the way of participation. But the concept should still be refined. If the business model has already been defined and tested (i. e. there are already customers and recurring revenues), it makes less sense to participate. The best thing to do is to come to the kick-off on Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 5:00 pm, where all questions can be answered in person.

Feedback phases

• Do the slides have to be presented during the feedback session? No. The presentation must be submitted before the feedback session. Based on this information, feedback is given in the session and questions are asked.
• Can I get in phase II or phase III as well? No. You have to apply for the entire business plan competition and then go through the phases one after the other. Only the best 10 teams from phase l will progress to phase II and phase III.
• What are the selection criteria for the top 10 teams that will then be allowed to participate in Phase II and III? The experienced coaches from Phase I will decide who will participate in the next phases. The potential of the business idea and the team is particularly important.

Final and Prize

• When will the final be held? The final will take place on September 3rd.
• Does the winning team have to accept the HPI Seed Fund investment offer? No. The HPI Seed Fund may make an offer, but the winning team can decide for itself whether or not to accept the offer.
• Do non-HPI team members also receive a HPI scholarship? Yes. Up to three team members of the winning team will receive an HPI scholarship.
• What stands in the way of winning the scholarship? If the team receives other scholarships at the same time, the team would not be able to win the scholarship.