I have two strong preferences in the plans I review. The first is that the concept and/or technology be innovative – that it is a concept or technology that is cutting edge and unique enough to represent the MIT entrepreneurship competition. The second is that the team involved seems likely to actually pursue the proposed business – which is most compellingly demonstrated with traction. Traction can take the form of actual product development, or indications of actual conversation or interest from potential customers.

Outside of this, my criteria will be fairly typical. I will consider whether the team understands the market they are in, and in particular, whether it is familiar with competing companies. Does the company have a competitive advantage (or at least have they figured out what that advantage would be), and is that position defensible? Along these lines: does the company have patents, and who owns them (if it is MIT, then has the company negotiated the rights to the patents)? Is there “bottom up” market discussion in the plan, or is it all “top down”? And finally, who are the founders, do they seem inclined to build a full team, and do they seem likely to actually create the venture they envision?

Also check out my post on judge Sim Simeonov’s thoughts as well as his blog on innovation and VC.

Resource round-up: Our judging team recently posted the scoring form for the BPC, which our judges will use in their evaluations. The E-Center here at MIT has a solid list of community resources, as does our very own 100K site. Less tactical, but very inspiring are the podcasts on Stanford’s entrepreneurship resources site (h/t to Seph Skerrit).

Thanks to Jeff Vyduna, we had a demo of his product, Poll Everywhere, which gave us real time answers to questions like “Which scares you more, Public speaking or Death?” In 2-3 seconds my text vote moved the on-screen vote count. Impressive.

Rob Crowell, MIT 6-3 undergrad, pitching to the crowd:

Here are my suggestions if you’re still searching:

1. Come to our teambuilding mixer this Tuesday, February 12 from 6-8pm in the Stata Center. We’ll be in the TSMC Lobby (just inside entrance closest to corner of Vassar and Main Streets), with food.
2. Join our Facebook Group and post what you’re looking for. The more concise and specific, the better.
3. Email around. Try sending a description of what you’re looking for (again, short and sweet) around to your classmates and ask for their feedback.
4. Post a comment below. Depending on how much traffic we get here, we can always use the comments section to get a dialog going of who’s looking for what.
5. Email me. I put this last just because it’s probably the least efficient. Between classes and outside obligations, I can’t promise a match, but am happy to hear from you and give it a shot.

For entrants interested in social platforms, Sim also has some big picture thoughts on Getting Social Platforms Right.

Congrats to CyberAnalytix for winning the Executive Summary Contest for the Web/IT Track. Our five runners up also deserve credit for solid entries.

Registration deadline for entries to the Business Plan Competition is February 28, 5pm EST. One 1,000-word summary plus 10 powerpoint slides. These must be submitted online.

Office Hours are being setup for February 21st, 7pm, in E51, and we have limited spots. Email Mira Wilczek to reserve time that Thursday evening. Details are on the site (scroll halfway down the page).

Resources abound on the MIT100K Website for getting your idea into an entry. The FAQ page is also very helpful.

Kick-butt video is the technical term for this great clip put together by MIT100K allstars Jimmy Chen and Ryan Carag (click on the thumbnail under “Announcements”). If you’ve never been to one of our events, this gives you a flavor of what you’re missing.

And, that’s why I’ve started this blog. From a practical standpoint, meeting with student teams, judges, and sponsors over the past few months has been like drinking from the fire hose. There are so many pieces of the puzzle in my role supporting MIT teams in the competition’s Web/IT Track that I’m kicking myself for not doing this earlier. I’ve been having so much fun spending time with students, sponsors, judges, and mentors that it’s time to get some of this on paper. So, this blog will really serve to stitch together information that I think will help our student teams and perhaps be a resource to others out there. I guess this means expect fairly infrequent posts that are mostly all business. From the standpoint of the less-immediately-practical, hopefully this can serve as a window into the competition for those looking to get involved or learn more. I’m still trying to figure out how this platform can be most helpful, so please comment and keep it interactive–it would sort of be silly to think that I have the best answers. Oh, and “Ian’s Blog” is admittedly lame…suggestions?

Lastly, this is an experiment. As a full-time MBA student taking too many credits this semester, “experiment” means that I reserve the right to gracefully pull the plug on this should I start failing my midterms.

Onward to February 28th!

UPDATE: Pics of the event, thanks to Steve Marcus