Judging Procedures

Judges feedback will be made available for all teams at the conclusion of each round of the competition. This feedback is to provide an educational opportunity for the teams and is not utilized in the competition ranking process, although it may influence the judge’s ranking decisions.

 

• Executive Summary Judging Criteria

  Each judge will provide a numeric score for each of the criteria sections below for each executive summary submission that they review. After scoring, each judge’s raw scores will be used to rank each summary in comparison to all the summaries that they review. 

   

  Judges are also encouraged to provide critique for each of the executive summaries reviewed. The purpose of this critique is to provide an educational experience for all competition participants.

   

  Please note: All submission deadlines are final. Late submissions will not be accepted, and deadline extensions will not be granted for any reason. The Riata Center staff encourages each team to submit their executive summaries early so that any possible technical difficulties can be resolved before the submission deadline.

• Presentation Judging Criteria 

  Each judge will provide a numeric score for each of the criteria sections below for each presentation they review.  After scoring, the top four teams for each judge will then be announced. Judges will then discuss the results to decide on the winning teams.

   

  Judges are also encouraged to provide critique for each of the executive summaries reviewed. The purpose of these critiques is to provide an educational experience for all competition participants.

• Funding idea (20%)
  • Is the source of income uniquely identified?
  • Is the product, service or cause clear and important to your customer/donor?
  • Does the funding model make sense?
• Social impact (20%)
  • Is their target beneficiary clearly identified and in need?
  • Does the team know how to reach the social beneficiaries efficiently? 
  • Will the social impact be significant to the individual?
  • Will this affect a significant number of individuals?
• Operations (20%)
  • Is their management team qualified?
  • Is their execution plan adequately explained at the appropriate level of detail? 
  • Do you have a timeline clearly defined?
  • Is the timeline appropriate?
• Finance (20%)
  • Do they know how much money they need to launch?
  • If bootstrapping, can they successfully grow their company through internal funding?
  • Do they know how long until they generate revenue and get to monthly positive cash flow?
  • Are their financial statements reasonable?
• Quality of Written Work/Live Presentation (10%)
  • Does the overall summary grab your attention?
  • Does the summary project a clear understanding of the product and/or service?
  • Does the summary define short-term and long-term goals?
• Overall (10%)
  • After reviewing the executive summary, were you interested?
  • Do the sections work well together? 
  • Does the summary reflect the real potential of the idea?
  • If you knew a potential investor, would you forward the summary?
  • Anything else (grammar, pictures, tone…)

• Quality of the Idea (20%)
  • Is a unique opportunity or problem identified?
  • Is the product or service offered distinct?
  • Does the executive summary make sense?
• Market and Competition (20%)
  • Is the market size large enough to support this business?
  • Is the competition identified and threat understood?
  • Is the target market appropriate?
  • Does the sales approach seem reasonable?
• Operations (20%)
  • Is their management team qualified?
  • Are their execution methodologies adequate? 
  • Do they have a timeline clearly defined?
  • Is the timeline appropriate?
• Finance (20%)
  • Do they know how much money they need to launch?
  • If bootstrapping, can they successfully grow their company through internal funding?
  • Do they know how long until they generate revenue and get to monthly positive cash flow?
  • Are their financial statements reasonable?
• Quality of Written Work/Live Presentation (10%)
  • Does the overall summary grab your attention?
  • Does the summary project a clear understanding of the product and/or service?
  • Does the summary define short-term and long-term goals?
• Overall (10%)
  • After reviewing the business plan were you interested?
  • Do the sections work well together? 
  • Does the plan reflect the real potential of the idea?
  • If you knew a potential investor, would you forward the plan?
  • Anything else (grammar, pictures, tone…)