Eligibility and Guidelines
The following guidelines are applicable for the graduate, undergraduate, and alumni B.E.T.A. (Babson Entrepreneurial Thought & Action®) Challenge.
The B.E.T.A. Challenge focuses on action: the major milestones each business has achieved to date and the credibility of future goals.
- The following individuals are eligible to apply for the 2024 competitions:
- All Babson students that were enrolled fall 2023 or spring 2024.
- Any alumni with an undergraduate and/or graduate degree from Babson.
- Olin College of Engineering or Wellesley College venture that is a member of the John E. and Alice L. Butler Launch Pad.
- All applications must be for a seed or an early-stage startup. This is defined as having less than $1 million in annual revenue and less than $500,000 in investment.
- All student applicants who will be competing in the B.E.T.A. Challenge must be in good standing with Babson College and the community. The Blank Center staff reserves the right to request information from the Office of Community Standards to confirm that this is the case and may disqualify any applicant who does not meet this requirement.
- Babson alumni who have volunteered or intend to volunteer as a 2024 B.E.T.A. Challenge evaluator are not eligible to apply to the B.E.T.A. Challenge.
- All past B.E.T.A. Challenge finalists, Douglass Foundation Graduate Business Plan winners, and John H. Muller Jr. Undergraduate Business Plan winners are not eligible to apply to the 2024 competition. Those that are applying with a different venture may be eligible. Please email the Blank Center team for more information.
- Individual students/alumni or groups are eligible to submit their application to the B.E.T.A. Challenge. The lead entrepreneur of any group must be a current Babson student, Babson alumni, or an Olin/Wellesley venture that is in the John E. and Alice L. Butler Launch Pad. If a group is comprised of both alumni and students, the status of the lead entrepreneur determines which track the group can apply for. A lead entrepreneur is defined as someone who is part of the founding team and/or holds an executive position in the startup. A lead entrepreneur is not an employee, contractor, and/or intern in the startup. The application deadline is at 11 a.m. on Monday, February 5, 2024.
- Student applicants must have a faculty sponsor in order to participate. All student applicants must find a faculty member willing to sponsor them. Butler Launch Pad faculty advisors can be considered as a faculty sponsor. The faculty sponsor must be willing to review and provide input on the submission and agree to sponsor the submission. The faculty sponsor submitted will be verified for accuracy. Staff members, unless teaching a course at Babson, are not considered faculty. A faculty sponsor is optional for alumni applicants, but not required. The faculty sponsor deadline is at 11 a.m. on Friday, January 26, 2024.
- Students/alumni submitting an application must commit to presenting their business in person during the semifinalist round on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, and the finale on Thursday, April 11, 2024, if chosen.
- The application requires the following:
- Faculty Sponsor information (if applicable)
- Executive Summary—two page limit in .doc, .docx or .pdf format. Samples are available at the Blank Center for viewing. Please contact the Blank Center team for more information.
- Description of Opportunity
- Business Concept
- Industry Overview
- Target Market
- Competitive Advantage
- Business Model and Economics
- Team and Offering
- Financial Projections
- Slide deck—maximum 10 slides in .pptx, .ppt or .pdf format. The 10-slide limit includes any cover slides or appendix slides. The slide deck must cover the following:
- Description of venture
- Industry represented
- Target market, include market analysis
- Value proposition
- Backgrounds/roles of team member(s)
- Milestones completed to date
- Timeline of future goals
- Overall potential of opportunity
- Emphasis should be placed on actions taken to date, tasks completed, and the steps to move the venture forward. Samples are available from the Blank Center for viewing. Please email the Blank Center team for more information.
- The two page limit for the Executive Summary and the 10 slide limit for the slide deck are strict limits. Applicants that exceed the limits may be disqualified.
- All applicant(s) must agree that the materials they are submitting are their original work. The applicant(s) will retain all rights to the materials regarding their use at all times prior to and following the competition.
- In order to be considered for the B.E.T.A. Challenge, faculty sponsor information (if applicable) and files (executive summary and slide deck) must be successfully uploaded through the submission site. A confirmation from the submission site must be received in order for the submission to be considered for the B.E.T.A. Challenge.
- By participating in the competition, applicant(s) give the competition organizers the right to post the executive summary and slide deck on a password protected website in order for alumni evaluators to access the applications, post comments, and score the application. Applicant(s) also give the right to share the executive summary and slide deck with faculty sponsors, reviewers, and judges.
- Applicants may be contacted via email after the alumni evaluations if more information is needed by the Blank Center or the faculty reviewers.
- All applicants will be asked to sign a media release form.
- All semifinalists will be required to submit a one page update on their ventures. The information submitted will be verified for accuracy. Guidelines will be provided by the Blank Center to semifinalists. The update document must not be more than one page. The update summary document must be emailed electronically to the Blank Center team by Friday, March 22, 2024 at 11 a.m. EST (no exceptions will be made).
- Special awards will be offered during the 2024 competition. Upon notification of semifinalist status, the Blank Center will provide descriptions of the awards to the semifinalists. The semifinalists will be asked to submit a 250 word count written response or 1 minute video specifically addressing the criteria of the award(s) for which they would like to be considered. If a semifinalist does not submit the required material(s), they will be not eligible for award consideration. The material(s) must be emailed electronically to the Blank Center team, along with the semifinalist’s one page update, by Friday, March 22, 2024 at 11 a.m. EST (no exceptions will be made). The winner of each award will be determined by a panel of expert judges, who will judge the application based on its exemplification of the award criteria, and announced during the finale on Thursday, April 11, 2024. In the event that there is no venture that satisfies the criteria, the prize will not be awarded.
- All finalists must prepare a final presentation slide deck and be prepared to pitch it during the finale on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Guidelines will be provided by the Blank Center to finalists.
- Award money to finalist and winner ventures is seed money for the advancement of their ventures. Award money will be distributed to the business, not the individual(s). The finalist and winner businesses must be established as a legal entity before May 1, 2024. Recipients are responsible for all taxes, if any.
- The winner(s) of the B.E.T.A. Challenge will be determined by a panel of expert judges who will judge the application based on demonstrated success of the venture in achieving major milestones through taking action. In the event that there is no business that demonstrates significant progress, the prize will not be awarded.
- The Blank Center will forward feedback to applicants upon the completion of judging. Feedback is anonymous unless otherwise indicated.