New York Business Plan Competition: Capital Region

Registration

Please submit the 2022 New York Business Plan Competition application.

Semi-Finals

Student applications are due by March 16, 2022. Judges for each track will evaluate the applications remotely. The Announcement of 1st and 2nd place track winners will be made on March 23rd, 2022, and student teams will receive judges' feedback.

Information will be sent out on March 23rd, 2022, providing students instructions on submitting for the State competition, and how to receive their prize.

Preparations for 1st Place Track Winners for the Capital Cup will also occur on March 23, 2022.

Live Capital Cup Event

The 1st place track winners will meet for a live event at UAlbany (Space TBD) to pitch for a grand prize. The Capital Cup will occur on March 25th, 2022 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will include an entrepreneur motivational speaker, opportunities for networking, and a showcase for 1st and 2nd place track winners.

Statewide Finals

The statewide finals will occur on April 27th, 2022 in Syracuse, NY. Capital Region 1st place and 2nd place track winners must submit their video and pitch deck to the State Competition at no later than April 1st, 2022 and access the timeline for State Level NYBPC.

In order to be eligible to apply for and participate in the NYBPC, all teams must meet the following criteria: 

• "Students" are any graduate, undergraduate, and/or community college students enrolled part- or full-time in accredited New York college and universities during the current academic year. Students who graduate during the Fall semester are still eligible to compete in the competition during the Spring semester. Exchange students are also eligible.
• Presenters must be eligible students in all stages of the competition.
• Teams may compete in only one region per year.
• Students may not participate in more than one team per year.

Grand prize winners from previous years’ competitions are not eligible to participate in the competition. They are encouraged to participate as speakers, mentors, volunteers, and judges! Individual members of the winning team may return with new teams in subsequent years. 

The following rules apply to teams with incorporated ventures (teams do not need to have incorporated legal entities): 

• Cumulative public and private capital raised may not exceed $100,000. This does not include research funding that may have supported the development of technology in an academic laboratory.
• The business venture must be at least 80% owned by students.

The New York Business Plan Competition reserves the right to withhold prize money from winning teams who do not comply with the eligibility requirements.

The competition is divided into six categories, called tracks, at all levels of competition.

To keep pace with our rapidly changing world and to provide a balanced competition, track definitions will be finalized and announced in early March.

This will allow time for a review of this year’s applicants. Students will no longer select a track on their applications, but will instead select one or more category tags. These tags may align with the track definitions or with special prize definitions or with neither. They could relate to the type of business, attributes of the team, the type of product or service, or target markets or customers.

The list of tags will not be finalized until the student application opens in January, but some possible tags could be agtech, athletics, clothing, college students, education, entertainment, environmental Impact, fintech, food, government, medtech, mental health, military, mwbe, social impact, software, travel, utility, veteran-owned.

Student teams will be informed of their track assignments prior to the regional competitions.

Teams in each of the tracks may represent for-profit or non-profit ventures. All tracks are judged according to the same criteria and rubric.

For more information on the track definitions and judging criteria please see the 2022 Rule Book.

• 1st Place Track Winners - $500
• 2nd Place Track Winners - $250
• Capital Cup - $1,000

The New York Business Plan Competition is New York State's premier collegiate business plan competition, attracting entrepreneurial-minded college students from throughout the state. Celebrating its 13th year, the Capital Region regional qualifying event will generate proceeds to support ongoing student programming, to ensure access to the best entrepreneurial education.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Presenting Sponsor: $5,000

• Opportunity to welcome the group 
• Inclusion in all media releases, web articles and other promotional materials related to the event noting your company as the Presenting Sponsor  
• Company name/logo listed on event website and program 
• Thank you & recognition during and post-event 
• Exclusive opportunity to join program director in check presentation to winner 
• Display a sign or banner at the event  
• Opportunity to distribute a gift appropriate to the event

Lunch Sponsor: $2,500

• Inclusion in all promotional materials related to the event noting your company as a Lunch Sponsor  
• Company name/logo listed on event website and program 
• Thank you & recognition during and post-event 
• Display a sign or banner at the event  
• Opportunity to distribute a gift appropriate to the event

Partner Sponsor: $1,000

• Inclusion in all promotional materials related to the event noting your organization as the Partner Sponsor  
• Company name/logo listed on event website and program 
• Thank you & recognition during and post-event 

Friend of the Competition – $500

• Company name/logo listed on the event website and program

How to Sponsor

Complete and send the sponsorship form.

For more information contact [email protected].

The NYBPC is New York’s intercollegiate entrepreneurship competition that, since 2010, has provided a platform for training New York’s next generation of entrepreneurs and launched new ventures, commercializing innovations developed on college campuses across New York.

Statewide competition with 500+ competitors on 200+ teams from 50+ colleges and universities, since 2010.

• Over 30% MWBE participation last year
• Over $150M+ economic impact including follow-on funding for 100+ startups
• From community colleges to ivy league schools, teams come from across the state to compete and win

For more information, please visit the NYBPC site.