- Ole Miss School of Business
- Innovate.ms
- Mississippi Angel Network
- Miss. Small Business Development Center
- Transactional Law Clinic
- UM Foundation
- Insight Park
- Division of Technology Management
- Haley Barbour Center for Mfg. Excellence
- Mississippi Development Authority
- Mississippi Small Business Development Center
- Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce
- North Mississippi Enterprise Initiative (NMEI)
IBMC Judge Information and Support
Thank you for Agreeing to Judge the International Business Model Competition Oxford Regional at Ole Miss!
Competition is November 10, 2017 | Lunch Begins at 11:30 AM | Pitches Begin at 1 PM
The International Business Model Competition is the first and largest competition of its kind in the world and represents a radical departure from the past and the crest of a new paradigm in entrepreneurship. The competition evangelizes lean startup principles and aims to educate and inspire smarter and more successful entrepreneurs.
The IBMC is not a business plan competition. Participants won’t be rewarded for doing lots of library research, drawing fancy graphs, or crafting the perfect sales pitch to venture capitalists. Instead, the competition requires a focus on actively identifying and validating crucial business model hypotheses rather than writing a static business plan, talking to customers outside the building rather than gathering secondary data inside the building, applying customer development rather than relying on product development, and “pivoting” or changing course rather than executing on the plan.
Specifically, the IBMC rewards students for:
- Identifying and tracking key business model hypotheses (use the Business Model Canvas)
- Testing and validating those hypotheses with customers (get outside the building)
- Pivoting and iterating their business model based on customer interactions
Submissions for the competition focus on the process and learning a team goes through as they test their hypotheses with customers and develop validated business models. The goal is validated learning about the key business model hypotheses and failing early is a success compared to failing late.
Ultimately we believe this new approach will dramatically improve the success rate of new ventures. The IBMC is open to all students enrolled at an accredited institution of higher education anywhere in the world. Each year thousands of student teams from hundreds of schools all over the world participate.
In order to give our students the best chance to compete at the international competition in April, it is crucial that we evaluate the students in a way that is consistent with the IBMC Judging Score Sheet and follow the IBMC Judging Criteria. The winner will be presenting in front of some important people in the startup world, and the state and the school would benefit from putting our best foot forward. Get in touch with Dr. Rich Gentry or Ms. Cobie Watkins for any help through the CIE email address (CIE@bus.olemiss.edu). We’re very happy to offer as much support as we can.