Business Model Competition (BMC)

What is it?

The Business Model Competition (BMC) is phase two in the Miller Competition Series. You have your business idea–now you need to test and validate it, make changes (iterations or pivots) based on evidence found and insights gained, and repeat this process until all the crucial aspects of your business are fully validated. Your submission for this competition should tell the story of this journey to test and validate your business idea.

You can learn more about how to validate a business idea here on the BMC Global website. BMC Global was founded by the BYU Rollins Center and is the first and largest student venture validation competition in the world. Thousands of teams from hundreds of schools around the world compete for 40 spots and over $200,000 at the BMC Global Finals. Along with a $4,000 cash prize, the winner of BYU’s BMC, receives auto-entry into the BMC Global Final.

Key Dates

Wednesday, October 14: Info Session & How to Win Workshop, 6:00 pm, Zoom

Thursday, December 3: How to Validate your Business Idea Workshop, 7:00 pm

Zoom Recording – https://byu.zoom.us/rec/share/zMSXOQxJeo5g03YY5Szj5_8FhY4wsdkkRmGa208CyyHzwLZ7k1f_Hlp-2xGNLzLL.cILrQkyjJ5gvHpyB?startTime=1607047746000

Thursday, January 21: Submission Workshop, 6:00 pm

Slides – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BxBVP0qZ3eh5_Lo5pLlA_QDwBWQhvrTZ/view?usp=sharing

Zoom Recording – https://byu.zoom.us/rec/share/p4RDa-sRyRfY3exTk5ClVJ_zAqBYY63UcEjqXW35kbrBhQ8yMleTQqqYmY18imfr.2jPPPdapwu1GUxXb?startTime=1611277488000

Tuesday, February 2: Submission Deadline, 11:59 pm, Online

Monday, February 8: Top 5 Announced

February 9-18: Top 5 Mentoring & Pitch Prep

Thursday, February 18: Final Event, 6:00 pm, Zoom (this will be a closed event just for finalist teams and judges)

Cash Prizes

FINALISTS

1st place: $4,000
2nd place: $3,000
3rd place: $3,000
4th place: $3,000
5th place: $3,000

RUNNERS UP

6th-10th place: $800 each

TOTAL: $20,000

Submission Details

ROUND 1:

Required elements:

1. Create a 5-8 minute narrated slide presentation (saved as a video and uploaded to YouTube) that tells the story of your validation journey and attach it to the submission form. See some submission video examples here. However, the best example to look over is the Owlet winner video. You can also watch past winner videos from BMC Global here.
2. Fill out the online submission form here.

If you want to keep your YouTube video hidden mark it as unlisted NOT private. If it is marked private our judges will not be able to view it. Learn how to narrate a PowerPoint presentation from Microsoft here. Another way to create your narrated presentation video is to record yourself narrating your slides on Zoom. The resultant video file can then be uploaded to YouTube.

The top 5 teams from this round will advance to the Final Event. All teams will be notified via email about who the top 5 teams are.

Between February 4th and February 11th, the top 5 finalists will be assigned a mentor to meet with to help them prepare prepare for the Final Event.

ROUND 2 (Top 5): Final Event

The top 5 teams from Round 1 will pitch to judges at the Final Event. They will have 8 minutes to present and up to 3 minutes for Q&A.

After all teams have presented and the judging results have been tallied, the 10 winning teams will be announced via email.

Judging Criteria

Each round of the Business Model Competition is judged using the following questions:

1. Did the team use a canvas (e.g., Lean Canvas, Business Model Canvas, etc.) to map out and track their validation journey?

2. Did the team identify and focus on the hypotheses with the most risk or uncertainty, those that could kill their business, in the following areas:

a. Desirability (do people want it?)
b. Feasibility (can we build it?)
c. Viability (can we make a profit?)

3. Did the team design and run appropriate experiments to test and validate the hypotheses with the greatest risk or uncertainty, those that could kill their business, in the following areas:

a. Desirability (unique value proposition)
b. Feasibility (prototype/MVP)
c. Viability (pricing)

4. Throughout their validation journey, did the team make appropriate course corrections (iterations or pivots) based on the evidence found and insights gained?

5. Did the team articulate a clear set of next actions in their validation journey and share a feasible plan to get there?

6. Is the team solving a significant problem (defined in terms of money or impact)?

Eligibility Guidelines

Eligibility guidelines that govern all of the competitions included in the Miller Competition Series (MCS) can be found here.