Big Idea Competition
What’s your Big Idea?
The Big Idea Gator Business Plan Competition helps students grow their business ideas. The four-month competition, hosted by the Warrington College of Business’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center helps teams of students create growth-oriented business models.
Big Idea teams go on to research and produce rough drafts to complete business plans. The top four teams compete for a chance to win more $40,000 in prizes. The center offers mentoring and other resources along the way.
Competition format
Graduate and undergraduate competitors enter individually or in teams to create growth-oriented business models.

Submit your business model
Teams submit their basic business models for judging in the preliminary round, which takes place in early February.

Preliminary judging
The second phase begins when judges review the preliminary entries for the strongest high-potential ideas.

Business plan development
The competitors who make it to this point must finish researching their new ventures and write a complete business plan by the deadline.

Panel presentations
Sixteen semi-finalists present their plans to a panel of investors. Four teams move on to the final presentation for the chance to win $25,000 in first place prize money.
Ready to compete?
Your idea could be the next Big Idea. If you want to turn your business idea into reality, sign up to win the next competition.
Prizes
The Big Idea competition provides $40,000 in prizes to the top teams and individuals. The prize money is offered as seed money to promote the business plan’s enactment. The business must actually be started, and checks are written to the new companies, not the individuals.
First place
$25,000
Second place
$10,000
Third place
$5,000
Fourth place
$1,000
Best use of Artificial Intelligence
$5,000
Best use of blockchain
$5,000
Best impact prize
$1,000
FNN Global Impact Award
$1,000
Business plan assistance
The Business Plan Lab (ENT4934 / ENT6930) can be taken for credit or as a free workshop. You’ll receive mentoring from faculty and entrepreneurs, online resources for preparing financial statements, special sessions with accounting and law firms and access to a video library of former business plan presentations. Particpants should follow the Nuts and Bolts of Great Business Plans.
Judging
The innovativeness of the business idea and the quality of the full business plan are evaluated. The competition rewards creative thinking regarding new markets, products and services, as well as the team’s strategy to implement its plans.The judges select the top 16 teams to compete in the final presentation phase. This phase takes place over two days.
Criteria
Judges review the complete business plans on the following criteria:
- Concept strength
- Market
- Economics of the business
- Operations
- Management team
- Financing
Day one
Each team will have 15 minutes to verbally present their plans to judges. Judges then have 15 minutes to question each team.
Day two
The top four teams are chosen to compete before a different panel of judges. Winners are determined and awards are presented after a second round of presentations.
Competition rules and guidelines
Participants must certify that at least one member of the team was enrolled at the University of Florida during the Fall and/or Spring semesters of the academic year in which the competition falls.
- Students can enter the competition individually or form teams
- The team leader must be an enrolled student at any college or school at UF
- A business plan is not required to register. You will have an opportunity to develop a business plan during the competition. Competitors will have access to the Business Plan Lab during the spring semester.
- The business submissions must be the team’s own original work and ideas
- Have a clear vision of what business you’re trying to create, and have a good idea of the potential as well as the issues of the intended business.
- Team member rosters can be updated throughout the competition.
- If you do not have a team, but you are interested in collaborating with others, complete the Join a Team form.
- In order to enter, the team leader must be a full- or part-time student, undergraduate or graduate level, who is currently enrolled in a degree program, and who is registered at the University of Florida. Other team members can be non-UF college students or community members, however, non-student members are not allowed to present as part of the team in the competition.
- Only one submission of a new business venture per team is permitted. Plans should not exceed 35 pages plus 15 pages of appendices. They should follow the structure in “Nuts and Bolts of Business Plans” guideline.
- Individuals may be a member of only one team. Teams may be as small as one student, and there is no maximum size, but bear in mind that there are practical limits to the size of any working group.
- Ideas submitted as part of a team’s new business venture must represent the original work of the team members. Team members will sign a certification to this effect as part of the initial entry.
- If the new venture has already received funding from any outside sources (angel investors, other competitions, etc.), amounts, investors and dates of funding must be disclosed in the initial entry. This competition is intended only for student teams that have not received any formal outside investment from venture capital firms or other certified investors and that have received $50,000 or less in outside funds by start of the spring academic semester. Most teams have yet to raise any monies.
- Submitted ideas are protected in the spirit of non-disclosure, and all entry materials will be treated as company confidential. The only people with access to the entry materials will be judges and select members of the organizing committee. Materials will not be distributed to any other party unless requested by an entrant team. No other provisions are made to protect intellectual property.
- Entrants must adhere to all submission deadlines and guidelines. Materials must be submitted no later than the appropriate due date and time at the specified drop point in the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center (133 Bryan Hall). No late submissions will be accepted and any submissions that exceed the maximum length will not be considered.
- Entries will be judged by a panel of independent professionals involved in entrepreneurship. Judges may be successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors or professional service providers working with the venture community. Any entry is subject to minimum criteria in terms of market potential, viability and other factors, as determined by the judging panel’s experience. If no entries meet the minimum criteria, one or both prizes might not be awarded. Throughout any and all phases of the business plan competition, all decisions of the judges are final.
- Except as stated below, prize money is granted only to the business entity that the winning team forms, e.g. a corporation or LLC. If the winning teams fail to form the business entity and request the prize money from the UF Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center within one year following the competition, the money remains in the competition fund and is not disbursed. Award money will be granted only to seed the start-up and development of the winning idea (e.g. no substitutions may be made without the approval of the UF Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center). Teams and their resultant business entities are responsible for any tax consequences of the prize.
- At least 25% of the winning business entity formed must be owned by one or more of the UF students on the winning team. If, at the time of the competition, the venture has already been formed and the student participant(s) hold less than 25% equity, consideration will be given as to whether the venture was conceived and launched with co-founders who were UF students within the past four academic years.
- The university reserves the right to disqualify, in its sole and absolute discretion, any team from the competition at any time. Reasons for disqualification may include, but are not limited to, plagiarism and any other form of academic dishonesty, misappropriation or infringement of the intellectual property of others, and any failure to comply with these rules and regulations. Disqualified teams shall forfeit any and all prizes awarded to them.
Prize money will be awarded as follows:
- The prize money will be distributed to the company or entity that is moving the business plan forward in two increments of 50% and 50% of the total prize money, based on milestones achieved that are outlined in the business plan. The payment and milestones schedule will be established by a committee comprised of the Director of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center, and additional entrepreneurship advisors as may be included on the committee at the discretion of the Director of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center.
- All agreed upon team milestones must be achieved and written notification to the Director of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center within one year of the awards competition date in order to receive the two increments of prize money.
- If established milestones are not achieved by the appropriate deadline, then any related payments will be forfeited and the winnings that are not paid will remain with the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center.
- Payment for achievement of milestones will not be unreasonably withheld, and the decision as to whether certain milestones have actually been achieved will be determined by the committee which shall have full discretion to make such determination.
Past Winners
1st Place ($25,000): Ignition Packaging; Team Leader: Abdurrahman Bejjaj
2nd Place ($10,000): Squax; Team Leaders: Ben Belin, Jake Meuse, Andrew Zelitt
3rd Place ($5,000): S Star Technologies; Team Leader: Shiva Singh
4th Place ($1,000): Bute Ski Gear; Team Leader: Nicholas Devoney
Social Impact ($1,000): The Offline Experience; Team Leaders: Valeria Pinzon Trujillo, Ellee Guin, Ching-Yuan Yao, Cara Massa, Nicolas Pinzon Trujillo
Best Leverage of Blockchain ($5,000): MyMentorship; Team Leaders: Aarav Bejjinki, Kovidh Gandreti, Luca Forman
Best Leverage of Artificial Intelligence ($5,000): Siren Music; Team Leaders: Ethan Wolf, Karl-William Nietert, Jatin Verma
Dreamer & Doer Award ($1,000): Sofia Grande, Blue Alpaca Media
Entrepreneurial Spirit Award ($1,000): Curt Roese, Retirepreneur
Thinking about your Big Idea?
Reach out to our team and we’ll walk you through the process and answer your questions.
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center
352-273-0330
Email