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CentTank
About CentTank

Goals and Objectives 

  • Promote student ideas as well as new venture creation.
  • Provide professional development opportunities to students through workshops as well as a mentorship program.
  • Involve community and alumni stakeholders (e.g., as mentors, judges, sponsors, and supporters).
  • Provide an opportunity for students to present new business pitches to Shreveport business leaders and funding sources.

 

Competition Participants (Eligibility Requirements)

  • All currently enrolled Centenary undergraduate students.
  • Teams up to 5 individuals.
  • Students must attend all competition events to be considered for final prizes.

 

General Requirements

  • Ideas for new business development.
  • If the business currently exists, it must be in operation less than a year
  • No funding (e.g., venture capital, angel, small business loan) has been obtained prior to competition
  • Original work

 

Competition Focus

  • Business pitches for most industries will be acceptable for participation (no gambling or marijuana-related businesses)

 

Developmental Resources for Participants

  • Mentoring
  • Speed Coaching
  • Workshops

 

Mentor Program Option

Each team leader will be provided the opportunity to participate in a mentorship program. Mentors will be selected based on proven entrepreneurial and business success. Please note, mentors cannot be guaranteed.

Competition Information

Rules and Guidelines

  1. Entry is open to a Centenary undergraduate students comprised of one to five individuals. Individuals may be a member of only one team. 
  2. Ideas submitted must represent the original work of the team members.  
  3. New ventures (i.e. less than 1 year old) that have already received funding from outside sources (e.g., financial institutions, venture capital firms, etc.)  do not qualify for the competition.  
  4. New ventures ideas in the gambling or marijuana industry do not qualify for the competition.  
  5. Submitted materials are protected in the spirit of non-disclosure, where all entry materials will be treated as confidential. The only persons with access to the entry materials will be judges and select members of the competition organizers. Unless requested by entrant team, submitted materials will not be distributed to other parties.   Please note that no additional provisions are made to protect entrants’ intellectual property.  
  6. All deadlines for submissions are final.  Please note that late submissions will not be accepted.  
  7. Judging of entries will be performed by an outside panel of independent judges.  The judges will consist of professionals involved in entrepreneurship and small business. Judges may be entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship faculty members, venture capitalists, business leaders, angel investors, entrepreneurial professional service providers. Please note that 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, prizes might not be awarded. All decisions of the judges are final.  
  8. Prize money is granted to the winning teams following Centenary College’s policy and procedures. Teams and their resultant business entities are responsible for any tax consequences of the prize.  
  9. Centenary College faculty members are not eligible to participate.  
  10. Centenary College reserves the right to disqualify, in its sole and absolute discretion, any team from the competition at any time, either before or after the judging, for any reason. Reasons for disqualification may include, but are not limited to misappropriation or infringement of the intellectual property of others and any failure to comply with these rules and regulations. Please note that disqualified teams forfeit all prizes awarded to them.

Prizes

2019 CentTank Business Pitch Competition Awards and Prize Amounts

The CentTank Business Pitch Competition is proud to announce the 2019 award and prize levels for the winning pitch teams.  Awards are sponsored by the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program.

 

  • 1st Place Award:  $3,000 cash, scholarship to LA Startup Prize 2019, scholarship to the Patent Academy, and 6 months of professional services from the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program.
  • 2nd Place Award:  $1,000 cash, scholarship to LA Startup Prize 2019, scholarship to the Patent Academy, and 6 months of professional services from the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program.
  • 3rd Place Award:  $500 cash, scholarship to LA Startup Prize 2019, scholarship to the Patent Academy, and 6 months of professional services from the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program.

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