$25,000, an office in the Lyles Center Hatchery and an additional chance to win $250,000 are all prizes for the winner of this year’s Lyles Center business plan competition.

The business plan competition is open to all interested Fresno State students.

The deadline to apply for the competition was Friday, March 13.

The business plan competition is a chance for students and entrepreneurs to start their businesses.

Each team consists of four contestants. At least one of those contestants has to be a student at Fresno State or a neighboring community college.

The other three to four slots on the team are open to the public.

Serious business

According to the Associate Director for the Lyles Center Genelle Taylor, a person that̢۪s not a student may have a great business idea and they can find a student to bring on to their team and make them eligible.

“They can do that. It’s not encouraged, but technically they can do that. That’s the only barrier of the competition, that you have to be an enrolled college student,â€Â Taylor said.

There are three selection processes for contestants. To enter the competition, a person must submit an executive summary.

After submitting the executive summary, the business plan submissions are due.

“The judges go through all the business plans and select those that look like they might be viable. Then we’ll select those to do a presentation at a semifinal round, from there, five or six teams are picked to go to the final round,â€Â Taylor said.

The semifinal round is the first chance for teams to present to judges. Five or six teams will be selected for the final round.

Venture capitalists will be coming from the Bay Area to judge the final round.

Unlike the semifinal, the final round is open to the public and held in the Peters Educational Center Auditorium on May 2.

Higher stakes

Taylor says that since the competition first year of the competition, it has come a long way and has been very successful.

There have been a lot of changes since the first year of the competition.

This year̢۪s first prize winner gets $25,000 to help start his or her business, as opposed to previous years where the first prize was $10,000.

Mentorship students have been networking with their own personal mentors, to raise an additional $15,000 for the competition.

“It’s the mentorship students that are going out and really beating the pavement asking for money, which is hard to do in this economy right now,â€Â Taylor stated.

Like last year, the first place prize will also include an office in the Lyles Center Hatchery, and an entry to the Draper Fisher Jurvetson conference for $250,000.

The winner of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson competition will receive $250,000 investment toward their business.

Fresno State reserves one of sixteen university spots.

“In 2008, students did really well and impressed judges. It was exciting to see them do well among so many other contestants,â€Â Taylor said.

The $25,000 prize winning team from Fresno State will be decided on May 2 at the Peters Education Center Auditorium on the first floor of the Student Recreation Center.