ACADEMIC PROGRAM

Business plan competitions

Palo Alto Software is proud to be affiliated with some of the most prestigious business plan competitions in North America. We serve as corporate sponsors and competition judges for many academic contests and commercial venture competitions.

Featured competitions

Rice University Business Plan Competition

At this fantastic Rice Alliance event, Palo Alto Software president Tim Berry serves as a finals judge, and we sponsor the award for Best Executive Summary.

MOOT CORP

We are a corporate sponsor of the University of Texas at Austin's premier business plan contest.

New Venture Championship

At our hometown event at the University of Oregon, we sponsor an award for the Best-Written Business Plan.

Notre Dame Business Plan Competitions

We sponsor Best-Written Plan Awards for both of Notre Dame's contests — the McCloskey Business Plan Competition and the Social Venture Plan Competition.

Interested in sponsorship?

Our sponsorship program includes a complimentary copy of Business Plan Pro Academic Premier Edition software for each participant. The software allows a team to split up sections of the plan, work on their sections individually, and then compile their content into one plan. Additionally, it allows a team to continually update and modify their plan as they receive feedback.

Overall, the software provides an SBA-approved format for a team to write and manage their plan, allowing them to turn their focus from the mechanics behind the plan to other important aspects involved in a business plan competition.

If you are interested in learning more about how Palo Alto Software can sponsor your business plan competition, please contact our academic sales team.

Plan competition resources

In addition to free software, we provide a number of valuable resources to assist teams in writing a better and winning plan.

Additional business plan competitions

Along with the featured competitions above, Palo Alto Software sponsors dozens of business plan competitions held around the country.

Hosting Academic Institution	Competition Name
Alabama Universities	Alabama Launchpad
Boise State University	Bronco Venture Championship
Boise State University	Northwest Venture Championship (International)
Brigham Young University	BYU Business Plan Competition
Brigham Young University Hawaii (Center for International Entrepreneurship)	The Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship 2008 Business Plan Competition
Cal Poly	Ray Scherr Business Plan Competition
Clark Atlanta University	OFC Venture Challenge
Georgia Tech	Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition
Kent State University	Ohio Graduate Business Plan Competition
Ohio State University	The Deloitte Business Plan Competition at Fisher College of Business
Oregon State University	The 2008 New Enterprise Challenge
Rice University	Rice Business Plan Competition
Tulane University	Tulane Business Plan Competition
University of Buffalo	Panasci Business Competition
University of California - Berkeley	UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition
University of California - Irvine	Stradling Yocca Carlson and Rauth Business Plan Competition
University of Dayton	University of Dayton Business Plan Competition
University of Delaware	University of Delaware Business Plan Competition
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	V. Dale Cozad Business Plan Competition
University of Manitoba	Stuart Clark Venture Challenge
University of Missouri - Kansas City	2008 Regnier Family Foundations New Venture Challenge Competition
University of Notre Dame	McCloskey Competition
University of Notre Dame	Sustainable Social Venture Competition
University of Oregon	New Venture Championship
University of Portland	University of Portland Business Plan Competition
Wichita State University	Shocker Business Plan Competition