Do business plan contests leave out the most worthy start-ups?
Tim Berry might be onto something with this post about how most business plan contests leave out the most worthy start-ups. This problem, he points out, is that these things get controlled by the investors, and the best investments don't necessarily make the best companies. He comes close to saying something important but stops short, "the bootstrappers are still left out; and that’s a shame". Maybe he should have taken that a just bit farther - most of these contests, and their evil twin the "award dinner" are also a shame. These "contests" are organized almost exclusively for the benefit of "investors" - who want to see start-up companies go through hoop jumping exercises for them. For the vast majority of small companies, these contests are a huge waste of time - they do more harm than good. http://timberry.bplans.com/2010/07/business-plan-contests-leave-out-bootstrappers.html
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