IMD Announces its 2009 Start-up Competition

 

For the last 10 years, IMD has provided leading-edge startups in the region the support of its MBA and EMBA participants to help them develop their business plans or key elements in their business systems. Many of these startups subsequently went on to earn distinguished awards, such as id Quantique (Prix de Vigier 2002), ABMI (Winner of the Wall Street Journal European Innovation Award 2003 and the Prix de Vigier 2004), or Lyncée Tec (Prix de Vigier 2004).  Many others raised some of the most significant rounds of venture capital in Switzerland (Svox, AC Immune, Endosense  and SpinX, for example). 

 

We are again looking for up to 19 regional hi-tech startups to benefit from the free-of-charge support of our MBA and EMBA students.  We would appreciate it if you could pass this on to the entrepreneurs in the region (i.e. based in Switzerland or its immediate vicinity) who may benefit from this support.

           

Why would you want to apply to the competition?

The IMD start-up competition provides a unique opportunity for regional technology startups to benefit from the help and insights of a team of dedicated, experienced IMD participants from the MBA and the Executive MBA programs. These participants, screened to participate in two of the most selective business programs in the world, represent some of the sharpest brains around. Do you want to benefit from their concentrated help to crack some of your most resistant business challenges? Do you need some fresh thinking to refine and validate your business model, or provide some new momentum to your fund raising efforts? Do you want outsiders to test your concepts and help you develop the most appropriate development routes? Then consider applying for the IMD start-up competition with your company.

 

Milestones

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o   November 1st 2009: deadline for submission via www.imd.ch/startups

o   November 27th 2009: Formal notification to all selected candidates.

o   December 4th 2009: Deadline for accept/decline response from selected candidates. 

o   January 19th 2010: EMBA-selected companies meet with their Executive MBA class teams at IMD.

o   January 27th 2009 at 17:30 (subject to confirmation): first meeting between MBA-selected companies and their respective fulltime MBA teams, at IMD.

o   Wednesday January 27th 2010 at 17:30 (subject to confirmation): first meeting between MBA-selected companies and their respective fulltime MBA teams, at IMD.

o   Saturday January 30th 2010: on-site visit day for MBA students at the company's office, if feasible.

o   March 2010: EMBA teams begin discussion, evaluation and correspondence with their companies.

o   Late May 2010: MBAs make final delivery and presentation of reports to the startup companies.

o   September 12-17th, 2010: EMBA teams go to Silicon Valley with one representative from each of the startups.  

 

Selection criteria

We are looking for early-stage companies that have a solid chance of market success, have a team that is curious and willing to open themselves up to a small group of management "students", can provide a good learning opportunity for our participants and whose timing fits with the IMD programs. More advanced startups facing development issues are also considered. Qualities we are looking for include:

o   A real venture, with an established team and demonstrated resources in place in November 2009 to take it forward over the next 9 months at least. The venture must have at least one person working on it fulltime.

o   A demonstrated willingness to work with the students, and communicate freely with them. A 4-year standard NDA can be requested of the students, but there must be a willingness to be open with the students about the company, its finances and its technology.

o   The new venture should ideally be locally based. Ventures with bases further away (Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Frankfurt, etc.) will be considered but they have to incorporate the need to travel to Lausanne in their budgets and time agendas.

o   Preference will be given to technology-based enterprises, though this is not a formal requirement and we have considered exciting projects with little technology in the past.

o   The quality of the opportunity and the commitment of the team will be determining factors.

o   Ability to cover minimal costs. There is no cost for the startup (except for Silicon Valley expedition for the EMBA projects, see below), apart from a requirement to cover the incidental expenses incurred by the participants on behalf of the startup (for example phone calls if an industry survey is conducted, printing of reports, etc.). This will be discussed upfront with the startup before any expenses are incurred. 

 

Your submission should provide a clear and concise description of your product/service, your current team, the market you plan to enter, your competition, your timeline for implementation and your expected financial needs for 2010. If the jury has questions, a short interview, either in person or by phone, may be requested. A team of IMD Faculty with extensive experience of entrepreneurial activities will do the selection of projects, with advisory support from Switzerland's CTI/KTI Startup organization. We will contact selected teams on November 27th 2009 and we expect a formal commitment by the selected venture teams immediately afterwards.

Even though there are virtually no costs to the startup for this support, we require a strong commitment to support the project and to dedicate time to moving the projects forward with the participants. Startups failing to abide by this commitment will be immediately ejected from the program.

 

Specifics of the Executive MBA (EMBA) Program

Five or more of the candidates will be chosen to work with the Executive MBA class, a group of 60 very experienced managers (average 40 years old), who, in small teams, will analyze and challenge their business plans, teams, and company strategies. Except for a meeting with the EMBA class January 19th, 2010, the majority of this work will be done via e-mail and telephone between March and early-September 2010. Most teams will also make at least one visit to the company. Each company will have two teams working with it.

 

One member of each startup is required to join the EMBAs in Silicon Valley, California for 6 days in September 2010. They will participate for free in the Silicon Valley module of the EMBA, but must pay their own travel and lodging. They will be integrated into the class for this module. In Silicon Valley the business plans will be pitched to a small group of Silicon Valley venture capitalists and angel investors. The IMD EMBAs will do the pitches, but the entrepreneurs are invited to talk with the potential investors after the pitches.

 

Some of the previous winners of this competition that have worked with the Executive MBA class over the past 11 years include: Dartfish, Xigen, GlycArt Biotechnology, SourcingParts.com, Exalos, Fastcom, Shockfish, BeamExpress, Flisom, Med-Discovery, Cidway, EpiSpeed, Kooaba and 4DigitalBooks.

 

Specifics of the Full Time MBA Program

Twelve to fifteen startup projects will be selected to work with the IMD 2010 MBA promotion (starting in January 2010), a group of high caliber, experienced (average age: 31) and very international students, a large proportion of which will already have significant exposure to startups and new ventures. These venturing abilities have been recognized as part of the critical skill set for any senior executive in the 21st Century. The MBA participants will be organized in work teams of 5 or 7 people, and each one of these teams will be required to spend significant time between January and June 2010 helping the startup develop critical components of its business plan to a point where they can potentially be presented to new funding sources.

 

The selected startups can expect to receive the dedicated support of the team of 5-7 IMD MBAs for a period of up to 6 months, under the supervision of an IMD Faculty member. The team would normally put an average of 6-8 hours on the project each week, for a total support package equivalent to at least 500-600 work-hours. The support team will focus exclusively on business-related issues of the new venture, e.g. customer value proposition, supply-chain management, market entry strategies, etc. They will not substitute for the entrepreneurial team, but will provide managerial or technical support.

 

Students will perform most of their work between January and May 2010. Accordingly, formal business plans should not be needed or expected before June 2010. 

 

Some of the previous winners of this competition that have worked with the fulltime MBA class include: Endosense, Xigen, Primequal, Axovan, id Quantique, VisioWave, IR Microsystems, AC Immune, LyncéeTec, SpinX, TheraStrat, Wavecall, Agilium, TheScreener.com, NexThink, Bulane, Keylemon, Bacula Systems, Primequal and Logifleet.

 

What type of projects can you use the fulltime IMD MBA participants for?

The winners of the Start-up competition provide IMD participants with the real-life start-up experience they need as part of their training. As such, it should be clear that we never select projects that do not intend to involve the students in the strategic / business model discussions of the startup, i.e. the issues that lie at their heart. That eliminates immediately startups looking for a group of students to run only a market study, a competitive analysis, or similar limited commercial activities that do not give participants true insights into the company. While market analysis is usually an important component of a project, it should not be the only one: we want the participants to get involved in issues such as validating the customer proposition and the business model, developing the market entry strategy, etc. There is a clear expectation that you will open up completely in terms of strategy determination and will capitalize on the opportunity offered to work with the team.

 

You can learn more about the fulltime MBA program at www.imd.ch/mba.

 

We hope that you find this description helpful, and we thank you in advance for your help in locating and recruiting the promising ventures of the future.

 

 

Best regards,

           

Jim Pulcrano and Prof. Benoit Leleux

 

 

Full details and calendars are available at www.imd.ch/startups