Technology pitch competition guidelines

Entry Fees

There are no fees to participate in this competition. No one will require or ask teams for any financial or in-kind contributions to submit a proposal or final document.

Team composition

All members of a team must be current Wayne State University students, enrolled in the winter 2025 semester. Students can be full-time, part-time, or non-degree. Students must maintain their enrollment for the entire winter 2025 semester. Teams will have at least two students and a maximum of four. Each team member must have a specific role in the team. For example, a team of three can have a team leader, marketing guru, and product developer.

Use of competition materials

The Ilitch Startup Technology Pitch Competition reserves the right to use any material prepared for the event in publicizing and promoting the event. The Competition may use these materials in any media format. The Competition may videotape or photograph any portion of the event and use these materials in any way that it sees fit.

Submission deadlines

There are three different deadlines for teams in this competition.

The first deadline is the draft report and PowerPoint deadline, due on February 14, 2025, at noon. Complete the online interest form to receive email updates. Register your team and submit competition materials online.

The second deadline is for finalists. The final proposal and report are due on Wednesday, March 26 at noon. Submission instructions will be provided to finalists.

The final deadline is the pitch to the judges, to be delivered on March 28 at 9 a.m. Failure to meet any of the deadlines will result in removal from the competition.

Location: The competition will be held in the Lear Auditorium at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University, 2771 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48201.

WSU student-led: Teams that pitch their ideas should be primarily student-led and inspired. Students should be the business plan's primary authors, hold most key management positions, and have the majority equity stake in the venture.

Outside funding: Any team with significant outside funding will be disqualified from the competition. To participate, teams may not have received significant funding from incubators, accelerators or venture capitalists. Determinations will be made on a case-by-case basis by competition staff.

Pitch deck and final report requirements: Each pitch deck and report should include the following. Presentation should be delivered in ten minutes. The report should be more detailed and 5-10 pages in length. Register your team and submit competition materials online.

Prior Arts Studies: As one of the steps, each team should conduct a preliminary search to confirm if their invention is new. Additional educational information on this topic will be provided.

Presentation: Each team will have 10 minutes to present. Five minutes will be available for the judges to ask questions. Your team will be reminded when there are three minutes and one minute of time remaining. After time has expired, you must wrap up your presentation within 15 seconds. Total time in front of the judges is 15 minutes. Each team should bring three printed copies of their presentation and report for the judges. Your team must present to be eligible for the competition. Teams may not swap out and substitute team members for the presentation.

Attire: Business casual is appropriate and expected. Business professional is also acceptable. t-shirts, shorts, or sweatpants are not recommended.

Presentation technology: During finals presentation, each team will have submitted a PowerPoint presentation that will be loaded onto a local computer provided by the Mike Ilitch Startup Technology Pitch Competition. A clicker will be available to advance the slide deck. Presenters may not use their own computer to present.

Prototypes: During the final presentation, physical prototypes are encouraged when applicable. If your proposal is software or application-based, mock-ups would be appropriate. Props are also allowed. Your team must be able to set up and assemble any prototypes or props within five minutes in between team presentations. You must also be able to disassemble any props within five minutes of your presentation's conclusion.

Judging criteria: Judges will use the following criteria when evaluating your proposal.

Business plan and concept – 20%, cover requirements listed in pitch criteria
Feasibility – 20%, demonstrate that pitch has strong support for achieving goals and objectives
Scalability – 20%, show business concept can be scaled in large measure
Innovation – 20%, present novel application of technology or business concept
Societal impact – 10%, demonstrate positive impact on Detroit, Southeast Michigan, state of Michigan or nation
Presentation – 10%, present in a clear, concise and effective manner

Cash investment to competition winners: The top three teams will earn the investment listed below. To receive pitch competition investment, teams must demonstrate they have taken steps to further their business plans. Each pitch shall include an investment plan with defined activity that will trigger the release of investment funds. 1st and 2nd place winner will receive ½ of money up front and ½ of the money after completing a performance evaluation.

1st place - $10,000
2nd place - $5,000
3rd place - $2,500

Performance evaluation: 1st and 2nd place teams must complete a performance evaluation six months after the competition in order to receive the second installment of their investment. The report should be a minimum of 3-4 pages and include:

Description of business
Summary of business progress since competition
Description of use of investment funds
Next steps for business
Personal reflections

Ilitch Startup Technology Pitch Competition Staff will have sole discretion to confirm teams have met agreed upon requirements for second distribution of investment to take place.

Copyrights and permissions: If a team uses copyrighted materials and/or images from a third party in their submissions or presentation, they must obtain written permission and authorization in advance from the owners to use this material and be able to provide such documented permission/authorization upon request to the Mike Ilitch Startup Technology Pitch Competition.

Proposal categories: Competition seeks novel, technology-based pitches. Pitches may include but are not limited to the following. Each team must select which categories are relevant to their proposal. Each team must select at least one of the categories listed below.

Mobile app
Software application
Manufacturing hardware
Consumer product
Medical Device
AI Driver
Sustainability Tool
Other

Proposal scope: This competition is focused on technology-based proposals. As such, non-technology-based items will not be appropriate submissions for this competition. For example, a shoe or t-shirt design will not be appropriate as a pitch for this contest.

Presentation start time: If competitors are late to their event, there is no guarantee they will be able to participate.

Confidentiality: Information that you share as a participant in the pitch competition is not kept confidential. All submitted materials may be viewed by judges, competition staff and the public. All competition sessions, including oral presentations and question/answer sessions, are open to the public at large. All /some of these sessions may be broadcast to interested persons through media which may include radio, television and the Internet. Any data or information discussed or divulged in public sessions by entrants should be considered information that could possibly enter the public realm, and entrants should not assume any right of confidentiality in any data or information discussed, divulged, or presented in these sessions.

Intellectual property: As explained in the previous section, any information that you disclose as a participant in the pitch competition is not confidential and is available to the public. The University has no responsibility to protect any intellectual property included with your submission or any other information shared by you in the competition. Such responsibility is yours alone. If you have any concerns about whether participation in this pitch competition might compromise your intellectual property, you should consult an attorney or other qualified advisor.

Conflict of interest statement: No judge, mentor, volunteer or competition staff member may have any vested interest, equity stake, or financial stake in any of the competing companies before the competition. Any of the previously listed parties that stand to gain financially or otherwise from the success of any of the competing companies prior to their completion of the competition is strictly prohibited. Any such association will result in disqualification of the team and/or removal of that individual from his/her associated position with the competition.

Repeatability: Students and/or teams may not repeat the same concept in the competition from one year to another.

Dishonesty and plagiarism: Dishonesty, plagiarism or intellectual theft of any kind will result in removal from the competition and forfeiture of any competition investment.

Changes to competition rules: While not anticipated, rules and investment prizes are subject to change at the discretion of the Ilitch Technology Competition at any time. The Ilitch Startup Technology Competition has the right to interpret these rules according to its own judgement.

Disqualification: Competitors may be disqualified if they violate any of the competition rules.