This morning blogs are full of announcement for coming startups competition (see here and here). And while it is always pleasant to see money being thrown at entrepreneurs, I do not believe that this is the best way to help:
The most precious resource for startups is time, and before you rush into one of these competitions you should ask yourself whether it is worth your time. Competitions mean just a few will win, and it is a lottery game because whoever is in the selection committee has their own passions and their own agenda, and you cannot control this.
And then if you get the money, while it feels good you are no closer to getting an actual customer paying for your product or services.
So if you have time for this, fine, but you should not drive your business running from one lottery to the other…
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Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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Scott Bechtler-Levin · 838 weeks ago
While I agree that competitions can be quite time consuming and the chances of winning are not high, I've found that contests have served a useful role in my journey as a social entrepreneur.
We entered a few well structured contents over the two years - - Echoing Green (www.echoinggreen.org), Investors' Circle and GSBI (http://www.socialedge.org/features/gsbi ). Each provided useful insights into different ways to structure and evaluate my plans, thoughtful mentorship/feedback, and a deadline. In every way, it was work that I needed to do anyway.
In addition, progressing through the various "cuts" also provided some nice validation (despite the lottery aspect you pointed out) and credibility.
Having said that, I do agree that more than participation in more than 2-3 results in diminishing returns on the above benefits.
Scott Bechtler-Levin
IdeaEncore Network
mdangear 37p · 838 weeks ago
Having said this, these competitions are advertised by many as a way out of the seed financing issue that entrepreneurs face, and it is not. It will help a few, and it is better than nothing but it is not going to fix the system. Entrepreneurs need more and better than a few competitions...
Nick · 838 weeks ago