Submission Rules and Guidelines
1. ELIGIBILITY
• The Competition is open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States, the District of Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii, age 18 and above at the time of entry.
• Eligibility for award of grants is based on the principal and operational location of grant recipients and their proposed businesses being located in communities with (a) median household income for working families ranging from approximately $35,000 to $42,000 annually or exceeding twenty percent (20%) or more below the national median, or (b) overall crime rates (including homicide rates) exceeding twenty percent (20%) or more above the national average, or (c) a governmental determination of economical deterioration or blight based on applicable legislative authority.
• Eligibility for award of grants is based further on grant recipients qualifying as “socially disadvantaged” within the meaning of Code of Federal Regulations, Title 13, Chapter I, Subpart 8_(a), Section 124.103 (13CFR124.103). In particular, grant recipients must be members of one or more of the following “designated groups” set forth in Section 124.103(b), satisfying the presumption of being “socially disadvantaged”: Black Americans and Hispanic Americans.
• Eligibility for award of grants is based further on grant recipients qualifying as “economically disadvantaged” within the meaning of the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 13, Chapter I, Subpart 8_(a), Section 124.104 (13CFR124.104).
• You can submit a business idea as an individual or, partnering with up to two others, as a team.
• You cannot be under any obligation or agreement that would interfere with your participation in the Competition and the Funding awarded, including, but not limited to, authorizing the online publication and distribution of your Submission Materials.
2. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
• Unique ideas creatively and clearly presented. Don’t be overly complex.
• Ideas with strength: Can you make a solid case that your business will serve a market no one else is, or that you’ll do a better job than other businesses at serving an existing market? Tell us how.
• Your business can be a pure startup (that is, you have an idea but aren’t in operation yet) or an existing business (but in operation for no more than 12 months at the time of your submission to 100 Urban Entrepreneurs).
• Your business must have the potential for short-term profitability. Can you be making money within six to 12 months?
• Your business idea can fall into any industry category, except: 100 Urban Entrepreneurs will not accept business pitches for multi-level marketing operations; real-estate purchases; franchises; or illegal activity of any kind.
• Your business must also be a for-profit enterprise.
• If you’re funded by 100 Urban Entrepreneurs, the 100UE team will be available to you. We’ll offer mentoring, business assistance and other suggestions, and you’ll be required to video-blog your experience and tap into the rest of 100UE community for ideas, assistance and hiring.
3. PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS
• Proposals can be submitted at any time. Applicants will be notified via e-mail within three days of the receipt of their proposal. The 100 Urban Entrepreneurs committee will review all applications and business proposals twice a month to select an entrepreneur to receive funding.
• Applicants must submit a complete proposal package via the 100UE Web site. The package must contain all required components. Please note: A proposal that does not contain all required components will not be accepted, and will be returned to the applicant.
• Once a proposal package has been submitted, applicants may contact Submissions@100UE.org regarding the status of their proposals.
Proposal Requirements:
• Proposal information must be submitted using the questionnaire form provided on the 100 Urban Entrepreneurs Web site. No other forms will be accepted. Please note: Proposals that are not submitted in the required format, or do not contain all required components, will be rejected and returned to the applicant.
• Multiple submissions of the same Business Idea from week to week is not permitted.
100 Urban Entrepreneurs will consider for funding only complete proposals that include the following components:
• Proposal Submission Form (provided on the Web site). Every section and/or request for information must be addressed and submitted directly via the 100UE Web site. By filling out the submission form, you will be providing 100UE with your executive summary or high-level startup pitch.
In addition, the following submission components are optional, but highly recommended:
• A Business Plan (to be sent as an attachment with the Proposal Submission Form). What is the purpose of a Business Plan? Every new business must start with a business plan. Without one, you and your team will lack clear direction, resulting in missed opportunities and higher costs. Remember, this is high-stakes stuff. While your excitement and enthusiasm make you want to run out the door and start selling, spend plenty of time sitting down, brainstorming your idea and getting your plan on paper.
• A Video Pitch (to be sent as a YouTube link with the Proposal Submission Form). Every entrepreneur must be able to articulate his or her passion and business in a two-minute video pitch. If you’re selected, we’ll post your video to TheCASHFLOW Web site to give you additional exposure to potential investors.
• Once selected, the funding recipient will be announced on TheCASHFLOW Web site.
• If you’re selected to receive funding, you’ll receive a 100UE guide via courier. It will contain a video camera and the 100UE Startup Guide, plus additional information and rules.
4. SELECTED FUNDING RECIPIENTS
• If you’re selected to receive funding, you’ll be encouraged to begin posting blog entries and video to TheCASHFLOW.com immediately, and to do so continuously throughout your entire 100UE experience.
• Funding recipients will become part of the 100UE funding-and-mentoring program, consisting of an eight-week crash course in startup entrepreneurship.
• The 100UE team will work with you to develop your idea and prepare it for a formal launch.
• The 100UE mentor team will include those with expertise in technology, finance, marketing, sales, strategy and legal, among other disciplines.
• 100UE will use its own platform to provide marketing, promotion and distribution for you and your business wherever possible.
• You will be encouraged to make use of our crowdsourcing platform for help with various business functions (branding, marketing, customer outreach, etc.) and needs (staffing, help with basic problem-solving, etc.).
• Along with the funding, you will also receive guidance and mentoring from the 100UE team of experts.
5. FUNDING
• 100UE funding will be contingent on you showing responsibility, accountability and, ultimately, performance.
• Founding entrepreneurs’ gross annual household income cannot exceed $25,000 for an individual or $45,000 for a family of four based on verifiable income statements and/or federal tax returns.
• Throughout the program, experienced mentors will guide weekly sessions, which will be held in the evening to enable participants to keep their day job or develop their company during business hours.
• Once that program is complete, 100UE will deposit the funds into a bank account; you will then be able to draw on the funds according to the agreed-upon plan and timetable.
• The $10,000 may be used for any aspect of launching and building the business: branding, marketing, technology, development, legal, etc.
6. GROUNDS FOR DISQUALIFICATION
• Illegal activity of any kind.
• Making multiple submissions of the same idea.
• Blatant stealing or copying a business idea, either from the 100UE community or elsewhere (i.e., not merely offering an improvement on an existing business, but presenting that business’s product or specific idea as your own).
• Making statements that are easily proven to be false, whether to the 100UE team or others.
• An obvious lack of effort, either pre- or post-funding.
• Incomplete or inappropriate content of any kind.
7. DISPUTES
In the event of a dispute over the identity of an entrant, online entries will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the email address submitted at the time of entry, and the entrant may be required to provide identification sufficient to show that he/she is the Authorized Account Holder of the email address submitted upon entry. An “Authorized Account Holder” is the natural person who is assigned to an email address by the Internet Access provider, online service provider, or other organization that is responsible for assigning email addresses.
8. GRANT OF LICENSE
For the opportunity to win Funding, in addition to other good and valuable consideration, the receipt, adequacy and legal sufficiency of which you hereby acknowledge, you (and each member of a Team, if applicable) agree that by entering into this Competition, you are granting Sponsor (and any and all of Sponor’s respective subsidiaries and affiliates, successors and assignees and licensees) the nonexclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferrable right and license, but not the obligation, to publically display, prepare derivative works based upon, distribute copies, broadcast, reproduce, encode, compress, encrypt, incorporate data into, edit, dub, superimpose, rebroadcast, transmit, record, publicly perform and distribute and synchronize in timed relation to visual elements, the Submission Materials and/or any portions or excerpts thereof, in any manner, an unlimited number of times, for any purpose, in any and all media, now known or hereafter devised. You, by entering, acknowledge that Sponsor may use the Submission Materials in accordance with the permission granted herein without any payment to you or any third party.
9. YOUR ASSURANCES
You (and each member of a Team, if applicable) state: (a) that you have all rights to the contents of Submission Materials and all components thereof and any other materials submitted to Sponsor or posted on the Website, and that you have obtained all rights, consents and permission, including, but not limited to, those of persons participating in any materials submitted to Sponsor or posted on the Website, necessary to grant the rights granted herein; (b) that the Submission Materials and any other materials submitted to Sponsor or posted on the Website do not and will not violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation; (c) that the Submission Materials and any other materials submitted to Sponsor or posted on the Website are free and clear of any liens or claims with respect to the use of those materials in the manner authorized herein and will not give rise to any claims of infringement, invasion of privacy or violation of any rights of publicity or claims, or infringe on any rights or interests of any third party, or give rise to any claims for any payment whatsoever, including but not limited to claims for re-use fees or residuals; and (d) that the Submission Materials and any other materials submitted to Sponsor or posted on the Website are not and will not be defamatory, trade libelous, pornographic or obscene.
10. GENERAL TERMS
Noncompliance with any of these Official Rules may result in disqualification. ANY VIOLATION OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES BY A FINALIST AND/OR FUNDING RECIPIENT OR ANY BEHAVIOR BY A FINALIST AND/OR FUNDING RECIPIENT THAT WILL BRING SUCH FINALIST AND/OR FUNDING RECIPIENT OR SPONOR INTO DISREPUTE (IN SPONSOR’S SOLE DISCRETION) WILL RESULT IN SUCH FINALIST’S AND/OR FUNDING RECIPIENT’S DISQUALIFICATION AS A FINALIST AND/OR FUNDING RECIPIENT OF THIS COMPETITION AND ALL PRIVILEGES AS A FINALIST AND/OR FUNDING RECIPIENT WILL BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED.
11. OWNERSHIP
Contests and other competitions often generate substantially similar submissions, including Submission Materials that closely resemble concepts and ideas that have been independently developed by Sponsor before or after the Competition. Accordingly, you may see a Sponsor presentation that seemingly incorporates an idea or concept or includes materials similar to that contained in your Submission Materials. Any similarity is purely coincidental and unavoidable in light of the volume of ideas that Sponsor routinely considers in the course of its program development. Because of this possibility, you hereby agree to submit your Submission Materials under the following terms and conditions: (a) you hold Sponsor harmless for any similarity between your Submission Materials and any other entrant’s Submission Materials, or any subsequent Sponsor presentation; (b) you indemnify and hold harmless Sponsor and its respective officers, directors, managers, employees, agents, members, affiliated companies and subsidiaries from any claims, suits, losses, liabilities, damages and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) that arise from any breach of the foregoing conditions.
