Teams will submit short written proposals framed by a business model canvas.
- Due January 12, 2026 by 5:00PM, emailed to Nathan Grawe
- Purpose and Value Summary (No more than 1/2 page): Please provide a summary of the value that your product/service will generate and how your solution is unique to the market of other current solutions, if any. Also include the purpose behind your solution, specifying who it is helping, what their needs are, and why providing a solution is important.
- Proposal Body (between 1-3 pages): Provide a written narrative that explains your business model canvas and product vision. Include responses to the following: Who are your customers/users? How will you reach them? What does your relationship look like? What key activities and resources are needed to deliver your solution? Which outside partners will your team need to hire or contract with to ensure delivery of your solution’s customer value? How do you see your product/solution getting to your target market?
- Budget estimates (appx. 1 page): Provide a reasonable and justifiable budget, including high level assumptions for the expenses and revenues of your business. Include a high level plan for how you might apply the fellowship funding to support your team and the development, testing, and marketing of your product/solution. Indicate explicitly the intended division of the $10,000 fellowship if you win first place; if no explicit division is included, the fellowship will be divided equally among all team members.
- Team Bios (No more than 1 page): Briefly identify the members of your team, what they bring to the team, and what roles/position they hold in the organization. You are done when each segment of the business model canvas is assigned to a person primarily responsible for that area.