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PITCH IT GBC! 2022

PITCH IT GBC! 2023 Competition Banner Ad

This startGBC competition is made possible thanks to the generous support of: Desjardins Logo

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2022 WINNERS!!


PITCH IT GBC! is accepting applications from any George Brown College student or recent graduate, who attended an academic program between September 2022 and November 2023, with an active georgebrown.ca email account, and who are looking for seed funding to support the creation of for-profit businesses and social innovation organizations.  Submission for uploads must be completed by 4:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 24, 2023.

Please complete the following expression of interest to participate and a link to the instructions will be emailed to you. https://share.hsforms.com/1_wpePOi6Sn6K8bpgeYFeZQ1yd5z

About the PITCH IT GBC! Competition

The PITCH IT GBC! competition is designed to provide seed funding to support aspiring entrepreneurs developing and pitching their business/social innovation ideas. Participants have an opportunity to win a portion of the $10,000 prize fund. Two streams of the PITCH IT GBC! competition will occur simultaneously:

Stream 1: For-profit business and

Stream 2: Social innovation enterprises

Social Innovation enterprises can include not-for-profit or for-profit entities. In addition, for-profit businesses can apply for both streams if their product offering covers social innovation.  Applications can be submitted by solo entrepreneurs or multi-founder teams.  Prizes will be awarded once per business/social innovation pitch and not per team member. 

The prize pot will be split in the following way:

Stream 1 – For-profit Business

Winner – $2,000

Second – $1,500

Third – $1,000

Fourth – $500

Stream 2 – Social Innovation

Winner – $2,000

Second – $1,500

Third – $1,000

Fourth – $500

How to Enter and Steps for the Competition:

  1. Interested participants must register their interest via the dedicated competition page on the startGBC website startGBC.com/PITCHITGBC
  2. Business model canvas and pitch skills workshops will be run during September and October that applicants are encouraged to attend.
  3. Applications with completed Business Model Canvas and 3-minute video pitches (Visual presentations are not required, pitches can be maximum -/+ 30 seconds on either side of 3 minutes) are to be completed and submitted by 4:00 p.m., Monday, October 24, 2023. (instructions on how to complete this will be emailed to all applicants who register an interest on the startGBC website).
  4. Applicants may enter only one stream if they could be eligible under both streams but must notify startGBC when submitting their business model canvas which stream they wish to be considered for.
  5. Applications will be reviewed by a panel of startGBC independent advisors.
  6. A selection of applicants will be invited to compete in the final round by Friday, November 3, 2023.
  7. Finalists will pitch their ideas at a live event to a panel of judges on Friday, November 17, 2023.
  8. Winners will be selected on Friday, November 17, 2023, and winners will be announced by 8:00 p.m. Friday, November 17, 2023
  9. Funds will be deposited into their George Brown College Stu-View student account.

Eligibility:

  1. Entries can be single applicants or multiple founder partnerships.
  2. The main applicant must be a current student at George Brown College or recent alumni (who graduated between August 2022 and October 2023).
  3. Open to domestic and international students, but the intention must be to establish a business/social enterprise in Ontario, Canada.
  4. Applicants must use an active George Brown College email account to submit an application and receive competition communications and be able to receive funds if successful.
  5. All applicants must be available to present a live online 5-minute pitch live at the PITCH IT GBC! final competition on Friday, November 18, 2022, in order to be eligible to receive funding.
  6. The applicant/Team can be at the concept stage and does not need to be operating or registered at the time of entry.
  7. To enter Social Innovation Stream 2, your proposed offering must meet the following social innovation definition: – Social Innovations are new social practices that aim to meet social needs in a better way than the existing solutions. These can include improving working conditions, education, community development, or health, with the ultimate goal of strengthening civil society. Social innovation includes the social processes of innovation, such as open-source methods and techniques, and also innovations with a social purpose – like activism, virtual volunteering, microcredit, or distance learning.

General Information

  1. Finalists are not guaranteed funding.
  2. Applicants will learn the identity of the final competition selection panel on Friday, November 17, 2023.
  3. Applicants will retain ownership of all intellectual property contained in their submissions.
  4. Applicants are encouraged to attend a Business Model Canvas workshop provided by startGBC before making an entry.
  5. Applicants are encouraged to use the Open-3-Close Pitch method as found on the startGBC website and attend a workshop to gain experience.  
  6. Scoring criteria for each element of the competition can be found in the rubrics in appendix A, B & C.

Competition Rules and Regulations

By submitting an application to the PITCH IT GBC! competition, applicants consent and agree to abide by the following rules and regulations:

  1. George Brown College is not responsible for any lost, late, illegible, incomplete, falsified, destroyed, or failed entries, or for any electronic miscommunications or failures of any kind, which may limit a person’s ability to participate in the competition.
  2. Each participant may only submit one business idea.
  3. Deliberate or negligent misappropriation of the intellectual property of another person is an ethical breach that will be grounds for disqualification from the competition.
  4. In the event that startGBC is prevented from continuing with the contest by an event beyond its control, startGBC or George Brown College has the right to modify, suspend, extend, or terminate the competition.
  5. startGBC and George Brown College reserve the right to use competition submissions, as well as photographs or videos taken of competition applicants, as a group or individually, over the course of the competition, for educational and promotional purposes in perpetuity.
  6. In the event of a dispute regarding who submitted an entry, the entry will be deemed to have been submitted by the authorized account holder of the email address used to submit the entry at the time of entry. “Authorized account holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an Internet service provider, online service provider, or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address.
  7. By participating in the PITCH IT GBC! competition, entrants agree to be bound by these official rules and the decisions of startGBC and the judges, which are final and binding in all respects. Failure to comply with the Official Rules will result in disqualification.
  8. All rules and regulations proposed within are subject to change, at the sole discretion of startGBC, at any time, without previous warning or notification to contest applicants.
  9. All prize fund winners will be required to remain engaged with startGBC until April 2024 and provide updates to the startGBC Manager on the progress of the business creation.
  10. All applicants will be required to complete the annual startGBC entrepreneurship survey until April 2024.
  11. All applicants will be required to complete a competition exit survey which will require applicants to reflect on the process and personal development in line with the George Brown College Human Skills Framework.
  12. The final competition will be recorded by startGBC/George Brown College and will be made available for viewing by startGBC/George Brown College. All applicants will be required to sign a video/media release form.
  13. Prize winners must provide startGBC with a budget forecast on how the prize funds will be spent by 5:00 p.m., Monday, November 20, 2023.
  14. If details provided by applicants are no longer active on November 17, 2023, funds will become void.
  15. George Brown College and startGBC respect your right to privacy. Personal information collected from applicants will only be used by George Brown College/startGBC to administer the competition and, only if consent is given at the time of entry, to provide applicants with information regarding upcoming workshops, events and competitions. For more information regarding the manner of collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by George Brown College, please refer to the George Brown College Privacy Policy available at https://www.georgebrown.ca/about/policies/privacy-policy.

Business Model Canvas Workshops

Watch a previous startGBC Business Model Canvas Workshop Recording

Or CLICK HERE TO REVIEW A PREVIOUS RECORDING

Pitch Workshops

Watch a previous startGBC recording of the pitch workshop

Or CLICK HERE TO REVIEW A PREVIOUS RECORDING

Evaluation Rubrics

Appendix A – Business Model Canvas Evaluation Rubric 

Appendix B – 3-minute Flip Entry Pitch Evaluation Rubric

Appendix C – 5-minute Final Pitch Evaluation Rubric