Goal: To establish entrepreneurship as a viable post-graduation alternative to firm, government, and public interest work for YLS students.

Method: The Entrepreneurship Challenge (“EC”) will succeed as a student program at the Yale Law School with the following strategy. First, EC will increase awareness of the creative freedom and other benefits that entrepreneurship affords when chosen as a career track. Second, EC will seek to attract students without formal business experience with a low entry barrier and a solid mentorship system. Third, EC will provide all the tools and capital necessary for committed participants to start a full-sized business immediately after law school. 

It is important to note that the goal of EC is to create entrepreneurs and businesses, not add accomplishments to a person’s resume. While students participating in the Challenge will certainly develop valuable, portable skills and connections, they should do so while trying to craft a viable proposal. Successful ventures require dedicated founders; accordingly, EC rewards (the prizes and financing) will go to individuals who can demonstrate commitment to their ideas.

Program Structure: To achieve the Goal via the above Method, we suggest creating the program detailed below.

• Awards Committee: The sole body responsible for determining recipients of Round 1 EC Prizes and Round 2 Financing.
•  The Committee will have 5 Voting Members, all of whom will be Yale Law School graduates.
• One of the Voting Members will act as the Committee Chairman. The Chairman will be responsible for filling Committee vacancies and determining Committee procedures by consensus with the remaining Voting Members.
• In addition to the 5 Voting Members, a YLS faculty representative or administrator will act as an Advisor to the Awards Committee. The Advisor will provide a way to integrate EC with the YLS business law curriculum and programming.

The Awards Committee will sponsor two EC Rounds every academic year.

Round 1: A business plan competition for up to 4 prizes of $5000 each (EC Prizes).

Launch Date: October 31, 2007
Submission Due Date:  December 17, 2007
Award Announcement Date: January 14, 2008

Selection Criteria:

• The Awards Committee will annually award up to 4 prizes of $5000 to qualifying submissions. The number of prizes awarded is entirely within the Committee’s discretion. In the event that the Committee does not receive any suitable proposals, it may refuse to award any EC Prizes for that year.
• The Awards Committee will evaluate Round 1 submissions based on the quality of their idea and the logical coherence of their profit models.
• Round 1 submissions will NOT have to follow traditional business plan formats. Rather, any document that clearly articulates why the revenues from a particular venture will exceed costs will be considered for the EC Prize. A concise explanation of a viable enterprise may thus do better than a detailed but flawed proposal.

Eligibility:

• Every Round 1 proposal must be submitted by at least 1 current Yale Law Student.
• YLS students may form teams to author proposals. There are no restrictions on the size or membership of such teams. 
•  Improvements to existing businesses may be submitted as Round 1 proposals. 
•  Proposal authors shall retain all intellectual property rights to Round 1 submissions.  

Prizes:
# EC Prizes will be awarded to individual proposals in the spring semester immediately following Round 1 submissions. The authors of the proposal may then divide the money as they see fit.
# Receipt of EC Prizes will be contingent on the authors’ good faith participation in Round 2 of the Entrepreneurship Challenge. At least one member from each winning team who is a current Yale Law Student must participate in Round 2 to receive the prize.
# An EC Prize may be spent however the recipients desire.
# All business plans will receive feedback from professional entrepreneurs. This evaluation will be extremely valuable for those interested in entering Round 2.
 
Round 2: A workshop designed to move viable ideas from the paper to the market.

Launch Date: January 21, 2007
Submission Due Date:  February 4, 2007
Award Announcement Date: Flexible

Eligibility:
# Round 1 participation is NOT a requirement for Round 2 participation.
# For a Round 2 proposal to be active, it must be represented at workshop meetings by at least 1 current Yale Law Student. Other individuals on a given team may also attend the workshop.
# Participants continuing from Round 1 may change or expand their teams prior to Round 2. 
# Proposals to expand or improve existing businesses are eligible for Round 2.
# Round 2 participants are encouraged to tap into the Yale Entrepreneurial Society network of non-law students for specialized expertise or venture ideas.

Financing:
# Round 2 will culminate in the Awards Committee assembling a financing package that meets the start-up capital needs of one or several ventures. The size of this financing package will vary with the nature of funded enterprises. There is no preset minimum or maximum package size.  All financing will be equity-based.
# The Awards Committee may, in its discretion, establish milestones required for a venture to receive funding. The Awards Committee may create timelines extending beyond the Round 2 Workshop for the equity infusions. 
# The Awards Committee may determine that for any given Round 2, no proposals merit financing. Alternatively, the Awards Committee may also determine that certain Round 2 proposals merit financing only subject to significant changes. In such a case, the venture team for the proposal must decide whether to implement the changes, defer modifications for a period discussed with the Committee, or terminate EC participation.
# EC funding is not exclusive of alternative venture investments, past or future.
# EC mentors will assist existing businesses whose capital needs exceed the EC scope in procuring additional VC funding.
# Venture team members shall retain all intellectual property rights to Round 2 proposals.

Workshop:
# Round 2 teams will receive as a mentor a successful entrepreneur who graduated from YLS. This mentor will work directly with team members to develop their ventures.
# Round 2 candidates will participate in a weekly workshop with their mentors and other EC teams. This workshop will discuss specific improvements a particular venture can make and give EC participants an opportunity to critique and analyze their peers’ efforts.
# The workshop will have two goals. First, it will aim to develop ventures through rigorous examination of their business model. Second, it will give the Awards Committee an opportunity to carefully scrutinize the management team of each venture and their proposal’s nuances.
# Participation in the Workshop is mandatory for EC Prize recipients and Round 2 venture teams.  

NOTE: An optional continuation stage can be added to Round 1, where, contingent on implementing improvements stipulated by the reviewer, a business plan will become eligible for an additional prize upon resubmission.