Complete the online application. A panel of judges will select 20 applications for the live elevator pitch event to be held April 15. (If your application is selected, but you cannot present on April 15, someone else may present for you.) NOTE: You must provide an email address with your application. The 20 applicants selected to present will be notified by email, so be sure to check your email regularly!

Before you complete the application, you may want to review the evaluation criteria the selection committee will use for the online applications. Download the application evaluation criteria 

Following is a copy of the application that includes explanatory notes and an example. The example entries are shown in italics.

1. Name of your product/service:    Hang Tight 
2. Describe your product or service in 1-3 sentences. 

Hang Tight Example: A clothes hanger with a special finish that keeps clothing from sliding off the hanger. 

3. Describe the people most likely to want or need your product or service. (This is your target market.) 

“Everyone” is usually not a good way to describe the target market. Consider the people most likely to buy. You may come up with several different groups of people who would benefit from this product. Pick the groups that would get the most benefit. They will be your target market – the people for whom you will design all of your marketing material to convince them to try your product or service.

Example using the Hang Tight hanger: The people most likely to buy this are women aged 25 and up. They are probably living on their own and working full-time so keeping clothes in order is their responsibility. If they have a family, they probably take care of those types of purchases for their household. Of course, men can use this product as well and many will. It’s just that women are more likely to buy so I want to create my marketing efforts to get their attention. 

To be very specific, I would describe the group most likely to buy my Hang Tight hanger this way: Women, age 25 and up, $50,000 household income, working in an office environment. 

4. Why would people spend money on this product at all or instead of a competing product or another product or service?  

There are many types of hangers available but mine is unique because of the special coating that covers the entire hanger. The coating is skid-free – a very thin layer of rubber-like substance. Pants won’t slide off if you hang them along the bottom and blouses and tops with wide necks won’t slide off either. This keeps clothes from getting wrinkled as they lay on the floor after falling off the hanger. It saves you time and stress because you don’t have to iron something at the last minute when you discover it laying on the closet floor. 

5. What do you need to have or do to take your idea to the next stage?  

People with great ideas often find it challenging to move past the idea stage. They may need any number of things including:  Money to make a model of their product; an attorney to assist them with getting a patent for their product so people cannot copy it; an accountant to help them figure out the cost of making the product or setting up shop to deliver the service; advice on how to write a business plan and a host of other things. Explain what you think you need to advance your idea a little further.

Hang Tight Example: I would like to get the advice of a patent attorney to find out if I need a patent for my idea so someone cannot copy it.