Guest Blog: Tips from two business plan junkies, competing for SSES in Austin, Texas

Yesterday, we left  snowy Sweden for a sunny Austin in Texas. For the next couple of days, Student Competitions AB will participate in the Venture Labs Investment Challenge, formerly known as Moot Corp, the worlds oldest and most prestigious business plan competition. We qualified for the competition by winning Venture Challenge, hosted by San Diego State University a couple of weeks ago, beating teams from Harvard, UCLA and John Hopkins and several other cool MBA schools.

In this competition, we meet the winners from the top 20 business plan competitions in the world. On Thursday, there will be a feedback round of pitching and on Friday, the "money rounds" start. Right now, we are comfortably seated in a large leather sofa in the executive education conference center at University of Texas Austin, preparing our presentations for tomorrow. 

We love competitions, obviously, we even base our business model on it. However, we think you should participate too! 

There are several reeasons why you, as an early-stage entrepreneur should participate in business plan competitions:

- You can try out your idea and get feedback on it before you go at it. 

- You can connect with resources in terms of capital and or contacts, which will help you get your feet off the ground. 

- You meet lots of other inspiring entrepreneurs, who are in different stages of starting their companies.

- You get to travel to exotic places.

- You challenge yourself and measure yourself against others!

To sum up: Business plan competitions are great. Go compete today!

Gustav Borgefalk & Robert Lyngman

Co-founders StudentCompetitions.com