UWT Business Plan Competition

Individuals and Teams in the Business Plan Competition must comply with the following criteria to be eligible for the competition:

1. Teams entering the University of Washington Tacoma 2026 Business Plan Competition must have at least one full-time or part-time student on the team who is enrolled in a degree-seeking program at an accredited college or university in Washington state. If you graduated in Spring 2025 or later, you are considered a current student for this competition.
2. The business plan must be developed during the student’s tenure at the university. Students working with outside entrepreneurs must create an original business plan.
3. All submissions to the Business Plan Competition must exemplify the ideals of the University of Washington Tacoma. Your idea must be appropriate for a university-sponsored event. The University of Washington Tacoma's Entrepreneurship Center reserves the right to disqualify any entry that in its judgment violates the letter or the spirit of the competition or exceeds the bounds of social convention.
4. All businesses must create economic opportunity within the South Sound community.
5. If the company is revenue positive, the company’s actual annual revenue cannot exceed $500,000. Please note this is different than the company’s projected revenue. This rule does not apply to projected revenue.
6. Eligible students can form a team with non-student business community members or alumni, but there are restrictions to this involvement (see below).
7. In the Preliminary round, no more than four team members, including both students and non-students, can present the new business concept to the judges. In the Final Round of the competition, only student team members will be allowed to make presentations to the judges.
8. Students must have at least a 51% ownership in the business if the business is revenue positive.
9. Only student team members are eligible to earn prize money. No payments will be made to non-students.

Note: The Director of the Entrepreneurship Center reserves the right to make the final determination of the eligibility of submitted business ventures.

The Business Plan Competition considers all  Business Plans submitted in the screening round as confidential and treats all team matters accordingly. However, we cannot guarantee complete confidentiality for proprietary matters.

Therefore, we strongly encourage any individual or team with concerns regarding intellectual property, copyright, or patent confidentiality to either contact their University’s intellectual property office (for University-developed discoveries) or competent legal counsel (for non-University related discoveries).

The University of Washington Tacoma, the Milgard School of Business, and the organizers of the competition are not responsible for any proprietary information and/or intellectual property included in a submitted business plan.

Ultimately, protection of sensitive materials is the sole responsibility of the individual or team participating in the competition.

This competition consists of 3 phases:

Screening Round:  Complete the application and include an executive summary of your business plan that includes all relevant information about your business.

Preliminary Round:  This is a trade show style round.  Selected participants will be given a table area and will be expected to bring, at a minimum, a poster presentation of their business. Participants can bring additional items such as tablecloths, backdrops, swag, etc.   All attendees will have feedback sheets that will be shared with the participants.  Public is invited and judges will be among the attendees but will not be identified. Top five teams will be selected for the final round.

Final Round:  This will be a formal presentation from the top five teams to the judges.  Public is invited and top three finalists will be awarded their prizes.