Enter and tell the world about your business and social mission and get a chance to be featured on CBS5!

Are you the business of doing good? Are you a social entrepreneur? Does your business help to make this world a better place socially, environmentally or economically?

Regardless of whether you are for-profit or non-profit, if your business has a social mission that you believe the world should know about then Big Success Contest is for you!

How to Win!

Guess what? There are two ways to win!
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People’s Choice Award

Send your video to all your friends and family, post it to your Facebook profile, and get them to rate and comment on your videos. The video with the highest online votes will receive a complimentary ticket to BizTechDay 2009 this October.

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Judges’ Choice winner
Our panel of judges will decide on a first place winner, along with two runner-ups. The criteria they will use:

• 20% How attractive is this business to potential investors?
• 20% How attractive is this business to potential customers?
• 20% How much impact this business is making to the world?
• 20% How effectively is the live presentation message portrayed?
• 20% Is the business pitch entertaining?

Our quarterly winner will be featured on CBS5 for a 5-minute interview.

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Final Champion
Our Champion will receive a 30-minute exclusive interview on CBS5 and win a free trip to Miami!

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What makes a great pitch?
If you are wondering how much can one really squeeze into a minute and a half - the answer is ‘a lot’.
An effective pitch is the key in creating a strong impression on investors and potential customers. In a 90 seconds pitch, it is very important to drill down to the basics and select a few key highlights, and pare the entire pitch down to a few key ingredients:

1. The idea: If the essence of your business can be distilled into one sentence, great. If not, explain the pain (or problem) that your business will ease (or solve).

2. The people: You don’t need to recite your titles or names of people on your board. Just say “I am Jonathan and I have 10 years of expertise in …..”. Investors mainly invest in people, not ideas.

3. The competition: While there is not enough time to trash the competition, you cannot ignore them either. One well thought out line about how you are different from the crowd, will take you a long way towards credibility.

4. The customers: If you have a real client - tout it. There is nothing like the endorsement of knowing that someone else is taking a chance on your company, your products or services.

5. Intellectual property: Very often investors might like an idea, and even how the company is executing, but might be leery about investing, if they do not have an assurance that the technology is protected. So if you have a patent, let them know, and the rest will be easy sailing.
Again, this 90 seconds pitch is not meant to get you funding or customers. It is meant to give the community (investors or customers) enough of a flavor to whet their appetites, so they will want to give you their votes and talk to you further!

Example:
IceCreamSundae.com is the only online portal that delivers ice cream over the internet. My team has over 20 years experience in making ice cream. Unlike Ben & Jerry and others, IceCreamnSundae.com is the only provider that can deliver ice cream 24X7. We have over 500 pilot customers and they all love it. Customer Jonathan once said: “This is the best ice cream I ever had over the internet! I will definitely try it again!” We have 2 patents pending for our ice-cream over the internet technology and it should be approved in the next 90 days! Vote for IceCreamSundae.com.

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The fine print:

• Must be a United States resident.
• Keep your video under 90 seconds.
• Keep it clean and fun. Be original. Be creative!
• Submit early for a better chance to win the People’s Choice Award.
• Do NOT use copyrighted logos, materials, or registered trademarks of any entity.

See official rules for more details.