The Big Launch Challenge

The Launch Place, an established entrepreneurial development organization headquartered in Danville, Virginia, and First Flight Venture Center, the largest technology incubator in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, have come together to host their 5th business plan competition. The pitch competition includes awards totaling up to $20,000 for the winners. The challenge has a total of two rounds, plus a final live event. Ten finalists will be selected to compete.

The challenge is an annual event and offers startups valuable business networking and capital opportunities, as well as critical resources. The goal of The Big Launch Challenge is to foster entrepreneurship by offering education, team creation, mentorship, early-stage prototyping, and potential follow-on seed financing.

Keynote Speaker and Judge: Paul Singh

Singh is an entrepreneur, speaker, investor, and Airstreamer. Previously, Singh was a managing director at 1776 and a general partner is 1776’s Seed Fund. Prior to 1776, Singh was the founder of Disruption Corporation (acquired by 1776) and general partner of Disruption’s post-seed venture capital arm, Crystal Tech Fund. Before that, Singh was an early partner at 500 Startups, an accelerator and venture firm headquartered in Silicon Valley that has invested in more than 2,200 companies across 50-plus countries. Singh has founded a few of his own startups (two successful exits and a number of failures in between) and spent some time at AOL, Carmax, PBworks, and Symantec.

Awards

1st place: $15,000
2nd place: $5,000

*Application to pitch deadline is Tuesday, September 4. Register to apply here.