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THE TWO MOST COMMON QUESTIONS :

What is the process for entering the Minnesota Cup?

Following is the process by which you create an account and make your initial entry into the Minnesota Cup :

1) Create an account with the MN Cup here. This will give you a username and password so that you can submit an entry and come back later and edit / revise your entry.

2) Login to the MN Cup (Click on "Login" in the far right). Note: If the far right should say "Edit Profile" instead of "Login", this means you are already logged in.

3) Once logged in, click on "Manage your Entry" (this shows up in the top right once you are logged in).

4) The MN Cup entry form will come up. Fill out all fields with "Coming Soon" and select any pop up fields to identify if the entry is for a Product or Service, the division you are entering, etc.

5) On the MN Cup entry form, accept the Terms and Conditions and hit "Submit". Hitting Submit is much like hitting "Save" on your word processor. It saves your record into our database so that you can access it later and edit / revise your entry.

When you hit "Submit", what should happen is :

-- You should get taken to a "Success" page
-- You should receive an email confirmation with your entry

If for some reason that does not work, let us know ASAP.

If this does work, you are well on your way and the next step would be :

-- Work on a section at a time (i.e., fill out one question and hit submit).
-- Each time you submit, you are essentially backing up your entry to ensure if there is an issue that you limit it to a single question.

When I submit my entry, I am getting a Server Error and / or I am not taken to the success page?

One common issue we run into is when users copy and paste formatted content from MS Word, Excel or other programs. It can bring with it formatting code that is invisible to you, but throws off the web form upon submission.

To resolve this, we recommend two things :

1) Go through the entry form again, but this time just type "Coming Soon" on each field so you can verify that the entry process is working properly on your end.

2) When you start copying and pasting content into the form, try to keep things as "plain text" as possible. Further, as you complete your entry, hit "submit" each time you complete a given field. This is the equivalent of saving your entry and this way if there is an issue - you can contain it to a single field / question.

(Additional Technical Questions Below)

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MINNESOTA CUP PROGRAM :

Is this for me?

If you are an entrepreneur, inventor or small business person either working on an innovative new business concept - or if you have already started on your journey but are generating less than $1 million per year in revenue - this program is for you.

For those that participate, we will provide you with access to some great tools and resources, the entry process will help you refine your investor pitch and if you do well, there are great prizes including as much as $40,000 in seed capital, attention in the media and an opportunity to pitch your idea to leaders in the business and investor communities.

What sort of ideas can be entered?

We are seeking new and innovative ideas. We don't want to create too many barriers or limitations, as we are likely to see concepts and ideas that span a wide variety of industries, product and service types, or even new business models.

Some entries will be for entirely new products, services or business processes while others may be for dramatic improvements to things that already exist but have yet to reach their potential.

The only major constraints are that the idea needs to be economically viable and it cannot violate or infringe on the copyright or intellectual property of another.

Can I enter more than one division?

No, you can only enter one division. And we do realize that some entries will straddle the fence of multiple divisions.

Which division should I enter?

You should enter the division that you feel best represents your entry. Additionally, if we believe an entry is misplaced, we will move it to the division we believe it stands the best chance to succeed in.

What is the student competition?

We have a student category to the competition to support Minnesota college students that aspire to be entrepreneurs.

Student entries will automatically be in the general competition and will be entered in a special student category, too. The grand prize for the student category is $5,000.

The entry process for students is the same as for those in the general competition. The only difference is selecting that you are 'student eligible' on your registration form.

Eligibility for the student award is limited to individuals enrolled as full-time students during 2010 at an accredited college or university located within the state of Minnesota. Student finalists will be required to provide documentation of their enrollment.

Is my idea really a 'breakthrough idea'?

Who would have thought 20 years ago that selling coffee was a breakthrough idea? Yet Starbucks pioneered an entirely new business model for cafes that sell premium coffee. In our view, this certainly is an example of a breakthrough idea. The point being, innovation has many, many forms and we look forward to seeing and learning about your innovative ideas.

I have already been at work on my 'breakthrough idea', we already are incorporated and we have been generating some revenue. Is this program for me?

We seek innovation in business, and we want to support and discover the entrepreneurs and ideas that have not yet had the opportunity to breakthrough. If you have yet to reach $1 million in revenue per year, you are eligible for this program, and we hope you will enter.

In the past two years, roughly half of the semi-finalists and five finalists had already launched their businesses and were actively pursuing their breakthrough ideas. The other half have been in the R&D stage and / or other stages of business inception.

I just started working on my idea. I don't have employees or revenue - I just have a plan that I'm looking to turn into a business. Am I ready for this competition?

If you have a great idea, a passion to build a business and plan to start up a new business, then this program is for you.

In the past three years, roughly half of the semi-finalists and the five finalists were at the inception stage and just starting out.

My idea is very low tech. Is this program available to me or is this purely for those with high tech ideas?

Innovation has many forms. In some cases, that innovation is connected to amazing technology. In other cases, great innovation comes without advanced technology of any kind. Last year, we were very impressed by the diverse mix of ideas - some that were high tech and some that were no tech. Whether your idea is high tech or no tech, we want to hear about it.

Can I enter more than one idea?

No. We are only taking one entry per person. If you have multiple ideas that you believe are a fit for this contest, we ask that you choose your very best idea and enter that one.

Can I enter by mail or fax?

No. The only way to enter the Minnesota Cup is by completing the entry form on our website. There are several reasons for this, most notably that we need to ensure a level playing field for all entrants. Further, with all entries online, we are able to manage and distribute them to review board members most effectively, particularly considering the volume of entries we will receive.

Who is eligible to enter?

Any and all residents of the State of Minnesota are eligible to enter.

Students who attend school in Minnesota and reside in the state while classes are in session are also eligible.

I am a resident of Wisconsin, can I enter?

No, but Wisconsin has a tremendous program called the Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest that is for Wisconsin residents.

I entered the Minnesota Cup last year, can I enter again?

Absolutely. We hope that all Minnesota Cup entrants have continued to pursue their breakthrough ideas, worked on their plans and made progress and we look forward to seeing your ideas and how they have progressed in the past year.

One small note, last year's finalists are ineligible. Anyone else who entered last year is eligible, and we hope that you will enter again.

Is there a cost to enter Minnesota Cup?

There is no cost to enter this competition.

What happens if my idea gets past the first round?

There will be as many as 60 entries that move on to the semi-final round. At that point, you will have six weeks to put together a much more detailed and thorough plan. Notification will occur on June 14 with the second-round submission due by July 23.

How can I be assured that my idea is safe?

The judges are experienced investors, executives and entrepreneurs. They are each in the position of hearing ideas, business pitches and new deals on a regular basis.

Do I maintain ownership of my idea?

Absolutely. This is your idea, your innovation and it is your intellectual property.

How will my entry be judged?

Entries will be judged on the following criteria:

Innovation :
An idea can be for a product or service and can be an entirely new idea or the evolution of a previous idea. Ideas that show the greatest innovation will be viewed more favorably.

Viability:
Can this idea be commercialized within two years? Can this idea create or serve a market need? What is the entrant's strategy for making the idea into a high-growth business? Judges will be evaluating ideas on their potential to generate revenue, profits and employment.

Quality of Presentation:
This is a secondary criteria, but please make sure that all content is well written and clear. As the competition progresses, quality of presentation will factor in more substantially.

Privacy Policy

The Minnesota Cup will not distribute, sell or share your information without your consent for any reason. Your email address, contact information and any other information that you provide to the Minnesota Cup will be kept confidential. Read more...

Conflict of Interest and Recusals

With such a large review board, it is inevitable that there will be some number of entrants that have some level of relationship with one or more than one member of the review board.

The Minnesota Cup has a firm policy that any relationship of any kind between a member of the review board and an entrant be disclosed to other members of the review board and for that particular entry, the review board member will recuse themselves from all manner of judging.

REGISTRATION / TECHNICAL ISSUES :

I just submitted my entry and I think it's lost! What do I do now and / or how can I prevent this?

Any time you complete or edit the entry form and hit submit, you'll get taken to a "Success" page and an email confirmation will be sent to you with a receipt of your entry. If this happens, we have your entry and it's saved in the system. If this doesn't happen we don't have your entry.

The most typical issues that arise are :

-- An interruption in the connection between your computer and the MN Cup site (if you have the browser open for a very long time....this is a big risk).

-- Inadvertently closing your browser window before hitting submit (or after hitting submit but before the action is completed).

A few tips / ideas to avoid future issue :

1) Just to make sure there are no issues from a process standpoint and to get a comfort with how this all works, we suggest you go to the entry form and fill out all of the questions with "coming soon" and then hit submit. You should get the "success" screen and the confirmation email (and if you don't - little time is wasted and we can work from there to figure out why this isn't working for you).

2) We like to suggest that entrants work on a draft of their entry in a program like MS Word. The advantage of this is that there is spell check, word count (if needed for longer entries) and a local backup - just in case there is a transmission issue at the time of entry.

3) In using MS Word, we suggest that entrants use almost no formatting (i.e. the first round of entry is text only- no bold / italics / bullets / columns / images etc). Substantial additional formatting from MS Word can cause issues including strange characters that can show up in the entry to causing an entry to fail.

I forgot my password?

No problem, just go to the Reset Password page and enter your email address. We will send you a new password.

Can I include a picture, illustration or attachment with my entry?

The first round of the competition is entirely "text only", so there is no way to get an illustration or other attachment included with the entry.

That said, there is one common work around that a modest number of entrants use which is they will provide a hyperlink to a webpage that includes images / illustrations etc.

I just completed my entry in the MN Cup and have received the receipt of my entry. When I look through the receipt, I see "junk" text particularly lot's of "AAA" or other undesirable characters in the content. What is going on?

The problem you are experiencing is a common one and an unfortunate bi-product of copy and pasting formatted text from MS Word (or any Word Processor) into a web based form.

What's happening is that when you copy and paste your nicely formatted text, there are hidden commands embedded in that text that you can't see that make the text bold, bulleted, italicized etc. When you copy and paste this, it looks like all you have transferred into the web form is text....but you are also pasting in all of those hidden formatting commands and they come out on the other end looking like junk.

There are few solutions :

a) Log back in to the MN Cup site. Click on "Manage Your Entry" in the top right and go in and manually delete all of the junk text that shows up on the form.

b) If you created the entry in MS Word, you can open the document and either :

-- Save As and change the format of your document to Text Only.

OR

-- Copy and paste from MS Word to the Notepad.

In either of the above, all of that formatting stuff that is causing the issue is gone and you can now copy and paste from your document into the web form with relatively little risk of the same junk text appearing in your entry.

How do I know if my entry was received?

When you hit submit after completing the entry form, you will be taken to a page that indicates a successful entry. Further, an email will be sent to you almost immediately with a receipt of your submission. Also, once you submit, you can click on "Manage Your Entry" in the top right of the screen and the entry form will include your full entry. You can update this / modify this and resubmit as many times as you like up to completion of the first round. If you submit your entry and do not get the confirmation screen / email receipt and / or see your completed entry when you click on "Manage your Entry", it means we have not received it. We do recommend that all entrants write out their initial entry in a word processor first and copy and paste into the MN Cup entry form - this way if there are any problems there is a backup available to you as the entrant.

How do I change my password?

Once you logon to the site, you will notice that the menu on the far right now says "Edit Profile". From there, you can update your account and change your password.

I entered last year, can I use my same username / password?

All past entrants will need to register uniquely for this year's competition. We have purged all previous login information from our system, so past login info is no longer valid.