DFJ and Cisco to hold global business plan competition
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 21:56 IST
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DFJ and Cisco to hold global business plan competition
Bangalore: Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) an early-stage venture capital firm and Cisco will jointly launch a global business plan competition for students aimed at fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. The competition will rely on Cisco TelePresence to allow finalists from around the world to present their business plans to a joint panel of DFJ and Cisco executives based in San Jose. The competition looks for new technology-oriented ideas from aspiring college and university student entrepreneurs around the world, including from countries like Brazil, China, India, Russia and U.K. Cisco TelePresence creates a collaborative experience where participants feel as though they are sitting in the same room even though they may be located thousands of miles apart. This is the first time the competition is aimed at a global market. "For the past four years, DFJ has held only regional competitions. We are excited to partner with Cisco and expand this opportunity globally to include regions covered by our DFJ Global Network," said Tim Draper, Managing Director of DFJ. Draper said, "Our 16 Global Network Partners are ideally positioned to host this type of competition, given our Network's unparalleled extensive reach to countries across four continents. We believe that technology has no borders and that there are talented entrepreneurs everywhere who want to change the world, and we look forward to partnering with them." Sixteen finalists will be announced on June 19, 2009. The winner, will be announced on June 30, 2009, who will receive a sum of $250,000 seed money along with professional feedback and mentorship from both DFJ and Cisco. Competition finalists will be selected on various criteria including the quality of the management team, technical innovation, addressable market size, competitive positioning, barriers, capital efficiency and financial projections. Hilton Romanski, Vice President of corporate development at Cisco said, "This competition underscores our commitment to support great ideas despite difficult markets and challenging fundraising conditions. Cisco's own roots, as a start-up in the early 1980s, help us appreciate that great companies are often founded in tough times."

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