SFentrepreneur Challenge Business Pitch Contest

Grand Prize: Featured by AMEX Open as the June 2008 Featured Entrepreneurs

__________________________________________________________________

About this Contest:
The SFentrepreneur Challenge is the ultimate business pitch competition for entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area. The challenge is created to encourage entrepreneurs to broadcast their business, passion and ideas on the internet and in person.
Entrepreneurs can enter the contest by simply creating an online profile on SFentrepreneur.com. The SFentrepreneur members can then vote for their favorite entrepreneurs online before June 1st, 2008. The 5 top voted entrepreneurs will be selected to pitch and compete in front of a live audience and a panel of judges consisting of seasoned entrepreneurs/angel investors on June 4th, 2008. The live event will be very similar to American Idol, but only for entrepreneurs.
The winning entrepreneur will receive a grand prize of being featured by American Express Open as the “June 2008 Spotlight Entrepreneur” in American Express’ “Ideas for Growing a Business” newsletter which is sent to over 16,000 entrepreneurs across the country.

__________________________________________________________________

How to Enter this Contest?

Round One – Get votes on Sfentrepreneur (Deadline: June 1st, 2008 11:59 p.m.)

• Create a member profile on SFentrepreneur.com and tell the community about you, your business, your passion and your ideas.
• Encourage your business colleagues, customers, partners and other entrepreneurs to vote for you.
• Market yourself online and get as many votes as possible
• Be selected as one of the top 5 voted entrepreneurs and proceed to Round 2.

Round Two – American Idol for Entrepreneurs (June 4th, 2008)

• The Top 5 voted entrepreneurs will be selected and notified by June 2, 2008.
• Finalists will be given 10 minutes to present in front of a live audience and a judging panel consisting of seasoned entrepreneurs/angel investors on June 4th, 2008.
• If you are selected as a finalist, you must present in person at the live challenge in San Francisco or you will be disqualified.

__________________________________________________________________

Eligibility and Rules

• Must be a member of SFentrepreneur (Free to Join!) and submit a complete member profile before June 1st, 2008 11:59 p.m.
• Must complete all questions listed on the member profile in true honesty
• Business ideas must represent the original work of the entrepreneur.
• If you are selected as a finalist, you must present in person for the live challenge on June 4th, 2008 in San Francisco or you will be disqualified.
• SFentrepreneur believe good ideas will spread and the SFentpreneur Challenge is intended to help entrepreneurs to spread their business ideas and passion even faster. The judging panel will ask “Is this business idea spreadable?

__________________________________________________________________

Judges:

Christine Comaford-Lynch – Founder & CEO of Mighty Ventures
Bill Gates calls her “super high bandwidth.” Bill Clinton has thanked her for “fostering American entrepreneurship.” Newsweek says “by reputation,Christine is the person you want to partner with.” New York Times bestselling author Christine Comaford-Lynch is CEO of Mighty Ventures , an innovation accelerator which helps businesses to massively increase sales, product offerings, and company value. She has built and sold 5 of her own businesses with an average 700% return on investment, served as a board director or in-the-trenches advisor to 36 startups, and has invested in over 200 startups (including Google ) as a venture capitalist or angel investor.
Christine has consulted to the White House (Clinton and Bush), 700 of the Fortune 1000, and over 300 small businesses. She has repeatedly identified and championed key trends and technologies years before market acceptance. Christine writes the finance column on www.BusinessWeek.com/SmallBiz.

Kevin Hartz - Currently Co-Founder and CEO of Eventbrite
Kevin was previously Co-Founder and CEO of Xoom Corporation, an international money transfer company providing services to over 30 countries worldwide. Xoom is backed by Sequoia Capital, NEA, Fidelity Ventures, Stanford University, and Peter Thiel.

Kevin began his career as a product manager at Silicon Graphics (SGI) and later co-founded ConnectGroup, a start-up providing high-speed Internet access to the hotel industry. ConnectGroup was acquired by Lodgenet (NASDAQ: LNET) in 1998. Kevin then joined Outlook Ventures, a venture capital firm focusing on seed and early stage technology companies.

Kevin holds a BA and BS from Stanford University, as well as an MA from Oxford University (University College). He has been an active early stage investor and advisor to startups including PayPal (NASDAQ: EBAY), Flixster, Trulia, Tokbox, Geni, Tripit, iControl, Three Rings, Friendster, and BluBet. Kevin currently serves on the Board of Directors of Xoom, BluBet, and TokBox (observer). You can view his full portfolio at www.kevinhartz.com. In his spare time, Kevin advises university students on entrepreneurship through Youniversity Ventures.

Claudine Cheng (Attorney & President and chair of the Treasure Island Development Authority)
Claudine Cheng is a long-time civic leader and an attorney who has dedicated herself to community service and to enhancing the quality of life in San Francisco.

Claudine currently serves as the president and chair of the Treasure Island Development Authority. Under Claudine’s experienced stewardship, the redevelopment of this former Naval base is setting new national standards for green and sustainable development. A 20-year resident of the Northeast waterfront who is deeply concerned about urban and neighborhood issues, Claudine is also an active director on the board of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, RENEW SF, North Beach Citizens, and Pathway for Kids. She is one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s delegates to the California Democratic State Central Committee.

Over the past two decades, Claudine has served in leadership positions on numerous community boards as well as appointed positions. The following is a partial list: president of Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, trustee of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, director of California State World Trade Commission, trustee of California Housing Finance Agency, chair of San Francisco Bay Area World Trade Center, director of Music In Schools Today and president of Charity Cultural Services Center.

__________________________________________________________________

Frequently Asked Questions
These are some commonly asked questions. If you still have questions after reading this, email us.

What is the goal of this challenge?
This challenge is designed to encourage all entrepreneurs to act on their passion, talent and energy to promote their businesses and ideas. The winning entrepreneur will be featured on the American Express Open/Meetup.com monthly email to further broadcast their passion and business.

Who is eligible?
Any entrepreneur (CEOs and Founders) is eligible to apply. There is no industry limit, no age limit and no gender limit.

What stage of business do I have to be in?
Any stage – concept, beta launch, funded, growing, etc.

Who will be evaluating my idea?
Check out our “power” judges Christine, Kevin and Claudine in the “Judges” section.

Who can vote for me?
All members of SFentrpreneur.com

Can I vote for more than one entrepreneur?
Absolutely!

Can I give more than one vote for a particular entrepreneur?
Unfortunately not. You vote will only count as one vote.

What kind of questions should I prepare for?
See sample profile questions.

Is there a fee to apply?
There is no cost to apply.