MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition
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The MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition is one of the largest and most famous business plan competitions in the world. Entirely student-managed, students from all programs and levels at MIT organize and enter the $100K. Teams must be made up of at least 1 full-time MIT student, but membership is not restricted to the MIT community. The Competition is overseen by the MIT School of Engineering and is located in the MIT Enterpreneurship Center at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
It was started in 1990 as the $10K competition, and continued to grow throughout the 1990's. In 1996 the $10K evolved into the $50K with $30K going to the winner and $10K each of two runners up. In 2006, the $50K added an additional competition focused on business plans for low-income communities to complement the traditional business venture competiion. Subsequentially, the competiion has rebranded as the MIT $100K.
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[edit] MIT $1K Business Idea Competition
While the $100K competition is held in the spring (or second semester of the academic year), the MIT $1K Business Idea Competition is a "warm-up event" held in the Fall. There are ten categories for submission, and each winning submission receives a cash prize of $1K. $1K entrants usually continue to grow their idea, team and business plan in preparation for the $100K competition in the spring.
[edit] Business Venture Competition
The Business Venture Competition is the traditional business plan competiiton associated with the MIT $100K. In the Spring, semi-finalists are selected from all business plan submissions. Semi-finalists submit more detailed business plans and 5-6 finalists are then chosen. At the awards ceremony, the top team within the business venture competition is awarded the Robert P. Goldberg Grand Prize as the winner of the business venture component of the $100K competition.
[edit] Previous Winners - Business Venture Competition
| Year | Winner | Description | Team Members |
| 2006 | SteriCoat | Coating on Medical Devices | Chris Loose, David Lucchino, Joel Moxley, Mike Hencke and Vipin Gupta |
| 2005 | Balico | Medical Devices | Baruch Schori, Harry Lee, Kathleen Sienko, Jimmy Robertsson |
| 2004 | Active Joint Brace Now:Myomo Inc. |
Medical Devices | Mira Sahney, Kailas Narendran, John McBean, Joe Jackson, Hocking Chen, Raja Surapanani, |
| 2003 | SmartCells | Medical Devices | Todd C. Zion, Robert Bruch, Martin Curiel, John Hebert, Tsafrir Vanounou |
| 1991 | Stylus Technologies | Barcode order system | Krisztina Holly, Michael P. Cassidy |
[edit] Entrepreneurship for Development Competition
The Entrepreneurship for Development Competition is a competition for business plans that are judged on the following criteria: uniqueness of business idea, management strength, path to sustainability and social impact. The competition was added in 2006 as a complement to the Business Venture Competition due to increasing demand and interest in socially conscious ideas. In the spring, semi-finalists are selected from all business plan submissions. Semi-finalists submit more detailed business plans and 5-6 finalists are then chosen. At the awards ceremony, the top team is awarded the Entrepreneurship for Development grand prize.
[edit] Previous Winners - Entrepreneurship for Development Competition
In 1998, a dual award within the Venture Competition was awarded to a pair of finalists including Volunteer Community Connection. At the time, VCC was a non-traditional entry into the competition and has since served as a motivating example for the genesis of the MIT $100K Developmental Entrepreneurship Competition. As a result, they are listed as a winner and implicitly as an innovator within the Entrepreneurship for Development Competition.
| Year | Winner | Description | Team Members |
| 2006 | CentroMigrante | Sustainable Housing for Migrant Communities | Illac Diaz, Neil Ruiz, Tina Laforteza, Artessa Salvidar-Sali, Bianca Locsin, Chester Yu |
| 1998 | Volunteer Community Connection | The Volunteer Community Connection enables the easy and automated sign-up and management of volunteers with non-profit agencies. | Michael Bryzek, Jonathan Allen, Oumi Mehrotra, Emily Sandberg, Mark Y. Sun |
[edit] Notable Companies Formed Through the Competition
Since its founding, the $100K Competition has helped launch more than 60 companies with an aggregate value of greater than $10.5 billion dollars. Prominent $100K alumni companies include Akamai, net.Genesis, and C-Bridge.
| Year | Competition Result | Company | Result | Exit Value |
| 1991 | Grand-Prize Winner | Stylus Innovations | Acquired - 1996 | $12.8M |
| 1995 | Finalist | Harmonix, Inc. | Acquired - 2006 | $175M |
| 1998 | Grand-Prize Winner | Direct Hit | Acquired - 2000 | $517M |
| 1998 | Finalist | Akamai | IPO - 1999 | $26.00 per share |
| 2003 | Finalist | Brontes Technologies | Acquired - 2006 | $95M |
