The MassChallenge process is designed to model (and accelerate) the traditional steps required to launch a successful business. Rather than create additional processes for busy entrepreneurs, we simply encourage you to take “successful” actions faster.

Here’s what you need to submit for the first round of judging:

1)    Answer ~15 questions about your business and team to produce a 2 page executive summary
2)    Upload an elevator pitch, either written or as a video 
3)    Enter endorsement numbers obtained from experienced members of the community (see below for more detail)

We also ask you to complete a pre-entry survey that will help us gather key metrics so we can measure and improve our impact. Completion is required but your answers do not influence your score.
 
What are endorsement points?

Endorsement points act as a form of referral. All successful startups need to network and collect support from key stakeholders in the ecosystem. Most investors won’t even take meetings without a referral from someone they know and trust. Endorsements are our way of encouraging startups to network actively and to pitch constantly.

This week, we will be distributing thousands of “endorsement tickets” to an array of experts in the entrepreneurial community. There are three types of endorsement tickets available:

Gold tickets are most abundant, Platinum second most abundant and Diamond are least abundant. Tickets all have unique identification numbers on them that you can enter in your team’s entry page on the website. Your goal is to obtain as many endorsement points that you can by June 11th.

No matter what, you will need to pay the full entry fee up front – on or around June 15, we will refund your account to reflect the highest discount you have entered. So don’t wait to submit payment – lock in the early bird discount right away and then work to reduce that further by collecting endorsements. While endorsement points for all tickets are cumulative, only one discount will be counted (the highest).

Examples:
-    Collect 5 Platinum tickets and 1 Diamond ticket
o    Receive a credit for the full entry price you paid
o    Receive 10 endorsement points toward your judging score
-    Collect 3 Platinum tickets and 2 Gold tickets
o    Receive a credit for $100 off the entry price you paid
o    Receive 5 endorsement points toward your judging score

Where can I get endorsement points?

We are currently distributing endorsement tickets distributed across the Massachusetts entrepreneurial ecosystem, and also to key entrepreneurship nodes around the country and the world. Endorsement tickets are most concentrated in Massachusetts where investors, experts and advisors are closest to the events of the competition. Attending MassChallenge events and engaging people at MassChallenge events is the best way to find these endorsements. Again, we designed this process to encourage entrepreneurs to take “successful” actions – attend events, network, and pitch your team and your business to experts, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and investors to uncover endorsements.

Outside of Massachusetts, MassChallenge has made an effort to distribute endorsement tickets to key nodes of entrepreneurship including school business plan competitions, entrepreneurship centers, and organizations who focus on supporting entrepreneurs. In turn, these nodes have the ability to distribute tickets further to experts in their community. 

If you run an entrepreneurial support program internationally and would like to obtain some endorsement points for distribution, please contact us.

If you are an international entrant and are not sure where to go to find endorsements, please contact us and we will try to point you in the right direction.

contact@masschallenge.org

Thanks, and good luck!