Alltop.com's Guy Kawasaki Gives Virtual Keynote at NKU's First Business Plan Contest

Undergrads from Northern Kentucky University, University of Cincinnati, Xavier, University of Dayton and Miami will compete in the first ever NKU business plan competition.

The "Reality Check" Undergraduate Business Plan Competition will pit eight teams against each other for $10,000 in prizes. The first-place team will get an invite to the prestigious national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Celebration in June.

"Building entrepreneurial culture is critical to the health of our regional economy and all of the universities involved have collaborated to promote a spirit of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship in our collective programs," said Bill Cunningham, director of the Fifth Third Bank Entrepreneurship Institute at Northern Kentucky University.

In keeping with the "Reality Check" theme of the contest, well-known in the web, tech, and social media worlds, Alltop.com founder Guy Kawasaki will give the keynote  - via SKYPE -  on the realites of launching a startup in the current economy. Alltop.com is a new sharing and aggregation site.

The competition has been funded by the Griggs Family Foundation, in Union, to encourage entrepreneurship at NKU and in the region.

First prize is $5,000, second prize is $2,500 and third prize is $1,000. There's also a $1,000 elevator pitch prize. Prize money will be divided among the students.

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Bill Cunningham, director of the Fifth Third Bank Entrepreneurship Institute at Northern Kentucky University.