PlanIt

Got a winning idea? We're giving away cash to support it.

You're welcome to submit a full business plan or a business canvas with a 3-5 page executive summary. Need to include graphs, images or additional data? That's fine! You can have an appendix to support your summary that addresses and expands on the questions on the canvas. Applicants or teams must put due diligence and effort into their submission and address all questions on the canvas template to be considered.

Upcoming Application Deadline: November 29th, 2024 - 10:00 AM

Upcoming PlanIt Competition: December 5th, 2024 - 11:00 AM

Note: The competition is now online, and presenters have the opportunity to network with and learn from each other! We recommend planning ahead by orienting yourself with Zoom. Those selected to present will receive a Zoom link and further instructions the day before the competition. Best of luck!

Who can enter

To participate, you must meet the following criteria:

Submissions can be from an individual or a team. Your team can be cross-faculty and have a maximum of five people. Your team may include members who are not current students, but the Team Lead must be a current UVic student (undergraduate or graduate level), faculty/staff member or recent UVic alumni. All participants must have a Social Insurance Number to compete.

Students are able to compete in PlanIt more than once if the business plan or canvas is substantially improved or the business has pivoted between submissions. You will need to demonstrate that you have used the previous prize money (if applicable) effectively, and you will be held to the standard of what your plan or canvas is for the next phase of development. You will also need to indicate in your submission that you have competed previously.

Submit your business plan or canvas/model and executive summary to be considered for the competition. If considered viable, your team will be asked to present your business plan or canvas/model to a team of experts (typically the screening committee will choose the six strongest business plans). All presentations will require a pitch deck and will be approximately 15 minutes in length, with a question and answer period with the judges after the presentation.

How to submit

Submit by email to icpoc@uvic.ca the following information. In the body of your email, please indicate:

Team Lead Name (last, first), mailing address, email, faculty, department, year of study (or indicate year convocated)
Team Member Name (last, first), mailing address, email, faculty, department, year of study (or indicate year convocated)
Name of venture idea
Summary of venture idea (3-5 sentences)
Please indicate availability or potential scheduling conflicts for the presentation day.
Please indicate if you have competed in PlanIt previously (students are permitted to enter twice and third time by special permission).
Attach your submission in PDF format to your registration email and submit by the registration deadline.

After the screening committee has reviewed your business plan or canvas, we will be in contact with the team lead by email.

If your business plan or canvas is selected as a finalist, we will also inform you of a scheduled time for the PlanIt presentation to the external judging panel on presentation day. Presentations are during normal business hours.

What to submit

Here's what we want to see. You can choose to submit a business plan or a lean business canvas/model with an executive summary.

Business Plan Submission

We recommend starting with a Lean Canvas. How to create your Lean Canvas (sourced from ).
Your Lean Canvas is used to prepare your submission, but it is not necessary to include the actual Lean Canvas in your submission if you are submitting a full business plan.
How to prepare your submission

Your submission should be by email (including the registration info requested on the "How to submit" tab in the body of your email) and be in one attached pdf document with supporting charts, graphs or images embedded.

Business Canvas and Executive Summary Submission

A one-page Lean Canvas document. How to create your Lean Canvas (sourced from ).
A minimum 3 page executive summary which thoughtfully outlines all questions from your lean canvas document. This summary must express attention to detail, effort and due diligence must be exercised.
How to prepare your submission

Judging

Criteria

What do judges look for in a plan? The judges consider many different issues when evaluating executive summaries and business plans, including:

Is the business opportunity as presented both highly attractive and clearly realistic?
Is the business defensible from competitors?
What is the business model?
What comparisons are there to past success stories that indicate this venture will succeed?
What is the amount of up-front capital investment required?
Do the market and financial projections demonstrate that the team understands its business?
How long will it take from the current stage of development to bring this to market?
Can this venture achieve a leadership position in its market?
Has the team already gone out to the market to test its ideas? Who will be the first customer(s)?
Is the team of sufficient breadth, balance and quality to make its ideas happen?
Is the team focused on its target market? What is the expected time and amount of pay-off to investors?
Is the plan clear and well-written?
Does the team have the necessary communication skills to present a compelling story?
What roles will the team members play in the venture?
Are the team members dedicated to the venture and their roles in the group?
Does the team have a clear plan for spending the investment money it receives?
Why is this business going to be around, and a real world winner, in five years?
Does the plan and the team promoting it have the entrepreneurial spirit to succeed?

Congratulations to our past winners:

PlanIt - August 7, 2024

Cycle Sync (Madelyn Waldhaus) - $3500
Pixel Stories (Truman Gao) - $2500
LampPost Victoria (Simon Larocque and Jared Leary) - $1500
Integration Genie (Sierra Arnold and Jaden Fath) - $500

PlanIt - April 10, 2024

Happy Prime (Aanchan Mohan and Monideep Chokraborti) - $3000
Newport Capital (Matthew Sparrow) - $2000
Hanzsemble (Hong-Chuan Yang and Jinke Jiang) - $1000
GIVR (Sean Webster) - $1000
StudentHaus (Julian Wells, Aaron Cohen, Jonathan Cook, Fawzan Hussein, Grace Murphy) - $1000

PlanIt - December 6, 2023

Revyn Medical Technologies (McCormick, Keeley & Samantha Sperling) - $3000
Ocean AID (Andrew Polanyi) - $2000
Nebulab (Juan Giraldo) - $1000
Aerial Firefighting Technology (Greg Booth) - $1000
Beirm Bio (Ryan Suleman) - $1000

PlanIt - August 17, 2023

Intellectulogy (Samira Soltani) - $3000
Booking Buddy (Bryce Edwards) - $2000
Salyx (Elaine De la Cruz) - $1500
Rizado (Valeria del Valle) - $1000
AIGreening (Yussuf Reza) - $1000

PlanIt - April 13, 2023

RAM (Toby Murray) - $3000
Inkblot Games (Athena Abbott) - $2000
2nd Scan (Yulie Yu) - $1000
Sutunary (Sutunary) - $1000
Jordan Morford (Tappen Apothecary) - $1000

PlanIt - Dec. 8th, 2022

PlanetteInc (Hansi Singh) - $3000
Conju.ai (Bryce Edwards) - $2000
Azor (Brock Schuman) - $1000
HAIMS (Christine Wong Chong) - $1000
Benny (Paige Cey) - $1000
XpressOat (Tal Katz) - $1000

PlanIt - Aug. 18, 2022

Growler Grounds Coffee Co (Ashley Martin) - $2000
Grasp (Matteo Sotelo) - $2000
Guasaca with Los Panas Kitchen (Nicolas Jimenez) - $2000
Farmer's Legacy Biotech (Pankaj Purwar) - $2000

PlanIt - April 13, 2022

Apricell (Matt Sutherland) - $4000
Little Egg (Jennifer Cawthorne) - $2500
Walk with Masami (Masami Teramachi) $1500

PlanIt - December 8, 2021

MeepMeep (Eve Olynyk and Simon Park) - $3000
ScoutBees (Gaze del Castillo) - $2500
PolyV (Tong Li) - $1250
Sanctuary Sneakers (Jason Thomo and Eric Hasegawa) - $1250

PlanIt - August 18, 2021

Bug Bites (Danielle Lowe) - $3000
Geti Cosmetics (Ashley Whetung) - $2500
Lawyer Central (Jason Fitzpatrick) - $1500
Apricell Biotechnologies (Amir Seyfoori) - $1000

PlanIt - April 14, 2021

Triden Solutions (Rochelle Mueller and Derek Douglas) - $3000
PolyV (Tong Li) - $1700
Justo's Dips (Justin Kopetzki, Tyler Hosie, Adam Conlin) - $1700
CargoSprout (Wei Chou and Firat Nurozler) - $1700

PlanIt - December 11, 2020

Solaires (Sahar Sam) - $2000
MeepMeep (Eve Olynyk) - $2000
Simply You (Salena Dhillon) - $2000
VoxCell BioInnovation (Karolina Papera Valente) - $2000

PlanIt - August 13, 2020

Castofly (Iman Moazzen and Ishpreet Brar) - $3000
Nutsie (Maria Orrego) - $2500
Solar Venture (Sahar Sam, Carolina Betancourt and Adam Bruce) - $1500
Cargo Sprout (Wei Chou) - $1000

PlanIt - April 3, 2020

MOSY (Leslie Cieza Huane and Rossmery Atarama Lopez) - $3000
DivDot (Matthew Smith, Nick Addison and James Davidson) - $2000
BinBreeze (Taylor McCarten) - $2000
DP Labs (Ryan Warner, Nathan Muller, Brent Godau, Tom Kirk and James Davidson) - $500
Justo's Hummus and Dips (Adam Conlin, Justin Kopetzki and Eric Taccogna) - $500

PlanIt - December 6, 2019

ThinkInk (Stephanie Willerth) - $3000
Sheer Simple (Jayesh Vekariya) - $1500
Sister Sister (Katie Forshner) - $1500
Keltsmaht Kelp (Jordan White) - $1000
Kraken (Eduard Wisernig) - $1000

PlanIt - April 12, 2019

Nature Bee Beeswax Wraps (Katie Gamble) - $2500
LetHub (Faizan Ali Khan) - $2000
Focal (Lachlan Shum) - $2000
LiveIt (Mike Irvine) - $1000
Opportunities for African Girls (Tari Murwira) Social Innovation Prize - $500

PlanIt - December 7, 2018

LevelUp Learning (Matthew Riddett) - $4000
Nature Bee Beeswax Wraps (Katie Gamble) - $1000
LiveIt (Mike Irvine) - $1000
Shoppinglee (Dara Jarallah and Joy Singh) - $1000
Vissid Coffee (Alex Tardif) - $1000

PlanIt - August 3, 2018

Focus Time (Vlad Lyesin and Curtis Upshall) - $4000
BringIt (Miaoxin Cui, Henrika Lim, Chris Mah) - $3000
Hooplight (Joey Erlic) - $1000
Sonadus (Matt McCann, Ryan Cooper, Derek Mathewson, Warren Marriott) Ideate 2018 Prize - $5000

PlanIt - April 6, 2018

Sepurator (Victor Nicolov) - $5000
Caboost (Simon Park) - $2000
Nyoka Light Wand (Paige Whitehead) - $1000

PlanIt - Novembe 23, 2017

Pani Energy (Devesh Bharadwaj and Ryan Jmaeff) Sustainability and Social Innovation Prize - $2000
Loopin (Bodie Elliott) - $2000
Cuboh (Juan Orrego) - $2000
Soundskrit (Iman Moazzen) - $1000
DivDot (Matthew Smith) - $500
FAERI (Kurt Fairfield) - $500

PlantIt - July 28, 2017

IMT (Harsh Rathod, Rishi Gupta) - $4000
BnBreeze (Jesal Shah, Abhinav Rai, Andrew Spence) - $2000
Kokomo (Ashton Meuser) - $1000
Liefbase (Joe Czepil, Konrad Schultz, Jonah Rankin, Cam Long, Dustin Bolink) - Social Innovation Prize - $1000

PlanIt - April 6, 2017

CrowdZero (Geige Vandentop, Dan Briggs, Alex Glassey) - $2500
Fest Hut (Logan Gibson, Robbie Lacis) - $2500
Abstractia (Buyun Xu) - $1500
Heartrate Monitor (Xiaodai Dong and Gerrit Van Rensburg) - $1500

PlanIt - November 23, 2016

BioM3d (Tim Thomson and Kailey Allan) - $4,000
Inspado (Khaled Gabr and Genie Guo) - $2000
Abstractia (Buyun Xu) - $1000
Social Innovation and Sustainability award - BioM3d (Tim Thomson and Kailey Allan) - $1000

PlanIt - August 4, 2016

ethreeone (Brina Martens) - $4,000
Sound Signal (Adam Bender and Bryce Flug) - $2000
Batiqua (Linda Makaza) - $1000
Social Innovation and Sustainability award - Batiqua (Linda Makaza) - $1000

PlanIt - August 5, 2015

Concrete Garden Magazine (Quinn MacDonald) - $4,000
TravelMetrics.co (Bhupinder Dulku) - $3,000
*This team has chosen not to be named* - $2000
Reciprocate (Kelly Loudoun, Samarth Mod, Rohit Boolchandri) - $500

PlanIt - April 1, 2015

TOPSOIL (Chris Hildreth) - $6,000
Giosa Technologies (Angela Rosa and Daniel Giam) - $3,500

PlanIt - December 5, 2014

nutTea energy bars (Mayank Chauhan) - $5,000
AirSenze (Samarth Mod) - $3,500

PlanIt - August 6, 2014

RapidSight (Stephen Murphy, Adam Bender, Bryce Flug) - $5,500
Calorie Thief (Rebecca Staynor) - $3,000
Dimes Underwear (Max Webster, Zac White, Patrick Psotka) - $1,000