One Small £50k Step Startup Competition
The One Small Step competition from Barclays Business will see ten businesses collar £50,000 in funding for their startup.
With funding hard to come by, this looks like a good opportunity to secure that crucial initial cash to get the ball rolling. The competition has a broad remit:
"The brief is open - it could be a lifelong ambition or a recent brainwave. It could be a personal experience or a distant dream. Even a revolutionary concept that changes the world. It’s an open invitation and anyone with a great business idea and the drive to make it happen could win."
In an X-Factor meets Dragon's Den move, the One Small Step competition will sees the public vote on a shortlist of three companies from each region drawn up by the judges. Expect to see plenty of Twitter and Facebook canvassing for your vote over the next few weeks.
The deadline for entries is 16th May, and there's plenty of info including a sample entry (wish more competitions would do this) on the website.
Cynics amongst you might consider this a PR move to counter the hefty amounts of negative press the high street banks have had over their lacklustre support of small businesses, but £500k is not to be sniffed at.
Picture courtesy of racy3000. Some rights reserved.
22 April 2010 by Sam Michel
Sam Michel is the founder of Chinwag and blogs here for work, and more randomly at Toodlepip. He runs Chinwag Jobs, Digital Mission and tends to focus on murky place where technology, community and marketing collide. You'll find him on twitter @toodlepip.
Sam Michel is the founder of Chinwag and blogs here for work, and more randomly at Toodlepip. He runs Chinwag Jobs, Digital Mission and tends to focus on murky place where technology, community and marketing collide. You'll find him on twitter @toodlepip.
Comments
This competition was misleading for new businesses
This turned out to be a very unfair competition - if anyone is entering this competition in the future go in with your eyes wide open. Its just a publicity stunt for Barclays at the end of the day.
Barclays had well-established companies competing against one-man bands. One such case was a company with over £30 million turnover, 30,000 signed up UK customers and over 30 staff, including Directors with a high professional pedigree. This company competed against two one-man bands who were trying to get on the first rung of business. No prizes for guessing who won - with that kind of background it was a foregone conclusion who Barclays would choose as a finalist.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing...sounds like a great competition for startups. I'll send the link via Twitter to help spread the word!