Kauffman Foundation offers $25K via ‘1 in a Million’ contest
September 8, 2016 | Meghan LeVota
Think your business is one in a million?
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is offering 1 Million Cups presenters from the last year a chance to snag some cash — and this year they’ve bumped up the prize to $25,000.
In its second year, the 1 in a Million competition is open to any firm that has presented at one of 99 cities to host 1 Million Cups between Aug. 12, 2015 to Aug. 24, 2016. To enter, businesses must submit a 60-second elevator pitch online by noon, Sept. 13. More than 20 competitors have already applied.
1 Million Cups was established in Kansas City in 2012 and the format has since spread to dozens of cities around the world. Every Wednesday morning, two startup founders present to an audience with the intent to educate, engage and network — all over a cup of coffee. The audience then serves up critical questions to founders in an effort to challenge their business models and approaches.
This year, the competition will be entirely virtual. Once judges have narrowed down businesses to the top 40, the public will vote on the top 15 semi-finalists. The public will later be prompted in an additional round of voting that will narrow submissions to five finalists, and a panel of Kauffman fellows will make the final decision.
In addition to $25,000, the winner receives bragging rights as well as the No. 1 trophy. Kansas City-area startup Blooom won the competition in its inaugural year by presenting its online 401(k) management tool. Four other Kansas City startups entered the round of 40.
Featured Business
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Two Missouri biology students just wanted an ‘A’ — ultimately they devised a treatment for Crohn’s Disease
Launching a biotech company based on a class project took the quest for an ‘A’ to a whole new level for two Missouri University of Science and Technology students — founders of Bionic Bowell. Prompted by professors to find a use for a special ion-interacting glass compound, Vanessa Mahan and Catherine Pollman devised an ingestible…
Inclusion Open funding helps Determination Incorporated reunite KCSourceLink alums
Within days of securing funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Inclusion Open, Determination Incorporated is expanding its team, the nonprofit announced Wednesday. “We are so thankful to the Kauffman Foundation and excited to announce that Leslie Walton, an experienced entrepreneurial ecosystem builder in KC, is joining the team in support of our mission,” Johnny…
Kauffman Inclusion Open: Six KC grant winners ‘building an inclusive pathway to entrepreneurship’
Plans to educate, inspire, and assist entrepreneurs traditionally left out of small business conversations will ramp up for the Porter House KC — thanks to new support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s inaugural Inclusion Open. “We are so excited to be selected as one of this year’s grant recipients,” said Dan Smith, co-founder of the…
Natural fit: Ruby Jean’s opening new juicery inside busy Whole Foods
The fresh-pressed, multi-year deal to open a brick-and-mortar Ruby Jean’s Juicery inside a high-traffic Whole Foods location puts Chris Goode in a position to scale his clean concept even further beyond Kansas City, he said. “We’re in the healthy food space and Whole Foods has cornered that market pretty broadly. With its parent company now…