ACU’s Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy is launching its annual Springboard competition with $40,000 in prizes available for aspiring entrepreneurs.  The competition now includes three new award categories this year designed to support young companies at different stages and levels of success.

• Concept ($1,000 per team) – Provide entrepreneurs at the idea stage with funding and expert help to use for prototyping, testing customer demand, mentoring and other resources.
• Launch ($3,000-$5,000 per team) – Promote and reward aspiring entrepreneurs with an early stage venture (1 year or less) that has demonstrated customer traction and potential success.
• Grow ($10,000-$20,000 per team) – Support young companies (3 years or less), that have proven early success with funding to help scale their concept to the next level.

Teams from the following 19 counties in the Big Country are eligible to participate in the 2020
Springboard competition:

• Brown • Callahan • Coleman • Comanche • Eastland • Fisher • Haskell • Jones • Kent
• Knox • Mitchell • Nolan • Runnels • Scurry • Shackelford • Stephens• Stonewall • Taylor • Throckmorton

[adrotate group=”8″]

The competition is designed for younger, for-profit companies. The competition does not accept franchises,
non-profits, buyouts, subsidiaries of existing companies or recapitalizations.

Entrepreneurs interested in participating in this year’s competition can find more information, including the application, here.

Deadline to enter is February 15th at midnight.

Background

Springboard began more than a decade ago as a competition to encourage and support entrepreneurship at
Abilene Christian University, in the city of Abilene, and across the Big Country. Since its launch, Springboard has
awarded more than $1 million to aspiring entrepreneurs across the region and served as a platform to connect,
train, encourage and highlight our region’s startups. ACU’s Springboard is organized by the Griggs Center for
Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy and made possible each year by a number of local organizations
and businesses that sponsor the program.