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In the early 1980's, two Texas MBA students yearned for a business school activity as challenging and prestigious as "moot court" in law school. They envisioned a competition in which MBAs working in teams would conceive an idea for a new business, develop the idea in a written business plan, and present the plan to a panel of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, accountants and lawyers.

In 1984 this vision was fulfilled when the Graduate School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin held its inaugural Moot Corp Competition. It was the first competition of its kind for MBA students and is still considered the most prestigious in the world. The Moot Corp Competition has been crowned "the Super Bowl of world business plan competition."

With aspiring entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from experienced investors, the Moot Corp Competition simulates the real-world process of raising venture capital. MBAs from business schools around the globe come to The University of Texas at Austin each May to present their business plans to panels of investors. From among myriad offerings is selected the best new-venture opportunity. With a 23-year history, the Moot Corp Competition is the oldest operating inter-business school new-venture competition and hosts teams from top-ranked MBA programs around the world.

The business plan competition held annually since 2000 at the University of San Francisco.

The goal of this competition, sponsored by The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and Net Impact, is to encourage students and faculty to understand the practices, challenges and opportunities of corporate citizenship as well as the exploration of corporate citizenship in the business school curriculum. The contest is open to all enrolled full- and part-time MBA students at accredited institution of higher learning.

Each year, the writer(s) of the winning paper receives a $2,000 award, and $750 is awarded to the faculty sponsor. The paper is posted on The Center's web site.

Business plan competitions are raising their profiles with bigger cash prizes, and some even throw in office space and site hosting.

University of Oregon's Randy Swangard talks about how to win that business plan competition -- what to keep in mind before you apply, and why it's sometimes better to come in second.