Regnier Venture Creation Challenge
& Summit
2025 James & Rae Block KC Startup Awards: Application and Evaluation Details
Competition Criteria
- Eligible businesses must be new or early-stage with annual revenue between $0–$250,000 and operate in the Kansas City MARC Region (Ray, Clay, Jackson, Cass, Platte, Leavenworth, Wyandotte, Johnson, Miami counties).
- Founding team members (equity holders/owners) cannot be current degree-seeking students or 2023/2024 E-Scholars participants.
- Ventures in this track are ineligible for honorable mention awards. Attendance at the final awards ceremony is required to claim prizes.
- Past winners: if you have won a finalist award (1st place, 2nd place, or 3rd place) for your idea in the past, you are ineligible to compete using the same idea/business.
Total Prizes
There is a $25,000 total prize pool for the James & Rae Block KC Startup Awards
- 1st place will receive $15,000
- 2nd place will receive $10,000
Taxes: Please note that prizes paid to individuals or businesses could be considered taxable income. You might consult a tax accountant.
RVCC Important Dates
- March 13, 2025: APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED
- All applications must be received by 12:00pm Central Time on the due date to be considered. Your application includes a business plan slide deck and a 6-minute maximum pitch video. All applications must be submitted through StartupTree.
- April 4, 2025: Decisions communicated to all applicants.
- By end of day all applicants will be notified via email as to the status of their application.
- April 25, 2025: In-person Finals Round
- Finalist teams will present live, in-person at UMKC’s Bloch School
- Award winners will be announced.
Application Instructions
- Create an account and submit on Startup Tree.
- Only one account is needed per venture.
- Provide basic contact information for the venture primary contact – this is the person RVCC will communicate with about the competition.
- Provide venture information.
- Upload your slide deck and link to your pitch video in the application (details below).
- Ensure anyone with the link can view your video.
Pitch Video Guidelines
- Your video should follow your business plan slide deck.
- Videos must be no longer than 6 minutes. Any videos over 6 minutes will disqualify the submission.
- The pitch videos will be viewed and evaluated between March 10 and March 31.
- Please ensure the slides are easily readable.
Business Plan Slide Deck Guidelines
- Deadline: March 9, 2025, at 11:59 PM. Late submissions will not be accepted.
- Slides must be in Microsoft PowerPoint or Adobe PDF format (no other formats will be accepted).
- If you are unsure of what to include in your pitch, reference the template provided below. You may change the look and design of the slides, but your deck should follow this general format.
- Slide decks can be no more than 20 slides total (including titles slides, etc.)
Application Judging Criteria
Each of the 7 criteria are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 = unsatisfactory; 5 = excellent.
Product or service being offered is clearly and plainly stated.
- Use of a prototype is allowed and encouraged to help support this part of your presentation.
Customers are clearly defined and reachable
- Customers are those who purchase your offering. Customers may or may not be the same as your end users; if the customer and end user are different people, be sure to show that you understand both.
- Who are/who will be your customers? (segments and personas) How will you reach them? (awareness) Why will they choose to purchase your offering? Once they decide to purchase, how will you deliver your offering to them?
The offering/product/service solves a real problem in a significant way. The offering is distinctive/unique.
- What is the unique value proposition of your offering?
- What customer pains are alleviated, and what are the customer gains if they adopt your offering?
Why you?
- Founders possess the knowledge, skills and relevant experience to make and deliver the offering
There is clear differentiation from competition.
- Who are your competitors?
- If there are none, that’s either a red flag that this opportunity may not be as attractive as you think it is, OR that you haven’t done sufficient research yet to identify the competition. At minimum, consider the competition of the status quo/doing nothing.
- Capabilities the organization possesses are difficult to imitate or replicate
- Point of distinction is recognizable to the customer and is superior to substitutes/alternatives
Revenue model and cost structure
- For this six-minute video, we don’t want or need detailed financial projections. Instead, you SHOULD demonstrate a viable path to profitability or sustainability, a clear and understandable path to capturing the value you create for your customers, an understanding of the unit economics of your offering (marginal cost to produce or deliver your offering, and the price you would be able to reasonably charge for it).
Presentation quality
- The presentation is professional, clear, well organized, and clearly communicated in both written and verbal form
- Audio is clear and free of background noise and disruptions
- Slides are clear and easy to read
- Thought has been put into what will be compelling for someone watching the video
In-Person Finals Competition Format
Finalists have 15 minutes for their presentation and Q&A, with no more than 10 minutes allowed for the presentation. Presentations will be cut off after 10 minutes to allow time for questions.
Presentations will take place in Bloch School classrooms with screens, speakers, and internet access. Teams are responsible for managing their slides or A/V and can connect via HDMI or bring a converter if needed. Any slides shown during the breakouts will be visible to the audience.
Finalist Judging Criteria:
Each of the 7 criteria are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 = unsatisfactory; 5 = excellent.
Product or service being offered is clearly and plainly stated.
- Use of a prototype is allowed and encouraged to help support this part of your presentation.
Customers are clearly defined and reachable
- Customers are those who purchase your offering. Customers may or may not be the same as your end users; if the customer and end user are different people, be sure to show that you understand both.
- Who are/who will be your customers? (segments and personas) How will you reach them? (awareness) Why will they choose to purchase your offering? Once they decide to purchase, how will you deliver your offering to them?
The offering/product/service solves a real problem in a significant way. The offering is distinctive/unique.
- What is the unique value proposition of your offering?
- What customer pains are alleviated, and what are the customer gains if they adopt your offering?
Why you?
- Founders possess the knowledge, skills and relevant experience to make and deliver the offering
There is clear differentiation from competition.
- Who are your competitors?
- If there are none, that’s either a red flag that this opportunity may not be as attractive as you think it is, OR that you haven’t done sufficient research yet to identify the competition. At minimum, consider the competition of the status quo/doing nothing.
- Capabilities the organization possesses are difficult to imitate or replicate
- Point of distinction is recognizable to the customer and is superior to substitutes/alternatives
Revenue model and cost structure
- For this presentation, we don’t want or need detailed financial projections. Instead, you SHOULD demonstrate a viable path to profitability or sustainability, a clear and understandable path to capturing the value you create for your customers, an understanding of the unit economics of your offering (marginal cost to produce or deliver your offering, and the price you would be able to reasonably charge for it).