Q- What is the Be Your Own Boss Bowl?A – The BYOBB is Temple’s annual business plan competition, and one of the most prestigious competitions on campus and in this area each year. Our winners have gone on to launch significant businesses and create jobs. This year, the grand prize alone will be worth well over $110K in cash, professional services, Microsoft products, incubation services and more. 2013 marks the 15 th time the annual competition has been held. Participants compete in one of three tracks: Undergraduate or Graduate Student/Alumni/Faculty/Staff or Social Innovation Ventures. Participants come from all 17 schools and colleges from within Temple University, which has been a nationally ranked top five, 10 or 15 university in entrepreneurship for nin consecutive years.

Q - What will I be expected to do as a mentor?A - As a mentor you will guide and assist your protégé through the process of completing a SHORT (about 15-page) business plan. You will offer recommendations, suggestions, feedback and advice and (most of all) support. You will not perform any research, develop any section of the plan or write the plan. You might help a mentor draw conclusions from the research they conducted, assess a marketing plan, offer ideas on additional revenue streams, provide feedback on strategy or financial assumptions, or more.

Q - What if I don't have business experience in a specific area or in creating a business plan?A - Every Protégé receives materials to help them through this process (a book on writing business plans, business plan template, timetable, preliminary weighted scoring sheet, etc.) so that they know what is expected. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute also provides ten business plan workshops per semester on all key aspects of business planning (which you are welcome to attend), and has five entrepreneurs/executives in residence to tackle specific topics. As a senior executive we all have the experience required to help with this program. You most likely have participated in developing various aspects of business plans. Your job is to help guide your Protégé through this process. If you are asked a question that is outside your area of expertise you can reach out to your network to get help. This also demonstrates the power of building a network to your protégé.

Q - How much time will this take?A - That depends on your schedule and what level of assistance your protégé needs. MBA students, alumni and faculty typically need less, undergraduates a bit more. Some teams schedule meetings between 30 and 60 minutes per week to meet or speak by phone. Others will communicate primarily by email. Face to face meetings are desirable in the beginning to establish common ground and build a rapport. Most participants do some work over the holiday break, but the plans are usually developed from the third week of January (start of the semester) through the third week of March. Plans are due March 25, and the finalist presentations are on April 25.

Q - Who will be my Protégé?A - Your protégé (or team of protégé's) may be an undergraduate or graduate student, alumni, or faculty member of Temple University. Some participants have very little prior business knowledge or experience and may be aspiring musicians, engineers, research scientists, etc. All are aspiring entrepreneurs who need your help to get started. Q - How will I be matched with a Protégé?A – We will utilize the information you provided during the mentor registration process and your resume or LinkedIN profile to find a good fit with the protégé's stated needs. We try to accommodate specific requests from both Protégés and Mentors for specific types of businesses, areas of knowledge, skills, and experience when possible.

Q - Where can I get more information on the BYOBB?A – Please visit the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute’s competition page at:http://www.fox.temple.edu/iei/competitions.htmlwhere you can find the downloadable template for the business plan, a copy of the scoring sheet, suggested time schedule, rules & regulations, and more. You may also contact Jaine Lucas, Executive Director at the Temple IEI, at Jaine.lucas@temple.edu(preferred) or 215.204.4605.

Q – Can I be a Mentor and a Preliminary Judge?A – Absolutely!! Many of our mentors also volunteer to be preliminary judges. As a preliminary judge you will be given between three and five business plans to review and evaluate based on the established scoring criteria. Each plan typically take less than an hour and you will have approximately 2 weeks to submit your scores online. Obviously you will not be asked to evaluate and score a plan from the team you mentored.

Q - Are there any additional benefits to mentoring a BYOBB participant?A - In addition to the good feeling of helping a budding entrepreneur, many of our mentors have developed long-term, enjoyable and mutually beneficial relationships with their protégés. Many have learned about using social media to build brands or market a business, or about specific websites for business or play. Some mentors have made relationships with faculty, or been able otherwise to leverage assets at the business school. Several have become advisory board members for their protégés, and built new business relationships around executives they’ve met via the BYOBB: last year we engaged over 300 senior executives in the program as mentors, preliminary and finalist judges, subject matter experts and presentation coaches. We can’t do it without you!