Judging

Judges support SVIC by sharing their expertise and providing invaluable feedback to help young entrepreneurs develop their innovative ideas into reality. Join the community that continuously propels entrepreneurship and innovation forward. Contact svic@sjsu.edu to become an official SVIC judge today.

2021 SVIC Judge - Dave Hadden, Founder, Arlo Inc.

SVIC competitions are evaluated in two phases

Phase One:

The first phase of judging involves assessing submissions online. Judges may select the option of reviewing all, or a subset of, entries. One week is allotted for judges to score entries and provide feedback. After the scores are tabulated, finalists are notified by email and invited to the SVIC Finalist Showcase to display their innovation.

Phase Two:

The second phase of judging is at the SVIC Finalist Showcase. Again, judges may select the option of evaluating all, or a subset of, presentations. After the judging period concludes, judges deliberate to select the winners.

Judging Criteria

Entries are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5 along five different criteria during online/in-person judging:

1. What’s the idea?: Did the student/team clearly describe their product/service idea? What are the key benefits of their product/service? How does it add value or solve a problem?
2. Who would benefit? Did the student/team clearly define their target market? Did they give specific examples or cite evidence to demonstrate that users in their target market desire/demand their product/service?
3. Why is the idea different? Did the student/team explain how their product/service idea is different from/exhibits a clear advantage over other existing, or soon to be available, products/services on the market? Did they give specific examples or cite evidence to demonstrate their competitive advantage?
4. Can the idea be implemented? What resources will it require? Did the student/team assess resource (e.g. skills, time, money) requirements to convert their product/service idea into a viable business? Do they have the necessary resources? What are the gaps they need to fill? Did they give specific examples or cite evidence to demonstrate their resource gaps? Did they evaluate alternative strategies to fill these gaps?
5. Poster Board and Presentation: Did the student/team clearly and succinctly communicate their product/service idea through:
    - Oral presentation? Did their pitch want you to read their poster board?
    - Poster board/Exhibit? How professional and polished is the exhibit? Is it 
      understandable on its own without the presentation? Is it grammatically correct?

2020 SVIC Judge - John Murray