IDEA IDOL 2010 – SECOND ROUND ENTRY OPEN!

It was great to see all our successful Idea Idol 2010 contestants at our first training session last night.

All of you should have now received an email with a link to the 2nd Round executive summary entry form.

Many thanks to Russell Smith of Business Boffins and Stephen Brett of Henmans LLP for leading their respective sessions on Exec Summaries and Legal Considerations.

As promised, their slides are now both available for download.

Russell Smith’s slides from Feb 3rd 2010

Stephen Brett’s slides from Feb 3rd 2010

Guidelines for second round particpants are also available to download on the link below.

Idea Idol Executive Summary Guidelines 2010

Although these are meant for Idea Idol 2010 2nd round participants, all OE members are welcome to make use of these resources. In fact, we encourage it!

For any enquiries, email Tim Kovoor (Idea Idol 2010 Director) on ideaidol@oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk

The Paperclip Challenge is an exciting opportunity in which students can learn how to maximise the powers of negotiation. Starting with a paperclip (don’t worry, we’ll provide them!), contestants will use their negotiation skills to trade their paperclip for goods of higher value over a period of one week. The contestant who comes back with good that sells for the highest value (on eBay), will receive a cash prize of the total earning of the top two selling products.

To provide guidance and priceless advice on negotiation for this challenge, a presentation will be given by a leading practitioner, mentor and speaker of negotiation, Derek Arden. He has been known to help increase profitability and develop powerful business relationship management skills and will be coming to Oxford to provide his expertise.

In addition to this we have eBay specialists Chris Dawson and John Pemberton coming up to speak about how contestants can list and market their products strategically to maximise their profits.

When: 18:30 – 21:00, 1^st February 2010

Where: Roy Griffiths Room, Keble College

As if you need even more of a reason to come, we may also be giving out freebies kindly donated by eBay! Taking part is simple. Just sign up here.

The entry deadline for Idea Idol 2010 is January 27th and is fast approaching. Idea idol the leading student putching competition in the UK. It’s a multi round businessidea event open to students at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes. Don’t miss this chance to pitch your business idea to four stellar business leaders and the chance to win over £5,000 in cash and prizes.

Last year’s finalists pitched to Founder of Ariadne Capital Julie Meyer, Cobra Beer Marketing Director Will Ghali, Skype for Business Director Ian Robin, and Credit Suisse’s Investvement Banking MD Ian Carnegie-Brown. The winners, Easy Solution, Foresight Pharmaceuticals and Youth Bank walked home with £10,000 pounds in collective prize money.

Jump in. Enter now.
Read more details.
To stay up to date, join the facebook group.

Update: Full Hilary term card now available here

We’ve been receiving lots of requests for the latest term card, so here’s a preview of the events we have lined up this term.

The Oxford Entrepreneurs Society has become synonymous with the terms energy and dynamism. Our membership reflects a unique blend of entrepreneurial flair and academic skill, and is perhaps the most diverse member base of any University society in terms of age, discipline, and background. This desirable combination reflects a fundamental part of OE’s ethos: We are not exclusively for entrepreneurs but we harvest and develop the entrepreneurial skills necessary for success in any corporate environment. We draw in ambitious undergraduate and post-graduates from fields as far-ranging as Mathematics, History, Engineering, Linguistics and Economics.

With our free, no-strings-attached membership, many may question how OE consistently provides its aspiring entrepreneurs with a great number of high quality events like the Speaker Series, Ideas2Market, and the flagship business competition, Idea Idol. Unusually for a student society, we rely solely on corporate donations and in-kind support from our sponsors.

Next month marks OE’s 8th Anniversary and from the society’s beginning it was decided that we would aspire to offer students priceless guidance, training and support at no cost at all. This ethos persist to today. Whereas most societies are charging members annually or placing entry fees on events, we believe that money should not be the foundation for entrepreneurial growth. At OE we focus on ideas and transforming and communicating those ideas in a marketable way. We want to provide our members with a creative environment full of opportunities so that their energy is not spent on worrying about funding and the cost of professional advice.

We are very grateful to Octopus Ventures, Credit Suisse, Linklaters, Microsoft, Business Link and of course our founders, the Said Business School who have donated a considerable amount to OE, particularly in terms of time and effort. Despite the current economic situation, the forward-thinking attitude of our sponsors means that they are investing in tomorrow’s entrepreneurs through OE.

If you haven’t already done so, I would encourage you to join OE and start receiving on our events. If you are currently a member then be sure to make the most of your membership — there’s something in our term card for everyone.

Richard Reed spoke at the Oxford Entrepreneurs speaker series on November 3rd, 2009. This is the interview following his talk.

Interview: Richard Reed from The Alligator on Vimeo.

A big issue that many students and graduates are facing these days is the fact that they are struggling to find the jobs they want they because they lack experience. How do you convince employers that you’ll be good at the job if you’ve never done it before? But of course how do you get that first experience without prior experience? Well, one solution to this problem of is to tap into your contacts list. They are, of course, a great way to get one foot through the door. It’s an easy way to get big CV points. Another way is to take part in societies and make the most of what they have to offer. Doing this will give you very transferable skills and great insight – and with the best societies, this will often be for free! One series of events in particular gives students an unparalleled opportunity to get a real business experience. This is Oxford Entrepreneurs’ The OxPrentice.

The idea behind The OxPrentice is simply that students are put into teams and are given business challenges to complete, just like in the TV series, The Apprentice. However, instead of being a knockout competition, with the OxPrentice, the winners of each challenge will have the opportunity to take forward their idea after the event and build on it to make it their own venture that they will run. What is unique about this series is the fact that students are given the chance to experience first-hand real responsibility for a money making project. Whilst some societies provide “trading games” to simulate the trading floor at a bank/hedge fund, or trial law cases, the opportunities that arise from the OxPrentice are by no means fictional. To illustrate this, there were two winners of the iPhone App challenge that we held at the end of last month. One team is already at a stage where they will be meeting with the developers from Inside Mobile to speak about the coding that will be involved in developing their idea. The other team is making rigorous plans to ensure that their idea will materialise into a sexy yet simple app that will hopefully become a very scalable product.

Events like this, and the G&D’s Ice Cream Flavour Event, that we held all day on Wednesday 6th week Michaelmas at Science Oxford (see map) are great ways to get business experience. Running your own venture requires many skills such as organisation, leadership and negotiation. Employees recognise this and therefore look for people with these kinds of experiences. There are no risks in terms of financial investment, so opportunities such as these are rare. Seize the day, and help yourself gain the right experience.

November 25th – 18:30, Roy Griffiths Room, Keble College, OX1 3PN.

Life is full of moments when we have to sell ourselves but usually time is short. What would you say if you bumped into Richard Branson in a lift? How would you pitch your idea if you were on Dragon’s Den? How do you sell yourself in a job interview? Come and learn some practical hints and tricks about how you can effectively sell your ideas, your business or even yourself. This workshop will be very interactive and you’ll learn mostly through doing rather than listening to dry theories.

Continue to find out more and REGISTER.

We are now in the last 48 24 hours that you can register and get involved in this event. Can you create the next ice cream flavour? Can you market it? Read More About G&D Ice Cream Challenge

The deadline for the Ideas2Market BOOTCAMP has been extended to Midnight Sunday, November 1st. This is an opportunity to receive personal mentoring from top business leaders and turn your idea into a tenable business. Most of the 50 places have already gone but there are a few still available. Apply here http://oe.wufoo.com/forms/ideas2market-bootcamp-application/. Further details on this highlight of the Oxford entrepreneurial calendar can be found under the Events menu. There is no cost to participants.