Big Bang! is getting bigger, and more Sacramento-area business students have been invited to join the annual business plan competition run by MBA students of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management.

For the first time, contest organizers have decided to welcome top teams from the Sacramento State College of Business Administration and the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy to vie for $33,000 in prizes awarded to finalists and winners of Big Bang!

A companion competition, known as Little Bang! and aimed largely at UC Davis science and engineering students, also will be recast and incorporated into Big Bang! This year’s competition opened today and will culminate with the 10th annual Big Bang! finals on May 20.

Competition overhauled

The changes, inspired by the 10th anniversary of Big Bang! and the business school’s recent move into the new Gallagher Hall, are designed to expand the contest’s reach into the greater Sacramento business community as well as the campus’s science and engineering ranks.

“It’s being retooled to encourage participation from a wider range of individuals and teams,” said Julia Barg, a UC Davis MBA student and co-chair of this year’s Big Bang! organizing committee.

“We’re going to give teams more tools than ever before, not only through workshop opportunities, but also by providing examples of what we’re looking for, which we’ve always shied away from in the past because we wanted to allow creativity.”

The Big Bang! competition, founded in 2000 by students at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, is designed to inspire and reward innovation and entrepreneurship. Previous winners and finalists have gone on to form companies such as VinPerfect, Bloo Solar, SialoGen, Ensembles, Ultra V and VisualCalc.

Traditionally Big Bang! has been limited to students, graduates or others affiliated with UC Davis. Sacramento State holds a separate business plan competition that wraps up in November.

In addition to opening up Big Bang! to more contestants, the organizing committee has established new partnerships with the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy and Sacramento State that will allow students and teams from UC Davis, Sacramento State and the SEA to participate in each others’ educational events.

“With Big Bang! we’ve done a lot of amazing things,” said MBA student Sam Wainer, another coordinator of this year’s contest. “We’ve had over 200 business plans submitted, raised over $160,000 in prize money and exposed over 800 aspiring entrepreneurs to the experience of developing and pitching a business venture. In honor of that, we want to make deeper inroads into the Sacramento region and we’re doing that through these two partnerships.”

Innovations showcased

The Big Bang! competition accomplishes two core objectives for the Graduate School of Management, Dean Steven Currall said.

“First, it provides an extraordinary learning opportunity for our MBA students to work with others inside the school and in the business community to develop creative projects that have true commercial potential. Second, it serves a vital role in outreach efforts to the business community by showcasing innovations developed at UC Davis and involving business leaders as judges, coaches and mentors to entrepreneurs.”

Sacramento State professor of entrepreneurship Seung Bach welcomed the new partnership, which he said will bring together “complementary assets and capabilities.

“This is a thrilling new opportunity for cooperation for all of us,” he said.

And, should a Sacramento State entry win the $15,000 top prize?

“If a Sac State team wins,” said Barg, “we’re hoping it’s viewed by the UC Davis community as a challenge and encourages more people from here to participate.”