4 tips to win any business competition you enter

INC. THIS MORNING 4 tips to win any business competition you enter Good morning, Alison Alvarez is a master of the business plan competition. Her expertise grew out of necessity. When she and her co-founder, Tomer Borenstein, founded BlastPoint in 2016, they knew they had a winning business idea: Most data tools aren't built for salespeople or others who might really benefit from them. The pair of computer scientists knew their stuff--both had graduate degrees from Carnegie Mellon; Alvarez had also earned her MBA at the University's Tepper School of Business. But neither had financial resources, And when founders talk about "bootstrapping" at such an early stage, they can occasionally gloss over just how nice those boots can be. "Often, you hear about the friends-and-family round--can you get your rich uncle to write you a check?" Alvarez tells Inc. "But if you don't have those, what do you do?" Her answer: competitions and grants. In the past four years, BlastPoint has won four separate business plan competitions, ranging in payoffs from $2,000 to $160,000. Sometimes, they needed the money for basic necessities, like buying a new printer. Other times, they’ve leveraged the opportunities to meet investors and expand their networks--especially during the past year, when Covid-19 has made socializing normally so hard. Read our story to [learn Alavarez’s top four tricks for winning startup competitions]( why they work. SPONSORED CONTENT [Want Energy Without The Jitters?]( Sometimes, coffee just doesn’t cut it. Verb Energy bars offer a clean boost of energy without that dreaded antsy feeling. These bars are packed with 65mg of caffeine from green tea and made with organic ingredients. [Try 4 bars for free-- just cover shipping]( HERE'S WHAT ELSE I'M READING TODAY: A [new rule change]( could mean a multibillion-dollar windfall for New York City’s LGBTQ businesses. --Inc. Statistically speaking, your New Year’s resolutions likely died last week. [Here’s a better way to approach goal-setting this year](. --Inc. [United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby]( wants to make Covid vaccines mandatory for employees--and for other companies to do the same. --CNBC People will remember [Larry King]( for many reasons, but many will remember his great interview skills. Here are his secrets to asking great questions. --Inc. [Mark Cuban]( just shared a really good idea--at the worst possible time. --Inc. These are [the top five ways leaders can prepare for the 2021 workplace]( according to LinkedIn’s top executives. --Inc. --Cameron Albert-Deitch Reporter, Inc. How are we doing? Send me ideas and feedback at [calbertdeitch@inc.com](mailto:calbertdeitch@inc.com?subject=), and [sign up for daily text messages]( from me. Become an [Inc. Unlimited subscriber](. [Click here]( to forward to a friend. This email was sent by: Mansueto Ventures 7 World Trade Center, 29th Floor New York, NY, 10007, [Unsubscribe]( • [Update Profile]( • [View in Browser]( • [Privacy Policy](