Dozens of teams apply for the Draft Program with their business idea every year, and the competition for the available funding can be tough. In every application round there are ideas that do not end up being included, and relatively often the same reasons for being left out recur. Here are the 10 most common reasons why a Draft Program applicant does not get into the program. Take these into account in your own application process and you are already many steps closer to getting into the program!
- The application is too long and faulty. Right from the beginning stage it is important to note one matter: when preparing the business plan to be attached to the application, use the template found on the Draft Program web page and do not exceed the requested length of one A4 page. You should be able to summarize your idea concisely so that the most important matters can fit on one page. An application that is too long and/or made on the wrong template can be interpreted as negative and can be a cause for disqualification.
- The pitch presentation is unclear. There may be too little information in the presentation. However, more common is that there is far too much information, and the presentation slides are filled with details that make it difficult to quickly internalize the idea. The pitch must be comprehensible, and even complex business ideas must be able to be described so clearly that even someone unfamiliar with the topic can understand them.
- The pitch presentation is too long. The presentation must end when the allowed time runs out. Running out of time indicates an insufficiently prepared presentation and weakens the impression you give and your chances of getting into the program.
- The idea itself is vague and unclear. For example, the target customer groups, business model or competitors have not been considered sufficiently. In this situation, you should go back to the planning stage and ask for external help to clarify the idea. Remember that you can always ask for a personal business idea sparring time from the experts at Business Center North Savo in Kuopio or from the Draft contact persons of Karelia, Riveria or UEF in Joensuu (contact information can be found at the bottom of the page).
- There is no proper team. According to the rules, the team must have at least two (2) people, of whom at least one must be either a student, alumni or a staff member of the University of Eastern Finland, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Karelia University of Applied Sciences, Riveria Vocational School or Savo Vocational College.
- The idea is planned to be turned into a product or benefit of an existing active company. According to Draft’s rules, “the development of an idea must not be for the benefit of an existing company”. The company can already be established, but it must not have any turnover yet. Having turnover is desirable when applying for further funding on the 2nd Draft round but it is not necessary.
- The intended use of the Draft funding has not been sufficiently considered. Sometimes the funding is intended to be used e.g., to create a website, when the idea would instead require, e.g., a thorough market research. Therefore, the intended use of the Draft funding should be considered thoroughly because you must also present it in your pitch, and an insufficiently considered use can negatively affect your chances of getting in the program. You can also ask the Business Center staff for their help on this matter before the pitch.
- The jury feels that the Draft funding is not big enough to advance the idea. Sometimes teams apply to Draft with ideas that would require funding of, e.g., 50k-100k euros to be realized. In this case, the jury may feel that the available 1000 euros is not enough to advance the idea. In this situation, it is important to justify in the pitch to the jury how the initial funding of 1000 euros brings the idea closer to the realization of a bigger financial plan.
- The team’s own experience or background is in no way related to the business idea. Getting into the program is improbable if the jury finds it challenging to believe that the team is capable of advancing the commercialization of the idea with its own resources and experience. Thus, it is worth considering what kind of skills the team needs. Needs and recruitment intentions can also be stated in the pitch.
- The idea is too similar to services or products already on the market. If the presented idea does not bring anything new to existing products or services, it can be challenging to get Draft funding. This is especially true if other ideas in the application round are more innovative. In this case, you should reflect how to make your own idea more innovative as well as more competitive in the target market.
It may also be that you have all the mentioned sticking points in order, but nevertheless your idea does not get accepted to the program on the round. This may simply be due to the fact that there are other applicants in the round in question who were perceived to be better options this time. The competition is sometimes tough, and every round includes ideas that do not make it into the program.
Therefore, don’t get too discouraged if you get rejected. The Draft Program is organized three times a year and the number of applying times by team is not limited. If you are not successful in this round, you can already try again after four months. Before that, however, you should get in touch with either the Draft experts in Joensuu (see the bottom of the page) or Business Center North Savo experts in Kuopio and ask them what was missing from your presentation or idea. This way you can improve your chances of succeeding in the next round of applying.
Good luck with applying to the program!
Tomi Tuovinen
Innovation Advisor, M.Sc. (Econ.)
Business Center North Savo & University of Eastern Finland