Hiring and Growth January 5, 2021April 13, 2016

The Ultimate List of Startup Competitions, Hackathons & More

David Cheng Former Head of Content, Gusto

There’s no shortage of ways to raise money for your business. If you’re worried about equity dilution to your business, startup competitions are a great way to get money in the door without giving up valuable equity.

We compiled a list of the country’s top startup competitions, hackathons, business plan contests, grants, and more. The only criteria was that the prize had to be cash or cash equivalents, no investments.

For a sample of the list, here are some competitions broken down by category.

Academic

These are competitions limited to current students and/or alumni of an academic institution. Example:

UC Berkeley LAUNCH Accelerator

Application Deadline: November 30, 2018
Prize: Up to $60,000
Eligibility: At least one team member must be a current student, faculty, staff or an alumnus/a of any University of California campus. For more information, see here.

See more academic competitions here.

Geo-specific

These are competitions limited to residents of a particular city, county, state, or country. Example:

New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition

Application Deadline: January 31, 2019
Prize: Up to $15,000
Eligibility: You must be 18 years of age or older, live in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island as a legal resident or US citizen, and wish to start a business in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island. For more information, see here.

Group-based

These are competitions limited to a particular group, typically ethnic, cultural, gender, etc. Example:

French American Entrepreneurship Award

Application Deadline: March 15, 2019
Prize: $10,000
Eligibility: The entrant must be a French-American founder-entrepreneur fluent in French and English, in business for three years or less. For more information, see here.