FAQ

Be The Boss: The Startup Squad Search for a Girl Who Means Business

Frequently Asked Questions

Please refer to the Official Rules for more information

  1. What is the Grand Prize?The Grand Prize will be a profile of the winning business and girl(s) in the United States print edition of the first book of The Startup Squad series. The winning girl(s) will have to complete an interview to provide information about the business for the profile. The Grand Prize also includes five autographed copies of the book to share with friends and family.
  2. When will the book be released? Will the Grand Prize winner be featured in other books? What is the book about?
    The book is current scheduled for release by Macmillan Publishers in spring 2019. The winner will only be featured in the United States print edition of the first book in the series. Here is a blurb about the book: The Startup Squad encourages the entrepreneurial spirit in young readers with a fun, accessible voice and a heartwarming story of friendship. When their 6th grade class holds a fundraiser for an upcoming field trip, four girls who barely know each other are tasked with starting a lemonade stand—and competing against their classmates to raise the most money. They’re going to have to listen to each other and work together if they want to win the prize! But the recipe for success is tough to perfect, and there’ll be some sweet and sour moments along the way… The story is seamlessly woven with challenges that teach basic business concepts. The back matter highlights tips that readers can use to start their own business and will feature one very special girl who means business!
  3. Is there an age limit? Can boys enter?The Grand Prize winner can be any girl in the United States between the ages of 7 and 14 as of December 31, 2018. The contest is only for girls (you have permission to thumb your nose at all the boys). All entrants must be entered by their parent or legal guardian.
  4. When should I enter? The submission period for videos is officially between 12:00 AM ET on June 1, 2018 and 9:00 AM ET on September 5, 2018. No submissions will be accepted before or after these very official dates.
  5. What are you looking for in the contestants?We are looking for a girl who is running a successful business on her own or with her friends. The greater the potential for success of the business in the future the higher the score for Highest Business Potential.
  6. What are you looking for in the video submission?The Video Presentation criteria will be judged based on originality, creativity, and enthusiasm. The candidate should describe her business (what she is selling to whom and why), how long she has been running her business, how she finds her customers, if she has a website and what the url is, what her future plans are for the business, etc. She should not divulge any financial information about the business.
  7. Why might my video be rejected?Don’t take it personally! If your video is rejected you can change it and resubmit it. Remember that all videos must:
    • Be approximately 1 minute in length
    • Be saved as either an MPG, MP4, or WEBM file
    • Include only the contestant and her business partners (if any). No one else can appear in the video.
    • Not contain any personal identification, such as names, license plate numbers, street addresses, or email address
    • Not contain any reference to the revenue or profit of the business
    • Not contain copyrighted materials owned by others, such as brands, photographs, logos, sculptures or paintings, used without permission
    • Not violate any law

    For additional information on the video requirements, please refer to the Official Rules.

  8. Will the videos be public?Yes. Accepted video submissions will be posted on The Startup Squad’s contest gallery and on its social media accounts for the duration of the contest.
  9. How will the Finalists be chosen? By height! Just kidding. The Finalists will be selected from the approved entries based on Highest Business Potential (33.3%), Video Presentation (33.3%), and a Public Vote to be held between September 6-28, 2018 (33.3%).
  10. How will the Grand Prize winner be selected?The Grand Prize Winner will be selected from the finalists by a public vote from 12:00 AM ET on October 8, 2018 to 11:59PM ET on October 31 2018. The finalist who gets the most votes wins!
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