Women 2.0 has a great concept for a business plan competition: the business plan must fit on a 5×5 napkin.

I love this for a few reasons:

First, this contest forces contestants to focus on their elevator pitch and executive summary which are arguably the most important parts of a business plan. Requiring a focus on the core of what makes a venture remarkable and how it is going to achieve its goals ensures that contestants aren’t distracted by the rest of the business plan. Too often, the elevator pitch/executive summary are not given the attention that they require and don’t focus on grabbing the reader and convincing them within the first few sentences that the rest of the plan is worth reading. This contest won’t let that happen.

Second, there are huge opportunities to be creative with this contest. I’m sure some contestants will just fill the 5×5 space with as much text as they can fit, but the real stand-outs will be the submissions that are creative with the space allowed. How will your napkin stand out from all the other submissions?

Finally, this is unique! The contest itself is remarkable and worth talking about.