Geekdom a collaborative coworking space in San Antonio, TX is pleased to announce the Mx Challenge, a competition that will award $500,000 USD to the competitor who leads 10 qualified Mexican startups to open an office using Geekdom’s platform in San Antonio in 18 months.
Each startup that the competitor brings to San Antonio must meet the following requirements:
- The startup team must have at least three team members working on the startup and living in San Antonio from the moment the startup is established at Geekdom.
- Each team member at the startup must have legally appropriate business visas (TN, E2, L1 or HB1).
- The startup must be focused in technology.
- The startup must have a validated and working product, with annual revenue more than $60,000 USD, or $5,000 monthly, or having received an early stage investment larger than $20,000 USD.
- The startup must establish a US business legal entity incorporation.
- The startup must provide proof of residency for each team member in San Antonio.
Points to consider:
- Competitors must assume all costs and activities related to leading startups to establish themselves in San Antonio and at Geekdom.
- Minimum eligibility for the prize requires proof of leading at least 10 tech startups from Mexico to establish themselves in San Antonio and at Geekdom during the 18 months of the Mx Challenge. Competitors who cannot provide proof of meeting this minimum threshold will not be considered for the prize.
- The Mexican tech startups:
- must prove that they were not in San Antonio before the Mx Challenge
- show proof of residence at San Antonio and establishment at Geekdom
- Valid cases of Mexican tech startups include:
- a new startup starting from scratch at Geekdom
- a developed tech startup expanding and opening an US branch at Geekdom
- an undeveloped startup coming to San Antonio for acceleration or funding at Geekdom.
Challenge Calendar:
| Registration and Progress Report Submission Deadline |
March 2016 |
| Challenge Deadline |
Sept 2016 |
Judging Criteria:
The winner of the challenge will be determined by the following criteria, in order:
- Number of Qualifying Startups, beyond the minimum of 10 required for the competition
- Number of Employees, beyond the minimum of 3 per startup required for the competition
- Annual Revenue, beyond the $60,000 annual revenue required for the competition
The competitor with the most number of qualifying startups will win the competition. A qualifying startup meets all of the requirements outlined in the challenge guidelines.
In the event of a tie:
- If two or more competitors have the same number of qualifying startups, the competitor with the most number of total employees, across all qualifying startups, will win.
- If two or more competitors have the same number of qualifying startups and the same number of total employees, the competitor with the highest total annual revenue, across all qualifying startups, will win.
Submission Requirements:
- Team must demonstrate proof of LLC registration in the US to include any “company” as part of their portfolio in this Challenge.
- Team must demonstrate proof of visa for all companies in their portfolio in this Challenge. All visas must allow company employees to work and earn income in the United States. Proof may include, but is not limited to:
- Copy of visa application for each company included in Team portfolio
- Postmark of visa application to appropriate agency for each company included in Team portfolio
- Receipt of visa application from appropriate agency for each company included in Team portfolio
- Copy of obtained visa and relevant terms for all companies in Team portfolio that have secured a visa
- Funded companies must be submitted with the following:
- All requirements for those companies with Business Plan only
- Term sheet for each investor
- Deposit slips for each investor
- Companies generating $60,000 annual revenue or more must submit the following:
- Financial statements demonstrating $60,000 or more in revenue
- No more than 3 pages detailing business activities
- Bios for employees
- Additional potential funding/investment
- Plan to set up operations in San Antonio
If a competitor needs assistance on understanding the rules or meeting another contestants they can always send an email to Jesus Salas at Mxchallenge@geekdom.com
