McGill

Dobson

Cup

2021

Last update: 2020/11/27

Marie-Josée LamotheAcademic Director

McGill Dobson Centre For Entrepreneurship

The Dobson Centre is the hub for

entrepreneurship at McGill University, where

ideas stemming from all McGill faculties grow

into innovative companies with a purpose.

We aim to inspire, teach and develop early

entrepreneurs while also introducing them

to local, national and global entrepreneurship

ecosystems.

The Dobson Cup is an integral part of the

center’s programming. This flagship

competition is specifically designed to

support and reward the most promising

emerging startup ideas.

The Dobson Cup is also an experiential

learning opportunity that offers a once in a

lifetime networking experience with world-

class entrepreneurs and mentors. More than

just a pitch session, finalists across all tracks

are competing for over $200,000 in funding.

Teams selected for the semi-finals and the

finals will also have the opportunity to work

on further refining their business plan and

mastering their pitch through target

workshops and guidance.

The Dobson Cup program is an excellent

way of perfecting your startup idea and

gaining valuable exposure.

A flagship competition helping startups

strengthen their ideas

Program OverviewDeveloping startup ideas

The McGill Dobson Cup is a startup competition taking place online over 4

months, that also offers targeted workshops to support participating teams in

their entrepreneurship journey.

Who can apply?

Teams entering the Dobson Cup must have at least one founder with a McGill

affiliation (student, staff, faculty, alumni graduated within the last 10 years).

What are the milestones of the competition?

The competition is made of two rounds, the semi-finals (up to 30 teams per track)

and the finals (up to 8 teams per track), followed by the Awards Ceremony. The

winning teams will be rewarded with over $ 200, 000 in prize money.

Over the same period, targeted workshops and learning resources will be offered to

semi-finalists and finalists.

What are the four tracks ?

While submitting their online application and startup plan, teams must choose a

track according to their startup idea:

• Health Sciences Enterprise Track

• Innovation and Technology Driven Enterprise Track

• Social Impact Enterprise Track

• Environmental Enterprise Track

Program OverviewDeveloping startup ideas

Key dates

2020/11/30 Applications open

2021/01/18 Deadline for applications

2021/01/26 Semi-finalists announced

2021/02/08 Semi-finals pitch day

2021/02/09 Semi-finals pitch day

2021/02/10 Semi-finals pitch day

2021/02/11 Semi-finals pitch day

2021/02/12 Finalists announced

2021/03/11 Deadline for final startup plans

2021/03/29 Finals pitch day

2021/03/30 Finals pitch day

2021/03/30 Awards ceremony

Judging criteria

Judging will focus on the content of the submitted startup plans : value proposition,

market and competition knowledge, marketing strategy, business and financial

model, team composition, risk assessment, will all be analyzed. Judges will also look

at the feasibility, growth potential, and innovation, as presented by the teams.

Program OverviewDeveloping startup ideas

Prizes and awards

For the 2021 McGill Dobson Cup, over $200,000 in funding will be

allocated to the winning teams.

1. Powered by National Bank

$160,000 in prizes distributed across all four tracks :

• 1st Place - Four (4) prizes of $20,000*

• 2nd Place - Four (4) prizes of $12,000

• 3rd Place - Four (4) prizes of $8,000

2. Avmor Prize for Social Responsibility

Established by Avi Morrow, founder and Chairman of Avmor, this is an annual prize

for the best startup plan submitted in the McGill Dobson Cup by an undergraduate

student(s) on behalf of a not-for-profit organization. Amount: $1,900.

3. Food Convergence Innovation Prize

This prize recognizes the partnership between the Faculty of Agricultural and

Environmental Sciences (FAES) and the McGill Centre for the Convergence of

Health and Economics (MCCHE), and presented by Enzyme. It supports a venture,

in the areas of agriculture, food and agribusiness, that clearly intertwines

technological innovation, social innovation, and institutional innovation to

simultaneously derive measurable economic and social benefit(s). Amount: $5,000.

*Including $10,000 from the Peter and Joan Monk Entrepreneurship

endowment allocated to the first place of the Social Impact Entreprise track.

Program OverviewDeveloping startup ideas

Prizes and awards (cont’d)

4. Mastercard Foundation-Dobson Startup Award

This prize supports ventures competing in the Social Impact Enterprise track of the

McGill Dobson Cup.

• 1st Place - $15,000

• 2nd Place - $7,000

5. The McGill EnginE Prize

This prize, funded by our generous donors, the late Jim Brodeur and his wife

Barbara Brodeur, is offered by the McGill Engine Centre to support a

technologically-based venture, with at least one team member being part of McGill’s

Faculty of Engineering. Amount: $2,500.

6. Murdoch Family Initiative Award

Established by Neil Murdoch (BCom‘81) and Gisele Murdoch to help support

undergraduate students in the Desautels Faculty of Management to take the

initiative to gain practical experience during their studies and to encourage students

to be creative and entrepreneurial. Amount: $6,000.

7. Steven Pal Family Award

Established in 2020 by Steven Pal (BSc 1979, MBA 1981), this award will be for a

student who has demonstrated entrepreneurial talent and initiative. Amount: $5,000.

Program OverviewDeveloping startup ideas

Available learning resources

KEY LEARNING THEMES

The Dobson Cup dedicated learning resources will guide the startups through all

key aspects of entrepreneurship : market research, finance and accounting, legal

aspects, marketing, pitch practice.

FORMAT

• Action learning: Throughout the program, participants work with their teams on

achieving milestones related to their startup idea. This process is a crucial

component of the program and will ultimately lead to the strengthening of viable

startup ideas.

• Weekly workshops: The central platform for introducing strategic frameworks

and business concepts that guide the process of shaping and developing your

startup ideas. Workshops also provide the opportunity to bridge theory with real-

world application through stories, examples and insights from guest speakers.

Workshops are mandatory for at least one member of each team.

• Clinics: Available on appointment, the clinics are hands-on, one-on-one meetings

with students, alumni and seasoned experts on health sciences strategy, legal

issues, and financial issues. They will help you to work on a specific question you

may have on any of those topics.

• Banking information session: Offered by the National Bank, this session

provides an opportunity to dig into the specificities of banking for startups.

Dobson Cup Course Plan

# and date Title and contents Available to Action-learning project

1 (TBC)Wednesday

Jan. 20

5-6.30 pm

Introduction

• Welcome to the MDC2021

• Keynote speaker

• Inspirational Entrepreneurs –

the Lightspeed example

All teams Team and idea building:

• Discuss the keynote

address and the video

within your team and

write down key

takeaways

• If not selected for

semi-finals, discuss

your next steps

2Wednesday

Jan. 27

6-8 pm

Marketing 101 Semi-finalists Marketing strategy

• Refine your marketing

strategy

3Wednesday

Feb. 3

6-8 pm

Finance for startups

• Building bullet-proof

assumptions

• Model structuring

• Scenario planning

• Tracking and communicating

effectively

Semi-finalists Financial model

• Build your first

financial model

IS1 (TBC)

Thursday

Feb.4

5-6.30 pm

National Bank information

session

• Banking for startups

All teams -

Semi-finals pitch days will take place Feb. 8 to Feb. 11 (one day for each track).

Dobson Cup Course Plan

Final startup plans must be submitted by Thursday March 11th.

Finals pitch days will take place on March 29th and 30th

(depending on the tracks) and will be followed by the Awards

Ceremony.

# and date Title and contents Available

to

Action-learning project

4Wednesday

Feb. 17

6-8 pm

Financial KPIs and

modeling

• Understanding the best

practices around financial

modeling

• Choosing relevant KPIs

• Using the suggested

dashboard

Finalists Financial KPIs

• Create and use your financial

KPIs dashboard

5Wednesday

Feb. 24

6-8 pm

Storytelling and audience

engagement

• Improving your pitch using

storytelling

• Capturing the audience’s

attention with an engaging

narrative

Finalists Pitch

• Improve your pitch using

takeaways from the

workshop

6Wednesday

March 3

6-8 pm

Creating a good pitch Finalists Research and pitch

• Analyse your market and

your data

• Designate one pitcher

among your team

• Practice your pitch in front of

various audiences

7In your own

time, before

March 11th

- Finalists Startup plan

• Based on your learnings,

improve and submit your final

startup plan

7By appointment

Feb-March

Pitch practice Finalists

C1By appointment

Legal clinic All teams

C2By appointment

Feb-Mar.

Financial clinic Finalists

In Order of Appearance

Marie-Josée LamotheMs. Lamothe has over 25 years of experience in the competitive digital and consumer

products world (Google, L’Oréal, Procter&Gamble, Clairol). She is best noted for her

expertise in Global Product Management and Omni-Channel Branding. Ms. Lamothe is a

Professor of Practice at McGill University (Desautels Business Faculty) and is the

President of Tandem International, an advisory firm specialized in omnichannel retailing

and branding. She is also the executive director of the McGill Dobson Centre for

Entrepreneurship.

Speakers & Contributors

Bob CornwallBob has held a number of roles at Google including; Head of YouTube & Brand Strategy

for Canada, Global Head of Cross-Video Solutions, Global Head of YouTube Education &

Curriculum, and Global Brand Building Specialist. Bob and his teams at Google have

been responsible for enabling Google’s largest partners to build their brand and their

business by harnessing the power of the YouTube platform. In addition, Bob also

continues to mentor and consult numerous start-ups and scale-ups based out of Canada.

Prior to joining Google Bob grew up as a Brand Marketer on the client side working at

Nike, Unilever, Cadbury, Kraft, and Mondelez working on local, regional, and global

teams. Bob graduated with a B.Comm from Queen’s University and his Masters in

Creativity from Cannes. Bob has lived abroad but today resides in Toronto.

Eric BoykoAn entrepreneur with nearly two decades of experience with start-ups, Mr. Boyko has

extensive expertise in early stage business innovations.

He is President, Co-founder, and CEO of Stingray Group Inc., a leading business-to-

business multi-platform music and in-store media solutions provider operating on a global

scale reaching an estimated 400 million Pay-TV subscribers (or households) in 152

countries. The company completed a successful IPO in June 2015 and is listed on the

Toronto Stock Exchange (RAY.A; RAY.B).

Previously, Mr. Boyko founded and was President of eFundraising.com Corporation,

which became a leading player in the North American fundraising industry. In 2006, he

was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

Mr. Boyko is a board member of the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation and also

sits on the board of Montreal-based Alimentation Couche-Tard.

A graduate with great distinction of McGill University, he holds a Bachelor of Commerce

with a concentration in accounting and entrepreneurship. Mr. Boyko became a Certified

General Accountant (CPA) in 1997.

Speakers and contributorsIn Order of Appearance

Nathaniel HaeemsNathaniel is a seasoned coach, trained facilitator and consultant with international

experience in both Europe and North America, who has spearheaded a number of

leadership development initiatives for various multinational organizations.

His subject matter expertise is focused on effective business communications ̶analyzing,

organizing and presenting ideas clearly and with impact as well as conflict resolution. He

is currently a faculty lecturer for the McGill Executive Institute ‘Building and Selling a

Winning Business Case’ seminar as well as an important contributor to various custom

programs. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Concordia University and an

MBA from McGill University.

Stéphanie LeblancStéphanie is partner with the PwC Consulting and deals Group. She has a broad

expertise in assisting organizations in special situations requiring immediate intervention

in terms of cash management, financial analysis, financial modeling, restructuring and

litigation. Stéphanie manages PwC Montreal's ProfessionnELLES group, an initiative to

promote the talent of the feminine personnel. She is also cofounder of Premières en

Affaires, a francophone and independent business publication with the mission of

valorizing successful business women.

Christophe Guimond DrapeauChristophe is a Senior Associate, Value Creation at PwC Canada. He specializes in

strategy and financial modeling for various industries such as construction, energy and

utilities, logistics, technology, real estate, healthcare and retail.

Shelly RaoCapital raiser, operator and finance leader. Shelly is currently the head of Finance at

Kepler, where she helped the company lead two debt raises & Series B financing, as well

as managing the scale and growth from pre-revenue to a run-rate of $1.3M in less than

two years. Prior to joining Kepler, Shelly worked in investment banking with CIBC in the

M&A group, and National Bank of Canada across various industry groups.

Shelly holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University (Class of 2014).

Specialties: Financing, investment banking, M&A,

startups, business development, management, strategy,

entrepreneurship, operations.

Speakers and contributorsIn Order of Appearance

Michael Amar – Financial clinicMichael is a McGill alumnus from the Desautels Faculty of Management with experience

in Audit (KPMG), Private Equity (Novacap) and Strategy Consulting (Roland Berger). He

will be operating the Financial Clinic to help teams deal with specific financial issues, by

appointment.

Compass Startup Legal ClinicA team of law students will support the MDC teams with their legal issues, by

appointment..

Amplitude Ventures – Health Sciences Strategic clinicThe Health Sciences Strategic clinic is run by Amplitude Ventures experts and is open to

all Health Sciences Enterprise track semi-finalists and finalists, by appointment.

Amplitude Venture specializes in creating, building, and growing break-out healthcare

companies developing regulated products. These clinics will focus on helping teams

work on strategic issues such as indication prioritization, alignment on key value

inflection data points, KOL / client engagement and regulatory challenges.

Bonnie ChauBonnie is a Portfolio Manager at BCF Ventures with diversified expertise in the areas of

entrepreneurship, finance, accounting and investment. She currently leads the due

diligence for B2B startups and provides support in the portfolio companies. Prior to

becoming a VC at BCF Ventures, she has worked at one of the fastest growing fintech

companies in Canada by providing her expertise in Finance/Accounting and she was later

promoted to execute on internal projects and interim management working directly with

the CEO/CFO. She always looks for opportunities to give back to the startup community

through her work with Startup Weekend, UpstartED, and many more. Bonnie holds a

B.Comm in Accountancy from Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University and

she also obtained her accounting designation CPA.

Program Application

Ideal Participant Profile

This program is for McGill-affiliated entrepreneurs and startups that have been

working on an idea or prototype and on a business plan. Your startup should be

launched or ready to be launched within the year.

• Your team has at least one founder that is a McGill University student, faculty

member, staff member or alumni.

• Your idea needs to be innovative, with a purpose.

A commitment towards attending the workshops is required.

How to apply ?

1. Read the online guidelines to confirm eligibility and understand the major steps.

2. Choose which of the four tracks of the competition you want to enter. Track

definitions are available in the guidelines.

3. Write your five-page startup plan using the fillable Microsoft Word template, and

convert it into a pdf document. Plans that do not use the template will not be

accepted.

4. Make a short video of your team presenting the project (1’30” maximum) –

unlisted on YouTube or Vimeo.

5. Fill-in the online application form, attach your pdf startup plan and add the link to

your video.

Do not miss the deadline! No applications will be accepted after Jan.18, 11.59 pm.

For any questions regarding this

program, please contact

Dobsoncup.mgmt@mcgill.ca.