My name is James Li, one of the lucky Compass Fellows, and, as a result of the program, I am the founder and CEO of RE:action Strategy Group alongside my partner, another Compass Fellow, Yeo Zuo Yi. RE:action is a donor relationship management consulting firm that works with non-profit organizations and social businesses to communicate the impact of donations back to donors. What does this mean? If you’re a donor, this means we work with organizations so that you can find out exactly what your donation was used for. If you’re an NGO with a social mission, this means we help you build relationships with your constituents, increasing retention rates and ultimately financial bottom line. If you’re still confused (as even I am after that convoluted paragraph), check out our minute and a half of goodness here.

Anyway, I am really excited and happy to announce that RE:action Strategy Group was the winner of this past Sunday’s Georgetown University Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GUSEC). In short, we competed against 30 extraordinary social ventures through three rounds of competition, including business plans and a final pitch round. We were one of five fortunate teams to be selected for the final round, which was Sunday afternoon–a 5 minute pitch, followed by a 10 minute Q&A. When it was all said and done, RE:action was the judge’s choice and the audience’s choice to receive a total of $5000 in seed funding.

However, in addition to the seed funding (doesn’t hurt), GUSEC helped us out in many more ways. Because we had to go through the competition’s process, we were given deadlines to write a business plan–something that we originally felt wasn’t that important and, obviously, boring. However, with deadlines in February and March, our team quickly got to work–and realized why everything was so important. Each part of the business plan forced us to think, either for the first time or in much further depth, about a certain facet of our venture, whether it be our pricing structure, our workflow, our team organizational chart, our competitive advantages, our demand, etc. We were forced to do immense amounts of research to find statistical backup for our case in each section; as an entrepreneur, it’s a roller coaster watching your idea get tested by research, critiqued by judges, and lauded by potential clients. Throughout the process, we were crossing our fingers that the numbers, the people would fall our way–and most of the times it did. While writing the business plan was still an intensely boring process, doing the due diligence (alliteration not intended) proved to be a valuable experience.

Chances are, you’re thinking about or you’re in the process of starting a new venture–ignore the flashy things for now (the logo, the slogan) and focus on the meat. You don’t need a crazy, intense competition to make a great case for your idea–it’s in the research.