Intellectual Property (IP) rights exist to protect the expression of your ideas and allow you to control the ways your ideas are utilized. The PETE Prize Award competition will be governed by the FIT Intellectual Property Policy.
NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement): All participating students are required to consent to the NDA and MAY NOT share startup materials with anyone outside of their team, including faculty and staff, advisors and coaches. Only the team members may see the decks and any other materials shared by the startups. Students can ask advisors and coaches about the industry, the market fit, etc., but may not share any specific proprietary information from the deck, in particular but not limited to, revenue projections, valuation expectations, previous fundraising and cap tables. Participant’s executive summaries and business plans will only be seen by the award review committee. Neither of these documents will be distributed unless explicit permission is received from the team. As the competition is an open event, FIT is not able to require audience members to sign non-disclosure agreements.
The PETE Prize is a part time commitment with mandatory workshop attendance and adherence to the timeline. Workshops are scheduled on Wednesdays (2025: Oct. 22, Oct. 29, Nov. 12, Nov. 19 and 2026: Feb. 4-Apr. 15), from 4:30pm-6:30pm at the DTech Lab (C110). The workshops are strategically planned as in-person learning experiences and are mandatory. It is important to note that if you are unable to attend the workshops, you are unable to participate in the PETE Prize competition and you should not apply. Attendance in full is a non-negotiable requirement. Workshops are not held during Spring Recess.
The PETE Prize award winning team's business receives a seed investment of $30,000, which will only be issued to a corporation or limited liability company duly registered United States business entity. If the winning company is not formed in New York, as a condition of receiving the investment it will be required to register to do business within New York as a non-New York entity. The winning business entity will receive the $30,000 investment in the form of a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). A SAFE is a standard form of investment commonly used by seed and pre-seed stage companies and investors which allow investors to provide funds to a desirable company in exchange for the right to receive equity at a future date, which allows companies to get funding quickly and easily. You can read more about SAFE’s here.
Distribution of the award balance occurs as the winning team achieves business specific milestones, which are pre-approved by the DTech Lab within 30 days of the award announcement. The winning company receives $10,000 of their award upon the completed registration of the business entity and a clear articulation of the innovation incubator 1-year goal. $10,000 is awarded upon confirmation of product market fit, competitive market analysis, validation of target audience and establishing unmet need. The $10,000 balance is awarded upon creation of prototypes, development of the production and distribution plan, e-commerce implementation and completion of the live-shopping event production plan, as applicable. Business specific milestones will be developed within the first six (6) weeks of the Fall 2026 Innovation Incubator. If all requirements for the grand prize are not met within twelve (12) months of the award announcement, the award will be forfeited. All awards are subject to applicable taxes and withholdings. The winning team will be provided office space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, or such other location that may subsequently be made available to them. Possession of the office space is for a period not to exceed one year.
Judging panels are composed of a mix of investors and subject matter experts including venture capitalists, angel investors, academic experts, investment bankers, experienced entrepreneurs, and leaders from the business community. Applicants will be disqualified if they attempt to approach a judge, or have someone do that on their behalf, in connection with the competition. The decisions of the judges are final, including interpretation of the rules and allocation of prizes.
Following the Fall 2025 application period, up to twelve (12) teams are chosen to develop their business ideas while attending the workshop series and refining presentation decks. On April 15, 2026 the chosen teams present in the preliminary round, culminating in five teams chosen to compete for the grand prize. On May 7, the five finalist teams compete in the grand prize round and the winning team is announced at the PETE Prize Award Ceremony on May 14. The Innovation Incubator begins in Fall 2026 and runs for one year.
The evaluation criteria is a combination of the applicant’s personal qualities (passion, empathy, tenacity, enthusiasm), experience and vision (personal and professional), in combination with the articulation of a business proposal and demonstration of workshop learning. Eligible business concept proposals are for-profit only and focus on the creative industries, promoting FIT's core values of innovation, sustainability and diversity.
The evaluation criteria that the judges utilize for the grand prize pitches includes a multi-tiered approach applied to several topics including competition and market demand, customer base, market validation, value proposition, business purpose, financial and operational principles, for-profit revenue generation strategy, prototype development, pitch deck effectiveness, leadership and team growth.
