Imagine Cup 2014 Korea Top 20 Orientation - Special Session "Winning Imagine Cup" by Youngbu Park, Imagine Cup 2009 Egypt World Final Embedded Winner

1. Winning Imagine Cup
Young Bu Park (park.youngbu@hotmail.com)
Software Development Engineer
Operating System Engineering Group

2. Imagine Cup is …
Imagine Cup offers a market where you sell your products
 Your product will be evaluated by various factors including technology, marketing, sales, etc
A team participating in Imagine cup is a kind of the FRESH STARTUP Company
Microsoft and its DPE(Developer & Platform Evangelism) host Imagine Cup
 Microsoft is one of the commercial companies to deliver Windows, Office, Server, Devices, and the related service/platform
 DPE is nurturing a vibrant technical community of students, startups, developers, IT professionals and independent software
vendors to build commercial and consumer applications on the Microsoft platform
Imagine Cup is one of the marketing tools to deliver Microsoft products to the students
 Microsoft can evangelize their products to the students who will be the future customers
 Student can get the great experience to visit other country, earn the money, etc.

3. …so, how can we prepare for Imagine cup?
Remind that your team is a start-up company
Make the strong strategy to win the competition
Do not use the other companies’ technologies or products
Find an imaginative problem and its solution which have a clear value proposition
Build a production-level product with a fascinated design which everyone want to love and buy!
Record all activities such as regular meeting notes, marketing strategy, development specs, open issues,
etc. on Microsoft OneNote and share it with all your members

4. Judging Criteria - Innovation
Criteria
Description
Weighting
Concept
• Does the project have a clear target market or audience?
• Does the project address a clear need, problem, or opportunity and is the solution clearly explained?
• Is the project’s purpose and basic functionality easily understood?
15%
Innovation
• Does the project create a new category of product or service?
• If there are similar products or services on the market, does the project clearly and meaningfully innovate beyond those existing
products or services?
• Does the project present a new and meaningfully improved way of accomplishing something?
• Does the project include innovations in user experience?
• Does the project include innovations in technical design and/or implementation?
50%
Execution
•
•
•
•
Is the project easy to use?
Does the project have a professional degree of production in terms of user interface, visuals, and audio?
Does the project perform well and respond crisply to input?
Does the project make effective and appropriate use of the major features of its chosen platform(s)? Were there significant
platform features or even platforms the project could have benefitted from but failed to utilize?
20%
Feasibility
• Does the team have a credible plan for getting their project to market in terms of business model, any required partnerships or
licenses, or other factors?
• Does the team have any form of external validation for their project such as customer surveys, focus group tests, an active betatest program, recommendations from subject-matter experts, or potential investors?
• Does the project have a reasonable chance of success in its appropriate market given the team’s existing plan?
15%

5. Judging Criteria - Games
Criteria
Description
Weighting
Concept
• Does the game have a clear target market or audience?
• Does the game present a clear and attractive concept of who you are, what you are doing, and why you are doing it?
• Is the game’s core gameplay understandable and appealing?
15%
Fun
•
•
•
•
•
Is the game exciting to play?
Is there good player feedback?
Is the game appropriately challenging?
Does the player want to keep coming back for more?
Does the game deliver appealing innovation in gameplay, storytelling, art direction, or other areas?
50%
Execution
•
•
•
•
Is the game easy to learn and use? Does it have good usability features such as player help, tutorials, and game pause?
Does the game have a professional degree of production in terms of user interface, art, music, and sound?
Does the game perform well and respond crisply to input?
Does the game make effective and appropriate use of the major features of its chosen platform(s)? Were there significant
platform features or even platforms the project could have benefitted from but failed to utilize?
20%
Feasibility
• Does the team have a credible plan for getting their game to market in terms of business model, any required partnerships or
licenses, or other factors?
• Does the team have any form of external validation for their game such as customer surveys, focus group tests, an active beta-test
program, recommendations from subject-matter experts, or potential investors?
• Does the game have a reasonable chance of success in its appropriate market given the team’s existing plan?
15%

6. Judging Criteria – World Citizenship
Criteria
Description
Weighting
Concept
• Does the project have a clear target market or audience?
• Does the project address a clear need, problem, or opportunity and is the solution clearly explained?
• Is the project’s purpose and basic functionality easily understood?
15%
Impact
• Does the project address a problem that is genuinely making life harder for people?
• How large is the scope of the project:
◦ How widespread is the problem geographically?
◦ How large is the population affected by the problem?
◦ How severe is the problem’s effects on life?
◦ How well is the problem already being addressed?
• Does the project address the problem in a new or improved way instead of duplicating already existing technologies or
efforts?
• Does the project and/or the team inspire hope, curiosity, or passion that could lead to strong partnerships and higher awareness?
• How knowledgeable is the team about the problem they are addressing and how persuasively do they tell the story of that problem
and their solution?
50%
Execution
•
•
•
•
Feasibility
• Does the team have a credible plan for getting their project to market in terms of business model, any required partnerships or
licenses, or other factors?
• Does the team have any form of external validation for their project such as customer surveys, focus group tests, an active betatest program, recommendations from subject-matter experts, or potential investors?
• Does the project have a reasonable chance of success in its appropriate market given the team’s existing plan?
Is the project easy to use?
Does the project have a professional degree of production in terms of user interface, visuals, and audio?
Does the project perform well and respond crisply to input?
Does the project make effective and appropriate use of the major features of its chosen platform(s)? Were there significant
platform features or even platforms the project could have benefitted from but failed to utilize?
20%
15%

7. PART I
Problem &
Solution
Business &
Marketing
strategy
Technology
Presentation
PREPARATION FOR
IMAGINECUP

8. 0: Problem & Solution
Key points: clear target market or audience/clear need, problem, or opportunity/purpose and basic
functionality easily understood
Define an interesting problem




A problem which has a clear value proposition
A exciting problem which other people has never thought about
A normal problem, anyone can understand and share the same things in their minds and lives
A problem which has been drawn from the members’ experiences
Find and design solution
 A creative solution to resolve the problem and find the meaningfully improved way
 A solution which can clearly resolve the problem with the technology/platform of Microsoft
Must include the proof from the materials which the credible institutions/companies/researchers produ
ced to define problem and find solution

9. 1: Technology
Key points: easy to use/professional degree of production/make effective and appropriate use of the ma
jor features
Use Microsoft technology! Imagine Cup is held by Microsoft
Use the appropriate technologies to the features of your product
 Don’t use a heavy or complicated technology to your product
Use Microsoft Devices (Kinect, Windows Phone) or the device which your team made if possible
Do not save a money for designing your product, including presentation, UI/UX, etc, by the outsourcing
Develop your software at the beta level
 Unless you have enough time, develop your software and hardware at the level of POC where all basic features work well

10. 2: Business & Marketing
Key points: credible plan for getting their project to market/external validation/reasonable chance of
success
Build a business model to sell your product
 Learn from the successful business model, no perfect business model
 Develop business model and then expect the market by using the number which can persuade people who judge and buy your
product
 Can find a way to earn the money even if your product helps a poor people
Provide market analysis
 Demonstrate a depth of understanding of the market analysis: competitors, alternative approaches, distribution, promotion
and pricing
 Obtain the recommendation about your products from the credible institutions and experts
 Tell the exact number and graph to prove that your product will be succeeded

11. 3: Presentation – Tips
Make the power point deck based on all notes recorded on Microsoft OneNote
Do not include your resumes
 The time which you will get is too short to introduce and sell your products!
Make your judges fun
 Judges may be almost dying due to the schedule
Let people who don’t have the deep background of your product understand your products
 You couldn’t get more credits if the judges would not be able to understand what your presentation is saying…
 Complicated formulas and diagrams of your algorithms and architectures should be removed or simplified
Predict the questions your judges would ask in Q&A session
Add some words of praise for Microsoft products which will soften the Judges up
 E.g. The technologies of Microsoft can realize your dreams and goals in your product
Consider the dress codes of all members on the final round, particularly the main presenter

12. 3: Presentation - Demo
Do not use the video for the demo on the final presentation
Must build the test environment in your booth to have people experience your product
 Advertise your product while giving people a chance to use your product
 You can get a job interview chance from Redmond
Participate your judges into your demo
Check that your environment and your product are working well whenever having a spare time until the
final presentation

13. 3: Presentation – Q&A
Q&A is the most important session in the competition
Use the notes which your team member wrote in Microsoft Office OneNote
Predict the questions Judges could ask to you while preparing the presentation deck
List up the predictable questionnaires on the content slide of the presentation deck
 Make their view narrow which could focus on the specific area
Prepare the fully detailed explanations for the simplified/removed formulas and diagrams
Do not run the Visual studio to show the source code
 Prepare the power point slides to explain the basic concepts of the features of your product
 Write several tiny software in the presentation to explain your major features by predicting judges’ questions

14. - Simplify or remove the
complicated formulas and
diagrams of your
algorithms/architectures
- Build marketing model
with the market analysis:
competitors, alternative
approaches, distribution,
promotion and pricing
- Get a quote from
credible institutions/wellknown company/experts
- Simulate your marketing
model
Demo & Wrap up
- Offer a clear value prop
for your problem/solution
by providing appropriate
data from the credible
institutions/experts to
back up yours
- Show how to resolve the
problem with Microsoft
technology
How to sell your product
- Tell your story with your
real experience to bring up
your problem and make
the judges realize that “this
is the PROBLEM”
Solution using MS Tech
Introduction
3: Presentation – Wrap up
- Perform the real demo,
not video, to the judges
- Let the judges
participated in your
presentation
- Show the real result from
your products
- Wrap up
 Add some comments in the presentation where the technologies of Microsoft can realize your dream and goals
in your product  Some words of praise for their products will soften the Judges up
 Remind that Microsoft and its DPE host Imagine Cup

15. PART II
WORLD FINAL
ON REDMOND, SEATTLE

16. On Redmond, Seattle – Final Competition
Before the competition
 Revise the power point deck by the judges’ backgrounds
 Investigate the backgrounds of the judges who will review your presentation
 Rehearsal
 Check the status of the environments on the competition place
e.g. Network
 Run and test your product on the competition environment several times
 Prepare the materials which can advertise your products
 One-Page proposal, Posters, business card, …
On the Competition
 Remind that you are the only one representative of South Korea
 Show your teamwork to the judges; participate all members
in the presentation and demo
 Do not fight each other during the competition period

17. Teamwork
Members:
 Collaborate each other, but do not fight frequently which could break the team up
 Criticize the results which other members produce by adding comments on OneNote
 A main presenter must understand everything even though he/she doesn’t have a deep background of technical and marketing
things; otherwise, memorize all things
Mentors:
 Mentor is one of the team members
 Be not only a technical advisor, but also a mediator