Welcome to IDEAcorps 2025!

Congratulations on being selected as a team for the 2025 IDEAcorps MBA Consulting Challenge, presented by Dr. Bobby and Lori Kent Savoie! IDEAcorps is an immersive case competition unlike any other. Over the next six weeks, your team will work remotely with a startup local to the New Orleans area to develop a robust scale-up strategy. Below, you'll find resources, videos, materials, and worksheets that will guide you in your consulting sessions with your client company.

Accomodations

We have reserved a block of rooms at the Hilton in Downtown New Orleans - this location will act as the homebase for the weekend, and will be where any transportation to and from events picks up/drops off team members. You can book your room or rooms at the special IDEAcorps rate by visiting this link.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please book by Friday, February 21 to receive the special IDEAcorps rate. Transportation to and from all events will be provided from this location as needed.

IDEAcorps Instructional Materials

MIssed the kickoff meeting on January 29th? Watch the recording of the Zoom call here, and check out the deck with all the info here.

The following materials are divided into five sections:

Worksheets + Documents
Consulting
Minority Business Challenges
Scale-Up Strategy
Startup Methodology

Each section features links to several documents, articles, and embedded videos that will guide your consulting practices and the development of your scale-up strategy and pitch.

Questions? Contact Sam McCabe, Center Director (gsmccabe@loyno.edu) or Farah Wells, Program Coordinator (fmwells@loyno.edu)

Worksheets + Documents

The following worksheets and rubrics should be used as a guide for building your team's scale-up strategy for your client. The Discovery Worksheet should be utilized during the orientation meeting and subsequent discovery meetings to fully understand the scope of your partner company. The suggested Scaling Topics are possible directions for your team's scale-up strategy, and the Scaling Rubric is the exact rubric judges will use to score your scale-up strategy at the final pitch in New Orleans on Sunday, March 10th.

Additionally, each team must submit a Weekly Client Report to ensure teams are keeping up with the program. Reminders will be sent on Tuesday mornings to MBA team leaders.

Documents are provided below. Questions? Contact Sam McCabe at gsmccabe@loyno.edu.

Google Doc: Scaling Topics

Google Docs: Discovery Worksheet

Google Doc: Scaling Rubric

Google Doc: Weekly Client Report