Hundreds of entries are in, but there is still room for local businesses and prospective entrepreneurs to enter Grow America Springboard before the Round 1 deadline of April 6, 12:00 midnight MDT.  Entrants submit their information entirely online, via www.growam.com. The time it takes to enter is typically 20-30 minutes. Entrance is free and requires only the submittal of an executive summary; however entrants can login to revise and strengthen their entries as many times as they like until the April 6 deadline for Round 1.  

For entrants wanting help completing their executive summaries, Grow America’s Richard Swart is providing a panel of experts who will be available Tuesday, April 3, 7:00 p.m., at the Zions Bank Founder’s Room, One S. Main, 18^th Floor. http://bit.ly/HyHm9f 

Grow America Springboard, launched by Alan E. Hall with the help of regional partners, is providing $1,000,000 in cash awards and resources over the course of three events in 2012 and a Utah state championship in January 2013. 

Entrepreneurs can enter all three 2012 competitions; however a business can win only one time in a year. Winners are automatically enrolled in the January championship. 

The initial competition will culminate in a pitch event at Utah’s Salt Palace on May 21, 2012. Grow America will name finalists and winners in three business categories: Idea Category (Concept), Start-up Category (Emerging Business), and Ramp-up Category (Growth). 

“Every entrepreneurial company – including established companies that are in a high growth phase – is eligible to participate in Springboard,” said the program and company’s founder, Alan E. Hall. “Above all, this is a program to support the health and strength of our regional businesses and to support the creation of additional jobs.” 

“Participation in the Springboard competition gives Ivinex the venue to accelerate hiring to keep pace with Ivinex’s high growth needs,” said Derek Miner, CEO of CRM company Ivinex, an entrant in the Ramp-Up (growth) category of the May competition event. 

 “Of all the initiatives to make it easier for companies to emerge, grow and obtain funding, our objective is to create a program with real results and immediate traction,” Hall continued. “We would like to expand this program to every community, throughout the U.S. and eventually to other countries and even the world.”

To date the founding partners of Grow America Springboard include: Zions Bank, Comcast Business Class, Comcast Spotlight, KUTV2, Utah Jazz and KJZZ-TV.To enter the competition, go to http://growam.com.