Eligibility Quiz

Take this quick quiz to determine if you’re eligible.

Check Eligibility!

 

Eligibility Requirements

  • Contestants must be Queens-based entrepreneurs who meet ONE of the following criteria:
    1. You or one of your co-founders lives in Queens, OR
    2. Your business is located in Queens OR employs 50%+ of its workforce from Queens (If you’re a winner, you must continue to operate in Queens OR employ 50%+ of your workforce from Queens for one year), OR
    3. Your business is contributing to Queen’s economy significantly in some other way (Pre-approval is required. Please email us with the details of how your business is contributing to Queen’s economy before starting your application)
    4. You are a student(s) or a recent graduate (2021, 2022, 2023) of one of the following institution:
      • York College
      • Queens College
      • Queensborough Community College
      • LaGuardia Community College
      • Vaughn College of Aviation
      • Plaza Business Institute
      • Cornell Tech
      • St. John’s University
    5. You are a client in good standing of the Entrepreneur Space Incubator
    6. You are a graduates of QEDC’s 2023 EAC Cohort
  • Contestants must be 18 years of age or older and U.S. citizen or legal residents of the United States
  • Contestant business must be legally registered, located, and operating within the US
  • Contestants must be  tax-compliant and operating with up-to-date licenses and permits
  • Contestants must EITHER demonstrate sales (no more than 250K in revenue over the last 12 months) OR have tested the startup idea and are able to provide proofs of user testing or customer feedback
  • Real estate businesses, franchises, affiliate marketing, multi-level marketing, and not-for-profit businesses are not eligible to participate in this Challenge.
  • People who have won a previous Queens Tech + Innovation Challenge are not eligible to enter again.
  • Make sure you attend a minimum of 4 events (workshop + in-person all count) between October 3, 2023 to February 28, 2024. You can find out about upcoming events on our Events page. Recorded events are in our Video Library.
  • Please make sure you read the Disbursement of Funds page before starting an application. All winners need to submit the required documents in order to receive funds.

 

Disclaimer

The Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) holds the right to disqualify any individual or team entrants as we deem appropriate. All conflicts of interest, questions, or unknowns should be disclosed as soon as possible to QEDC staff in order to avoid disqualification. Any information withheld from QEDC staff that is susceptible to being disqualified will result in automatic expulsion of the competition. All final decisions will made at the discretion of the executive director.

×