Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest

Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest

The Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest (GLEQ) is an organization that supports high-growth businesses in their early stages. This fall, entrepreneurs have the opportunity to submit their ideas to the GLEQ competition in one of three tracks: New Business Idea, Emerging Company, and Vision to Action Challenge.


According to the GLEQ website:


  • The New Business Idea category is typically for those ventures in a very early phase, which may or may not have been officially formed and are likely pre-revenue. The awards for New Business Idea are smaller cash prizes to the founders.

  • The Emerging Company and SmartZone Award categories, and all the industry-specific awards, are for ventures that are incorporated and the awards are unsecured microloans to the business entity and follow Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund guidelines.

  • The Vision to Action Challenge category is an excellent path for those entrepreneurs looking to gain clarity on Vision and develop Action plans that will assist in gaining traction, build practices for more stable growth and build partnerships. Recognition awardees receive media coverage and one-on-one assistance from experts.

Individuals and teams are eligible to compete if they have at least one team member who lives, works, or attends school in Michigan, are an existing company with an idea about how they can grow, are not a subsidiary, and have not been a previous GLEQ Finals Award winner.


Applications to GLEQ are due on Oct. 30, at 5pm. Final submissions are due by December 16, at 5pm. Awards will be presented at ACE’14 on January 30, 2014.


For more information on GLEQ, visit their website .