[alain94040]

It would look pretty much like YC actually:

You have 3 months. Go build something that people want. Figure it out as you go. Iterate, refine.

To be fair, you have to think of business plan competitions as a teaching tool for students. You don't tell a CS student to go out and write an operating system on day 1. You teach them structure first.

The same can be said with those competitions. It's a way to force students to think about all the issues of starting a business or launching a product, without actually doing it.

Personally, I'm on the DIY camp. I learn better by doing. But you need a bit of both.