Purdue News
Purdue News
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February 18, 2000 Techno-entrepreneurs compete to launch start-upsWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Fledgling entrepreneurs, at the ready with high-tech products and ambitious business plans, are squaring off in the 13th Annual Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurial Competition at Purdue University. The winners walk away not only with $20,000 but also expert support, office space and other start-up resources to take their products to market. The finals of the competition, which are free and open to the public, will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 4, in the Krannert Auditorium. The seven judges are venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. The winners will be announced later that evening. All Purdue students – undergraduate and graduate – are eligible to participate in the event. Non-students can also be team members, but students must make the final presentations to the judges. The competition is sponsored by Purdue alumnus and entrepreneur Burton D. Morgan, the Krannert School of Management, the Purdue Schools of Engineering and the School of Science. In addition to the $20,000 first-place prize, there is a $5,000 second prize, a $2,000 third prize, a $1,000 fourth-place prize and a $500 fifth-place prize. "The students have been preparing for nine months," said Shailendra R. Mehta, Purdue's director of the Entrepreneurship Initiative. "What the competition offers is a structured process of thinking about an idea." Mehta said the number of participants this year is up to 173 (from 120 last year and 65 two years ago) in teams of one to seven members. Students can advertise on the Burton Morgan Web site to find what business would call "synergies." For example, an electrical engineering student with a product idea could post a request for marketing help. The finals consist of the top five products and business and marketing plans. Presentations take a maximum of 45 minutes. One of last year's winners, a computer software program that allows users to run computer software with only an Internet browser, has attracted $3 million in research money, Mehta said. Another, a software program for road construction scheduling, has been sold and is in beta testing. Mehta said he thinks that several of this year's finalists have promising commercial potential, too. The competition, Mehta stressed, is not just an academic exercise that ends with the presentation of the check. "The goal is very successful, technology-based, start-up businesses," he said. Source: Shailendra R. Mehta, (765) 494-5703; mehta@mgmt.purdue.edu Writer: Mike Lillich, (765) 494-2077; mlillich@purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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