February 10, 2005
Finalists vie for $100,000 in campus business plan contest
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Finalists have been chosen to compete for $100,000 in prize money on Thursday (2/17) during Purdue University's 18th annual Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurial Competition.
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The 10 finalists will give 15-minute business plan presentations and then field 10 minutes of questions from the panel of professors and venture capitalist judges. The event begins at 8 a.m. in the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in Discovery Park, Room 121.
For the first time, finalists will compete in two divisions – gold, or open, primarily for teams with faculty, staff, graduate students and outsiders, such as alumni or area business people (a maximum of 20 percent); and black for wholly Purdue undergraduate teams, although these teams may have a faculty adviser. In both divisions, students must do the Feb. 17 presentations.
Prizes in the Gold Division are $30,000 for first place, $15,000 for second place, $10,000 for third place, $5,000 for fourth place and $2,000 for fifth. In the Black Division, prizes are $15,000 for first place, $10,000 for second place, $8,000 for third place, $3,000 for fourth place and $2,000 for fifth place.
Ice Miller is providing legal and business services for the top three finishers in the Gold Division – $5,000 for first, $3,000 for second and $2,000 for third. The Purdue Research Park is providing free office space for one year to the Gold Division winner.
The presentation times and finalist teams for the Black Division are:
• 8-8:25 a.m. – Co-Ed
• 8:30-8:55 a.m. – MxTech
• 9- 9:25 a.m. – RADware
• 9:30-9:55 a.m. – Wellne
• 10-10:25 a.m. – Xcion Scientific
The presentation times and finalist teams for the Gold Division are:
• 10:35-11 a.m. – Attosense
• 11:05-11:30 a.m. – Gestalt Technologies
• 11:35 to noon – HiFi Computing
• 12:05-12:30 p.m. – HVACR Automation Inc.
• 12:35-1 p.m. – Quadraspec
The panel of judges includes venture capitalists, as well as those from academia, the legal field and business.
The awards ceremony will take place at 2:30 p.m. in the entrepreneurship center, Room 102.
Don Blewett, associate director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, said teams will be judged on the basis of how well they define and present a clear path to market.
"The students have prepared themselves for the competition by attending the workshops we've presented," Blewett said. "Win, lose or draw, the students are getting a strong exposure to entrepreneurism that will serve them well in any career path.
"I tell people that entrepreneurship is the aggressive and creative application of standard principles of business – economics, strategy, finance, marketing, human resources and accounting. It's not new. Business startups need a business plan."
Richard A. Cosier, Krannert School dean and Leeds Professor of Management, is director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, which is sponsoring the competition. He said that the center's mission is integral to President Martin C. Jischke's vision of Purdue as driving the state's economy with new businesses and graduates who have an entrepreneurial outlook.
"Purdue has a long tradition in entrepreneurship thanks to the Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurial Competition," Cosier said. "It still represents the whole range of entrepreneurial activities we're developing at the entrepreneurship center – from encouraging our undergraduates to think entrepreneurially to helping our researchers go from discovery to market."
Writer: Mike Lillich, (765) 494-2077, mlillich@purdue.edu
Sources: Don Blewett, (765) 494-4485, blewett@mgmt.purdue.edu
Richard A. Cosier, (765) 494-4366, rcosier@mgmt.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: Photographers and videographers may cover the competition. Video b-roll and photographs of the winners will be available after the competition. To interview competition participants, administrators or judges in advance of the event, contact Mike Lillich, Purdue News Service, (765) 494-2077, mlillich@purdue.edu.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Matthew Campbell, chief operating officer of Iris AO, makes the winning presentation at Purdue's inaugural Life Sciences Business Plan Competition in April 2003. The Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurial Competition, now in its 18th year, is the first of three business plan competitions with total prize money of almost $500,000 sponsored by Purdue's entrepreneurship center in Discovery Park. The Feb. 17 competition this year for the first time features two divisions – one for undergraduate teams and one for graduate student-led teams. (Purdue University file photo/John Underwood)
A publication-quality file photograph of the Iris AO team is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2005/blewett.bmfinal05.jpg
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