Top Prize of $25,000 Will Be Awarded to Winning Team in March
Acting President David Harris and ASM Dean Chuck Crespy announced the second annual University-wide technology business plan competition, with a top prize of $25,000, at a special kick-off for students recently. Student teams from across the campus will compete in a business plan contest that will end with high-stakes presentations in front of real venture capital pros.
Last year’s competition featured plans from 17 teams from a broad range of majors, including fine arts, chemistry, law, business, computer science, and economics. The first place winners, Ryan Smith and Scott Lovald of Satyrne Biotechnologies, are in the process of executing on their winning plan, with significant help from the business community garnered at the April 2006 competition event.
The competition is sponsored by the ASM, and professors from the schools work with business leaders to provide a series of seminars to help students prepare their entries.
According to Sul Kassicieh, Anderson’s associate dean for Economic Development and Research, the sessions will include, “Company structure, tax issues, market research, financial planning, venture capital, and more. We provide a high level of support for the teams in the competition, including one-on-one mentoring, and expect great things from UNM students.”
Full-time UNM students from any discipline are invited to enter the competition, and while the focus is on technology, according to Crespy, the judges will take a broad view of the term.
“A team comprised of music majors and computer science majors and business majors might come up with something unexpected that doesn’t necessarily fit the standard definition of ‘technology,’ said Crespy. "We hope to see plans that surprise us, and that could potentially lead to the next business phenomenon.”
Corporate sponsors for the competition include American Property Management Corp., Technology Ventures Corporation/Lockheed Martin, vSpring Capital, Brownstein Hyatt & Farber, Grant Thornton LLC, the New Mexico Venture Capital Association, and Wasatch Venture Fund.
Complete rules for the competition are available online at the Anderson Schools’ Web site at: Technology Business Plan rules. The deadline to submit a binding intention to present is Nov. 15, 2006, while business plan entries are due March 22, 2007.
Media Contacts: Sophie Martin, (505) 277-7117; e-mail: martin@mgt.unm.edu or Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821; e-mail: scarr@unm.edu
Posted by scarr at October 3, 2006 05:14 PM