WSU News Archive

By Sue McMurray, College of Business

 

Business Plan Competition students converse with Ronan Fitzgerald, left, managing director, and David Bolton, academic dean, of Switzerland’s Cesar Ritz Colleges.

PULLMAN, Wash. - Student entrepreneurs and future business owners showcased their budding business acumen at the annual Washington State University Business Plan Competition April 20.

 

Forty-six teams presented their plans to a panel of judges from the business community, with the winning teams sharing cash and prizes totaling $150,000.

 

The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Department of Management, Information Systems and Entrepreneurship in the College of Business organized the event.

 

"Participants practice integrating business concepts they’ve learned prior to the competition;” said Saonee Sarker, chair of the Department of Management, Information and Entrepreneurship, "for example, how to plan for and launch a new venture and how to work with others. They also work directly with and learn from the judges, who are successful entrepreneurs in their various fields.

 

"We expect to see more and more students, both at the university and high-school levels, and community members take advantage of this extraordinary experience,” she said.
 
Prior to the one-day event in Pullman, teams from the college’s international campuses in Brig, Switzerland, and Chengdu, China, held preliminary competitions judged by WSU faculty and International Advisory Board members. Two teams from Switzerland and one team from China traveled to Pullman to participate in the main event.

 

WSU leagues included both undergraduate and graduate teams, with participants from campuses in Pullman, Tri-cities and Spokane, as well as distance degree students and the college’s international campuses in Switzerland and China. For the fourth time, the competition included a high school league, consisting of teams from Pullman, Sammamish and Mead high schools.

 

This is the seventh year that the competition included an open league, sponsored by the Port of Whitman.

 

WSU teams gave a 15-minute presentation followed by an intense 15-minute question and answer session by the judges, while the high school and open league teams gave a 15-minute presentation followed by a 20-minute question and feedback session.

 

The panel of 48 judges included members of the business community; entrepreneurs from successfully launched businesses; those who are participating in an innovative business; venture capitalists; angel investors; and bankers. Judges based their evaluations on the following criteria: quality of the team; quality of the concept; quality of the written plan; quality of the presentation; and whether they would invest in the idea.

 

A gala awards ceremony concluded the event, followed by a reception sponsored by Washington Trust Bank for judges and event organizers.

 

 

First place: SORGENTO
Members: Lauren Curtis, Amanda Granberg, Val Sias, Kerri Spangenberg

Second place: WATERWORKS, INC.
Member: Bobby Rubalcaba

Third place: VIRTUAL VENTILATOR ICU
Members: Sarah Dunn, Francis Griffey, Jason Jaffe, Kelsey Knutson

 

First Place: Washington State Hypersonics
Members: Jason Kingshott, Julie Rausch, Maren Swanson, Chelsea Wendt

Second Place: Eyes in the Sky
Members: Connor Cavigli, Angela Gallip, Michael Pregent, Zander Thiele

 

First place: TRIBOTEX
Members: Katherine Ham, Pavlo Rudenko

Second place: CRIMSON ACCOUNTING. LLC
Members: Farid Askerov, Brad Dawes

 

First place: Grandma Lela’s Confectionary Company
Members: Kathy Stilwell, Cheryl Waller

Second place: Hammond Farm Innovations
Member: Enoch Hicks

Third place: Poppy, an Eco-Friendly Salon
Members: Chelsea Whitney, Kirstyn Tozer

Fourth place: UX Metrix
Member: Steve Teare

 

First place: NELSON’S TOUCH
Member: Matt Nelson

Second place: TOREE BOUTZ BRUSH COLLECTION
Member: Toree Boutz

Third place: ATLAS ACADEMICS
Members: Nicholas Phillips, Elisabeth Arnold, Alexander Honn

 

Additional awards were also given to the following teams:

Best Presenter: Virtual Ventilator ICU; Cody Nelson from Barnacle International Advisers LLC; Pavlo Rudenko from TriboTeX; Ignacio Zamora from Hotel Solution Technologies; Patrick Kramer from Spirocentive; Brandon Mendoza from Green to Market; Jason Kingshott from Washington State Hypersonics.

 

Most Passionate Entrepreneur: RE.M. Accessories; Barnacle International Advisers LLC; Apple-A-Day; Waterworks; Cool Beans.

 

Best Green Team: TriboTeX; Waterworks; Buoyant Energy; Green to Market; Cycle Box

 

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