Jan. 30-March 6: Students prepare for business contest

Castles-80PULLMAN, Wash. – Student preparation for the 12th Annual Business Plan Competition April 25-26 will include weekly “resource nights,” starting this month, hosted by the Washington State University College of Business.

The competition allows student entrepreneurs and future business owners to practice business in a real-world setting, showcase their business acumen and network with industry professionals. The keynote kickoff by Dan Castles (’78 finance), president and chief executive officer of Telestream Inc., will be at 12:50 p.m. Friday, April 25, in the CUB auditorium.

biz-contest-400Competition registration deadlines and details are available at www.business.wsu.edu/
businessplan
competition2014
, or contact Marie Mayes, director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, at mmayes@wsu.edu.

Resource nights, open to the public, will be 6-8 p.m. Thursdays in the Marriott Hospitality Teaching Center in Todd Addition 268. They will include:

Jan. 30: Keys to success, Carol Ann Sears, former vice president of financial development at Washington Mutual.

Feb. 6: Ideas and opportunities, Larry Gross, president of Relay Application Inc.

Feb. 13: Social media and marketing, Ryan Lockwood, director of knowledge management-advanced enterprise solutions at AT&T.

Feb. 20: Legal, Dave Divine, partner at Lee & Hayes.

Feb. 27: Financial, Tom Simpson, managing partner at Northwest Venture Associates, and Bill Skavdahl, branch manager and vice president at American West Bank.

March 6: Insights from past business plan competition teams.

 

Contacts:

Sue McMurray, WSU College of Business, 509-335-7578, sue.mcmurray@wsu.edu

Marie Mayes, WSU College of Business, 509-335-5628, mmayes@wsu.edu