The Best and Brightest Student Entrepreneurs Compete for $20,000
The Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship at the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business plays matchmaker for aspiring entrepreneurs and potential investors through its annual business plan competition--the New Venture Championship. The tenth annual contest gives budding entrepreneurs the educational opportunity to formulate and present their business concepts to a distinguished panel of judges and an audience of successful entrepreneurs, business people, and potential investors.
The competition featured twenty teams from top national and international graduate business schools competing head-to-head for over $20,000 in prizes. The New Venture Championship distinguishes itself as the premier student business plan competition in the nation by providing excellent confidential feedback to all the student teams from an unrivaled panel of judges.
"The educational opportunities available to the students at the New Venture Championship are unparalleled by the other top business plan competitions around the country," says Lundquist Center director Randy Swangard. "The reputation and quality of our judges, as well as the excellence and professionalism of the teams enables us to set the standard."
Final round judges included: Greg Alderson, group manager, Microsoft; Tim Boyle, president and CEO, Columbia Sportswear; Kirby Dyess, director of new business development, Intel; James Johnson, vice president, technology and manufacturing, Intel; Gwen Lillis, managing general partner, Castle Rock Investments; and Richard Ward, vice president, America OnLine.
A team of Lundquist College of Business M.B.A. students presented their plan for Good Company, a seal of approval firm that certifies businesses based on social and environmental standards. The Good Company team also competed against twenty-eight teams from around the world at the Moot Corp. International Business Plan Competition at the University of Texas at Austin, placing in the top fifteen. Good Company plans to develop a set of standards by which to identify socially and environmentally conscious companies, then audit and certify those that qualify.
Teams from the University of Portland and the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology rounded out this years Pacific Northwest entries. Other teams which competed represented Boise State; Duke; Georgia Institute of Technology; Indiana; Loyola Marymount; Pennsylvania State; Purdue; San Diego State; Tulane; University of Arizona; University of Denver; University of Georgia; University of Louisville; University of Manitoba; University of Tennessee; University of Texas, Austin; and University of Wisconsin.
Sponsors of the event included Intel, Columbia Management Co., Edward Lowe Foundation, Blue Star Gas, the Business Journal of Portland, Oregon University System, SRG Partnership, Bit-by-Bit Computer Rentals, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Holce Investments, JMW Capital Partners, Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum, Palo Alto Software, Software Association of Oregon, STEP, Thin Air Design, Umpqua Bank, United Airlines, and Validity Systems.