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Student Finalists Announced for FORTUNE SMALL BUSINESS Competition; Student Showdown Finalists to Compete for the Top Three Prizes in September
NEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- Aug. 22, 2005 -- FORTUNE SMALL BUSINESS today announced five teams as finalists in the FSB Student Showdown, FORTUNE Small Business's national business plan competition for students. The top ranked team will receive a $35,000 prize from contest sponsor SAP America Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP), the world's leading provider of business software solutions. The second place team will receive $10,000 and the third place team will receive $5,000. The winners will be revealed in the November issue of FORTUNE Small Business magazine.
The finalists are:
Bigfoot Networks, Inc., a company from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin that has devised a technology to improve the speed and performance of online games
FibrinX, a team from the Wharton School of Business that is developing a proprietary wound sealant
LicketyShip, a company that aims to provide same-day delivery of online purchases. It was started as a partnership between students at University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business and undergraduate program and Yale University's graduate program
NeuroLife, a startup from the David A. Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University that makes a noninvasive monitor designed to help in the early detection of brain injury and disease
PrepMe Corp., an online test preparation company created by students from Stanford University, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and University of Michigan
"The competition this year was intense, and the 11 teams that battled it out in the semi-finals were outstanding," said contest organizer Elaine Pofeldt, a senior editor at FORTUNE Small Business magazine. "The judges faced many tough decisions in narrowing down the list to five finalists."
The judges selected the five teams of finalists based on the credibility, clarity and presence of a student who delivered a 10-minute synopsis of its business plan in the semi-final round of the contest on August 10. To make it to the semi-final round, a team had to submit its business plan to the contests' judges, who evaluated it based on the strength of the management team, viability of the plan and thoroughness of the plan.
"All of the candidates embody entrepreneurship at its best," said Michael Sotnick, senior vice president, Small and Midsize Enterprises, SAP America. "Our support of this contest stems from our belief that entrepreneurial spirit can be found at the heart of every best-run business and these finalists are representative of the best small businesses of the future."
This year's entries came from the nation's top business and entrepreneurship schools, including Babson, Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Stanford, University of Chicago, University of Georgia, Wharton and many other private and state universities. Participation jumped to 82 teams from 66 schools submitting entries to the competition, an increase from last year, when FSB received 58 entries from 45 schools.
The finalists will move on to the final round of the competition on September 13. In the final round, a student from each team will field challenging questions on the team's business plan from a competing team and the judges will choose the overall winners.
The FSB Student Showdown is a search for the best business plans created on the nation's campuses. To enter, a team must win the business plan competition at its school or another university-based business plan contest. If the first place team from an eligible competition didn't enter the FSB Student Showdown, the second place team could participate, and so forth.
The judges in the competition include Philip L. Bronner, partner at Novak Biddle Venture Partners; Verne Harnish, CEO of Gazelles, Inc.; Kay Koplovitz, principal of Koplovitz & Co. LLC; Andrew Sherman, partner at Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky; Jeff Sloan, founder and principal of Startup Nation; Richard Sloan, founder and principal of Startup Nation; Michael Sotnick, senior vice president, SAP America, Inc.; Stephen Watkins, chairman and CEO of Entrex; and Ann Winblad, co-founding partner of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.
FORTUNE Small Business:
FSB: FORTUNE Small Business is the premier magazine for owners of successful, growing small companies. It appears 10 times a year. Each issue provides hard-hitting, timely, informative coverage of the most-dynamic segment of the U.S. economy. FSB is edited and published by Time Inc., and is distributed in partnership with OPEN: The Small Business Network from American Express. FSB is delivered to 1 million owners and partners of small businesses and is also available on newsstands at major airports and bookstores nationwide. Time Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner.
SAP:
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software solutions*. Today, more than 28,200 customers in over 120 countries run more than 96,400 installations of SAP(R) software--from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize enterprises to suite solutions for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver(R) platform to drive innovation and enable business change, mySAP(TM) Business Suite solutions are helping enterprises around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP industry solutions support the unique business processes of more than 25 industry segments, including high tech, retail, public sector and financial services. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at http://www.sap.com)
(*) SAP defines business software solutions as comprising enterprise resource planning and related software solutions such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.
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