A portable nail polish creator, an eco-friendly vacuum cleaner and a laptop controlled by one’s brain were part of FAU’s second annual Business Plan Competition.
Held on April 16 by the College of Business’s Adams Center for Entrepreneurship, the competition featured 16 teams with different ideas for a business. While interesting business plans were in the competition, eight of the 16 finalists ultimately won a combined total of $75,800 in cash and prizes as well as experience in starting a business.
The two categories of this year’s competition were businesses that did not exist yet (Pre-Revenue Track) and businesses that had already been established and were making money (Revenue Track).
The first-place winner of the Pre-Revenue Track category was Slicket Ticket, touted as “the world’s first and only stock market for event tickets” by their executive summary. Tickets that would be up for auction would include events like sporting events and concerts. If launched, the service will allow ticket buyers to bid on tickets, ticket sellers to sell to the highest bidder, and both parties to negotiate deals with each other.
Representing Slicket Ticket at the competition was CEO and Chairman Jeffrey Gray, David Gray and Hayden Trepeck. The team won a total of $17,500 in cash and services.
Trepeck, an MBA candidate at FAU and president of the Entrepreneur Club, said that the competition helped him apply what he had learned in class to starting a business.
The first-place winner of the Revenue Track category was Off the Quad, a free service that sends e-mail notifications about local events and bars to its college student subscribers. Its service is funded through advertisements. CEO and Founder David Rich received $17,500 in cash and services.
Rich was glad to have participated in the competition. “[The Business Plan Competition] forced me to zero-in on the process of starting and running a business, and not just the startup.”
Two new prizes awarded this year were the Tech Award and People’s Choice Award.
The Tech Award consists of a workshop with a group of advisers to help the winning team in their venture. The award also includes a six-month occupancy of office space on FAU’s Boca campus to help their business grow.
According to the Business Plan Competition’s Web site, to qualify for this award the winning team must have a “technology product and/or service,” a prototype, and a high chance of needing funding. The award is valued at $5,000.
The winner of the Tech Award was PsyGineering, a Pre-Revenue Track team that was represented by engineering majors Timothy Buker, Arthur Rozenbaum and Stephen Jass. PsyGineering’s product is a device that one wears on their head to control another device with their thoughts. The device is intended for the disabled.
The People’s Choice Award is awarded to the business team that best delivers a persuasive pitch in 90 seconds.
Winning the People’s Choice Award was Vruum, a Pre-Revenue Track team represented by Joseph Duff, Lauren Mauzy, Ravindra Mahanand, Erkin Ulku and Alexander Schneider. Their product, Vruum9000 — priced at $99.99 — is meant to scrub, vacuum and mop at the same time. Their prize was a 60-day public relations campaign provided by PR group RedLetter.
In addition to the physical prizes, the teams also gained some experience in creating a business plan and following through on it.
Off the Quad’s David Rich, for example, explained his thoughts on the process of starting a business. “The key is, there are ups and downs, but you keep talking to people about what you want to do [and] get advice from everyone you can.”
To learn more about FAU’s Business Plan Competition, visit www.faubpc.com.
