High Growth Tech Start-Up:
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THE RESULTS ARE IN!!!
The winners of the 2008 Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Business Plan Competition are:
Presto Wireless
1st Place, Overall Competition
Coach: Craig Jack
Team Members: Matt Knebl, Aric Plumley, Andrew Monteabaro, Anil Sharma, Vishal Kanodia, Shankara Raghuraman
WANZO
2nd Place, Overall Competition
Coach: Goran Matijasevic Team Members: Rania Nasis, Mark Merlo, Nick Gunn, Sean McLean
Adball
3rd Place, Overall Competition
Team Members: Karim El Defrawy, Karl Ring, Michael Sirivianos, Minas Gjoka, Nayana Wagle
Presto Wireless
Best Concept Paper, Overall Competition
Coach: Craig Jack
Team Members: Matt Knebl, Aric Plumley, Andrew Monteabaro, Anil Sharma, Vishal Kanodia, Shankara Raghuraman
I’m 2 Young for This
Wild Card, Tech Coast Angels Seed Financing Invitational
Coach: Mark Roeske
Team Members: William Rietkerk, Kathryn Jaeger, Ramin Rahimian, Luis Mariscal, Becky Horner
MenuSwap.com
Wild Card, Tech Coast Angels Seed Financing Invitational
Coach: Alan Simon
Team Members: Alex Hammerschmidt, Gordon Khoo, Faris Moalmi, Richard Cimino
Adball
OC Register People’s Choice Poll
Team Members: Karim El Defrawy, Karl Ring, Michael Sirivianos, Minas Gjoka, Nayana Wagle
Chapterboard
1st Place, Undergraduate Division
Coach: Bram Govaar
Team Members: Blake Lucchesi, William Chae, Rohan Roy
NextStage
2nd Place Undergraduate Division
Coach: Jack McSunas
Team Members: Daniel Duhaime, Tiger Cai, Ronaldo Villalon, Steven Kim, Mark Vasquez
Irvine Biometrics Company
3rd Place, Undergraduate Division
Coach: Ben McCulloch
Team Members: Shao-Ping (Henry) Sung, Li-Cheng (Jerry) Tsung, Andrew Yung-An Yang, Hwan Moon Lee
DiagGuru
Best Undergraduate Concept Paper
Team Members: Aaron Abajian, Raffi Isanians, Erik Rosenow, Matthew Kamkar
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Important Dates:
Jan. 16 2008: Business Plan Competition Kick-off
Feb. 1, 2008 Team Registration Deadline
March 3, 2008 Concept Papers Due
May 16, 2008 Final Presentations and Awards
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| 1. Competition Format |
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The Competition format is as follows:
Phase I: Concept Paper Phase – In the Winter quarter, the Competition begins the process of registering student teams from across the campus to submit a three-page concept paper about a business idea that they would like to pursue. This initial three-page document will be the equivalent of an Executive Summary of a business plan that the team will develop in the second phase of the competition. An outline for the concept paper is provided on-line, and teams must register on-line before submitting their concept papers (www.merage.uci.edu/go/bplan) by 5:00 pm, Friday, February 1, 2008. Awards are given to recognize the team with the best concept paper for the overall competition as well as to the team with the best undergraduate concept paper.
Ten (10) copies of the three-page concept paper will be submitted by Monday March 3, 2008. Concept paper packages are to be dropped off at MPAA 210 in the lobby before 5 PM. From these initial submissions a maximum of 16 teams will be selected for participation in Phase II of the competition. The teams selected to continue in the competition will be notified March 10 and coaches will be matched with each of the semi-finalist teams.
Phase Two: Business Plan Phase – Teams that are selected for the second phase will have until April 28 to work with their coach to submit a complete business plan for the competition.
One copy of the 15-page business plan (including all appendices) must be submitted by 5:00 pm on Monday April 28, 2008 in order to compete in the final round of the 2008 Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Business Plan Competition. Please provide a cover sheet that gives contact information and the title and the names of the team members (including their respective school affiliations and graduate/undergraduate status). This cover page does not count against the 15-page maximum of the business plan. Please submit only one copy of your plan for the judges. Please do not submit business plans in covers or binding.
Presentations will be made to a panel of judges on May 16, 2008 in Doheny Beach Rooms A-D at the UCI Student Center on the UCI Campus. This will be an all day event. Judges will make their decisions and the formal recognition of all award winners will be acknowledged.
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| 2. Teams |
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All UC Irvine students, researchers and staff are invited to participate on a competing team. All teams must have at least three (3) members and two members must be registered students. The term registered student is interpreted to mean registered at UC Irvine for at least two (2) quarters during the 2007-08 academic year.
Participants who do not meet this requirement may join an existing UC Irvine team provided that at least two (2) of the participants on the team are registered UCI students by the above definition. There is no official upper limit on the number of team members, however it is advised that five (5) is the practical upper limit for an effective team. Teams must be led by a currently registered UC Irvine student. Off campus business professionals and domain experts are permitted to participate as team members however they are expected to participate with their team during presentations for all judging events.
Undergraduate Teams: An undergraduate team is defined as a team where all team members are current undergraduates. The team leader must be a registered UC Irvine undergraduate. Undergraduate teams are allowed to compete for all prizes, but will also be allowed to compete for specific Undergraduate Awards.
To participate in the competition, teams must submit their registration through the web-based Competition Registration Form by 5 pm February 1, 2008. Teams may also use this form to solicit additional team members with specific areas of expertise. Participants in the Concept Paper Phase will be able to attend presentations and workshops offered throughout the entire competition.
Obtaining Additional Team Members:
A networking event will be offered during the competition kick-off on January 16. These events allow potential participants to meet students with similar interests interested in joining a team Students from across campus are encouraged to attend even if they do not have a concept developed.
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| 3. Business Plan/Idea |
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Teams must present an original idea for a company which must not have been in existence prior to 2006. Teams must be in a "pre-incubator" form and must not be backed by incubators, existing companies or venture capitalists.
Concept Paper and Business Plan Format:
- Concept Papers must not be over three pages, excluding the cover page
- Business Plans must not be over 15 pages, excluding the cover page
- Margins must not be smaller than ½ of an inch on any side
- Body text should between 10 and 12 points inclusive.
- Document text should be single-spaced
- Documents are to be submitted as stapled documents only. No covers or binders are necessary, as they will be discarded during distribution to our judges during their review.
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| 4. Judging Guidelines |
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The judges are professionals who come from various entrepreneurial backgrounds including seed financing, venture capital, investment banking and corporate law. Each judge is an expert in the process of starting a business including business plan development, selecting an executive team, operations management and investment. The judges consider specific criteria when evaluating concept papers and business plans however ultimately; winning teams usually are those in which the judges would most likely invest their own money. This decision is influenced heavily by four factors:
- The size and growth rate of the market of interest being addressed.
- The likelihood that the team can create a sustainable competitive advantage.
- The simplicity of the business model described.
- The believability of the business plan as described pitched.
Some of the elements that are considered in this regard are as follows:
- Does the plan explore an opportunity that is realistic?
- Is the business model well thought out and have the potential to be effective?
- Are there past benchmarks set that the plan can be measured against?
- Is a significant initial investment required?
- What is the length of the implementation process?
- Does the business have the necessary tools to become a market leader?
- Has a clear target customer been established?
- Does the management team have the skills to succeed?
- What are the projections for the venture to achieve profitability?
- Is the plan concise and well written?
- What will allow this business plan to have sustained success?
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| 5. Award Divisions |
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The 2008 Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Business Plan Competition is organized into two award divisions:
- Overall Competition Award Division
- Undergraduate Award Division
All teams, including undergraduate teams compete in the Overall Competition Division as it is open to all UC Irvine students, researchers and staff. Overall Competition Division teams must be led by a UCI student, must have at least three (3) members of which two (2) of members must be registered at UCI. Students, researchers and staff may be from any UCI school or department.
On the day of the finals, Undergraduate teams not placing in the Overall Competition will be considered for awards given in the Undergraduate Award Division. Teams considered for the Undergraduate Award Division must be led by a registered UCI undergraduate, have at least three (3) members and be composed of only undergraduates. International teams are encouraged as are teams including members from other US universities. All Undergraduate Division teams must have at least two (2) registered UCI undergraduates participating on the team.
Tech Coast Angels Seed Financing Invitational
The teams placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 2008 Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Business Plan Competition will automatically be invited to the Tech Coast Angels Seed Financing Invitational. In addition, at the discretion of the Tech Coast Angels, two “wild card” teams will be invited to the Tech Coast Angels Seed Financing Invitational. All five teams invited to the Invitational will have the opportunity to be assigned a Tech Coast Angel executive as a coach and be screened by the Tech Coast Angel membership for up to $1,000,000 in seed financing. Teams will have 6 months to prepare their presentation before the Tech Coast Angels and another 6 months to secure financing through the Angels.
Teams competing in the 2008 Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Business Plan Competition with the objective of being invited to the Tech Coast Angels Seed Financing Invitational should focus on business ideas that have a potential for high growth, a strong market position, and a sustainable advantage. Specifically, Tech Coast Angel investors look for:
- A market opportunity sufficiently large to create a business with at least $50 to $100 million in annual revenues within 60 months.
- A compelling, well articulated strategy for capturing and defending a significant market share.
- Proprietary technology or other strong barriers to entry.
- Strong management (not necessarily a complete team) with relevant and successful experience.
- An exit strategy for the investors.
- A desire for advice and coaching.
- Lastly, the company valuation must fit within our risk/reward expectations for the investment.
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| 6. Competition Registration |
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Registering for the 2008 Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Business Plan Competition is easily completed by simply clicking on the link below, submitting a registration form. Competition Registration Form
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| 7. Competition Calendar |
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Wednesday, January 16, 2008 2008 SYCRBPC Kick-Off UC Irvine Student Center Doheny Beach Rooms A, B, C and D 5:30-8:30 pm
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2008 SYCRBPC Workshop How to Develop a Winning Concept and Lead Your Team to Success Calit2 Auditorium 6-8:30 pm Joel Calvo, Calvo Capital Charlie Baecker, Don Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Friday, February 1, 2008 Competition Registration Closes 5:00 pm
Wednesday, February 6, 2008 2008 SYCRBPC Workshop Assessing the Market Calit2 Auditorium 6-8:30 pm Andy Mindlin, RealWorld Marketing
Thursday, February 21, 2008 2008 SYCRBPC Workshop Intellectual Property Rights Calit2 Auditorium 6-8:30 pm Monique Heyninck, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Alvin Viray, UCI Office of Technology Alliances
Monday, March 3, 2008 Competition Deadline: Concept Papers Due MPAA 210 5:00 pm
Monday, March 10, 2008 Competition Advisory Board Meeting Merage School Executive Commons MPAA 7:30-10:00 am
Monday, March 10, 2008 Competition Semi-Finalists Announced 5:00 pm
Thursday, March 13, 2008 Competition Team/Coach Breakfast Merage School Executive Commons MPAA 7:30-9:00 am
Wednesday, April 9, 2008 SYCRBPC Workshop How to Write a Business Plan Calit2 Auditorium 6-8:30 pm Seth Yakatan, Yakatan and Associates
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 SYCRBPC Workshop Financial Projection for New Ventures Calit2 Auditorium 6-8:30 pm Charlie Baecker, Don Beall Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Monday, April 28, 2008 Competition Deadline: Business Plans Due MPAA 210 5:00 pm
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 SYCRBPC Workshop Presentation Skills for Pitching Investors Calit2 Auditorium 6:30-8:30 pm Mike Cannon, Mainpoint Communications
Thursday, May 1, 2008 Elevator Pitch Video Taping Arts Plaza Television Studio 6:00-11:00 pm
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 Competition Judges Orientation Breakfast Merage School Executive Commons MPAA 7:30-9:00 am
Monday, May 12, 2008 OC Register People’s Choice Poll Begins (On-line Event)
Friday, May 16, 2008 Competition Finals and Awards Ceremony UC Irvine Student Center Doheny Beach Rooms A, B, C and D 8:00 am-5:00 pm
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 SYCRBPC Volunteer Recognition Luncheon Merage School Executive Commons MPAA 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
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| Resources for Participants |
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There will be numerous resources available to the teams throughout the competition. They are as follows:
- List of reading materials on this site
- Links to various websites and online publications
- Guidelines on what is expected in the concept paper and final business plans
- Workshops on the key elements of a business plan will be offered from January through April
- Team coaches for teams selected for Phase II
Also contribute to the innovative spirit and economic success of Southern California.
2008 Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Business Plan Competition Resources
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