FAYETTEVILLE - They came from all around the state to battle - business plan against business plan, pitch versus pitch - competing for prize money and learning better ways to grow budding businesses.
On Thursday and Friday,12 semifinal undergraduate teams and six graduate teams from around the state made 20-minute presentations and faced 15 minutes of questions and answers from judges during the 13th annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition at The Chancellor Hotel.
Carol Reeves, associate vice-provost for entrepreneurship at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, has four teams in the graduate division this year.
In an interview, she said the competition means more than awarding prize money for a well thought-out plan: The student’s companies have solid business models that can end up creating top jobs in Arkansas.
“Theses students have the potential to transform this state,” she said.
Reeves pointed to Bentonville-based Movista, founded by April Seggebruch and Stan Zylowski, as one success story. The company placed second during the Governor’s Cup in 2008, then went on to win at the Tri-State Donald W. Reynolds Cup competition.
Today, the company’s software is used to track retail activity in real time through mobile devices and has nine major clients, including Tempur-Pedic. It employs 22.
Seggebruch said the experience gained in the Governor’s Cup was invaluable and the competition was a catalyst for Movista’s creation.
“It was the reason,” she said. “Without the Governor’s Cup, we wouldn’t exist.”
On Wednesday at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, the winners will be named and $154,000 in prize money will be awarded for the best business plans. The two top teams in the undergraduate and graduate divisions will head to Las Vegas in May to compete in the Tri-State Awards, facing teams from Nevada and Oklahoma for an additional $118,000 in prizes.
Graduate and undergraduate winners from the seven competing Arkansas universities will each take home $25,000, with $15,000 for second place and $10,000 for third. Other prizes are awarded in a variety of categories, with some going to advisers and for the winners of a 90-second elevator pitch.
EverClean Coating Solutions was one of the UA graduate teams competing Friday. Decked out in dark suits and power ties, the company’s chief executive offer, Bill Ryan, along with Corey Thompson, the company’s chief technology officer, and Manish Phogat, the chief operating officer, faced a panel of five judges. The three did their best to convince the group that producing and selling a self-cleaning coating for solar panels, invented by Thompson, is a viable business concept.
Ryan, who has been in sales and marketing for Coca-Cola Co. for more than 20 years, said business competitions have given the fledgling company access to key people who can offer vital advice and connect them with investors.
“We have a ton to learn,” he said, “and these folks have the knowledge.”
Ryan is considering taking an early retirement from Coca-Cola so he can devote his energy to building EverClean.
Other UA graduate teams competing Friday were Picasolar, which developed a patent-pending process to improve solar-cell efficiency; HomeDx, which is developing the first over-the-counter influenza test intended for retail distribution; and ParadigMed LLC, which manufactures a cost-effective device for male circumcision in an outpatient setting to help reduce the transmission rate of HIV globally.
Harding University’s graduate team was Iso Labs, which offered a product that allows people to test their food for allergens before they eat, and MitoGene from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, which developed a health/energy drink.
Business, Pages 27 on 04/06/2013