Launch magazine published this article featuring some businesses that had won funding from college competitions a year to several years after they had won, and what successes and failures these companies had seen since.
The article is available on their site at: http://launchutah.com/article-feature-q42007.php
Moving Forward
College Business Competitions Turn Ideas Into Reality
By Esther Yu Sumner
Each year, hundreds of college students aspiring to be the next big entrepreneur in Utah, vie for first place in various state-wide business competitions. Participants may have an edge over other Utah startups. They benefit from the feedback, funding and networking that helps improve their business ideas.
But what happens to these competitors after the initial glory fades and the prize money runs out? Find out how previous competitors have leapt forward with their business plans and ideas.
Property Solutions
Since the company was established in 2003, Property Solutions has become a nationwide business with customers in all 50 states. Initially, the original five members of the company worked hard to develop CEO David Bateman's idea into a winning company for the Brigham Young University Business Plan Competition (BPC). The company helps property managers to collect and manage rent payments online, as well as manage maintenance requests, fill vacant apartments, and maintain customized Web sites about a customer's property for prospective residents to view.
"We spent four months, day and night, preparing for the competition," Bateman says. They began developing software for their company so they could present the judges with a substantial product and real clients. They also established a development team, did extensive market research, and took a business plan writing class in the Marriott School at BYU before the competition.
Their hard work paid off when they won first place and the $25,000 grand prize. Property Solutions then went on to win the 2003 Fortune Small Business magazine business plan competition, a competition that was supposed to be limited to MBAs. However, since they beat out the MBAs at BYU, they were allowed to compete.
The company has raised more than $1 million in funding. They won $250,000 by taking first runner-up from the 2004 National Institute for Entrepreneurship's Venture Bowl, the nation's largest university business plan competition. They beat more than 300 teams from national graduate and doctoral programs. Funding stopped when they became profitable in 2007.
Property Solutions now has approximately 400 customers in the multi-family space, and approximately 4,000 customers in the apartment space.
"Although revenue growth is strong, we feel we've only started to scratch the surface," Bateman says. "There is a lot of room for growth."
Calle
The idea for Calle was born in July 2005 when Josh Robbins, Travis Winn and Steve Magleby turned their passion for street soccer into a business. The three based their business idea on their collective experiences living in Brazil, Spain and other places around the world where street soccer is common. The name Calle means "street" in Spanish.
In this sport, convenience reigns. Players compete wherever it's most convenient � not just in a soccer field, and use whatever goal is most convenient � a garbage can, for instance, would do the job. In addition, team sizes are flexible. Before long, Calle soon became a global brand, with products ranging from hats and apparel to Calle soccer balls.
Calle won first place in the 2007 BPC and was awarded with $50,000. Until that point, they had been operating on family loans. "The competition was definitely one of the most beneficial things we have done," says Robbins, director of finance. "We found holes to fix to make the company better."
After winning the BPC, the Calle co-founders realized that competitions were a great way to obtain funding for their company. They subsequently entered and won $5,000 as a runner-up (essentially second place) in the University of Utah's Utah Entrepreneur Challenge (UEC), plus an additional $5,000 for in-kind services.
Calle was also one of three finalists that qualified as a student team, and one of six finalists overall in the Fortune Small Business business plan competition. The company began making a big push to sell their products to retail businesses in May 2007, and, within five months, made $102,000. At press time (Dec 2007), Calle's products are in 39 stores in the United States and Canada, with new stores being added weekly.
"It's catching on for sure," Robbins says. "I went to the grocery store yesterday and some guy asked me if I played �calle' and told me that his friends play all of the time."
Trapeze Media Solutions
Last year was the first year of the Tech Titans Innovation Challenge, a state-wide design and idea competition for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a Utah college or university. Unlike with other business competitions, Tech Titans candidates only need a one- to two-page executive summary of an innovative and marketable idea, not a full business plan.
"The University of Utah Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) started Tech Titans as a statewide competition for graduates and undergraduates to really educate them about the integration between science and business," says TCO director Brian Cummings.
While the individual cash prizes are smaller than BYU's BPC and the UEC, the less restrictive entry rules encourage more and different students to compete. Scott Duvall, a finalist in the competition, was among approximately 100 competitors from eight different Utah colleges and universities. Though he did not win, Cummings said Duvall really stood out as a finalist.
Duvall, a doctoral student at the University of Utah School of Medicine, was frustrated that so many student presentations were placed on posters, then thrown away soon after. He proposed a technology that would allow individuals to save their posters into searchable documents. For example, a poster explaining published research and showing 500 data points on a graph would be saved in a manner that a researcher could actually see the details of the data points. This way, Duvall says, "The research can live on � it's academic poster preservation."
"His idea was really novel and we felt he should be thinking about the next steps in his idea," Cummings says.
The TCO provided him with market research and mentors, so that Duvall could become an equity holder and a key decision maker in his idea without having to worry about the aspects of business that did not appeal to him. The TCO also handles the legal aspects of the business.
Duvall founded Trapeze Media Solutions in September. It recently won a University of Utah Next Stage Micro-Grant, which allowed it to finish development. The company was also selected by the Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah to do market research. Trapeze will also be attending its first medical conferences this year.
Wasatch Microfluidics
When Wasatch Microfluidics won $40,000 by taking first place in the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge (UEC) in 2005, Josh Eckman, Bruce Gale and Jim Smith got the funding they needed to start their company sooner than expected.
Initially, Eckman approached University of Utah professor Bruce Gale about a patent that Gale had filed. The two decided to start a company, beginning with a business plan in late 2004. While turning to the Lassonde New Venture Development Center and center director Troy D'Ambrosio for help with market research and other assistance, Eckman met Smith, who then became a co-founder in the company.
Wasatch Microfluidics is a technology that allows researchers to print biomolecules on surfaces using microfluidics. This technology allows researchers to study how different molecules, like DNA and proteins, react to each other.
The company began building prototypes in spring 2005 in partnership with the University of Utah medical school. They have now built commercial prototypes that they are testing with off-site facilities.
"We hope to roll those out early next year," Eckman says. "We've already sold some instruments to pharmaceutical companies and have done some service contract research for pharmaceutical companies so we do have some revenue."
Wasatch Microfluidics completed their first round of outside investor funding in August 2007. They are now in the process of hiring senior management to help them prepare for the market release of their first product.
In addition to winning the UEC, Wasatch Microfluidics also won $5,000 in the New Venture Championship at the University of Oregon, beating out international teams and teams from Stanford and MIT.
Alianza
When Alianza won first place in the BYU competition in 2005, CEO and Founder Brian Beutler was determinedly seeking success for the company. He had already dedicated all his resources to his business, including quitting his previous job and taking out a second mortgage on his house.
"There was no swinging for the fences. I thought �This company will work out, this company will succeed,'" Beutler says.
Of winning the contest, Beutler says he greatly benefited from having many very sharp minds look for the weaknesses in his company as part of a friendly competition rather than as an unforgiving market.
"It's a great forum for fixing problems before you launch. It was instrumental in helping us avoid potential land mines or speed bumps," Beutler says.
Beutler originally developed Alianza, with the help of Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Scott Bell, to be a provider of value-added telecom services and applications directly to businesses in Mexico. However, after a year and a half, they realized that, though their business plan was successful, there was an even better way to do things.
They revised their strategy and began focusing on developing a hosted software platform that enables service providers to offer cutting-edge unified communications applications. In September 2007, Alianza announced the launch of PowerPlatform v3.0, the first fully integrated IP-based platform for delivering unified communications applications. Alianza's footprint has since broadened as well. They now offer their platform for delivering unified communications solutions to service providers across North and South America.
Beutler has a staff of 60 people, mostly in the United States, but also in his Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Argentina offices.
Since winning the BYU BPC, Alianza has raised $7.5 million in funding, with key contributions coming from the Utah Angels, and vSpring Capital. In addition, Alianza was recognized in July 2007 by the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) as the 16th fastest growing company in Utah in its annual "Top 25 Under Five."
Launch - Fall 2007
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