CU-Boulder business and engineering students will vie for thousands of dollars in prize money at the Bank One $45K Business Plan Competition on Wednesday, Dec. 8.
The competition will be held at the University of Colorado at Boulder College of Business and Administration.
"This is an outstanding opportunity for students to demonstrate the skills they聮ve learned throughout the semester developing a business plan," said Professor Stephen Lawrence, who teaches the CU-Boulder Business Plan Preparation course. "The impressive prize money adds prestige to this important experience."
This competition聮s $45,000 prize money is the nation聮s second highest business plan competition total behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Harvard and Stanford follow with $20,000 and $25,000, respectively.
The competitors聮 business plans address: a medical application service provider that offers scheduling, billing and electronic medical record systems; a prepaid Internet purchasing card for teenagers; an easy-to-use software application that enables small companies to create their own business-specific programming tools and a multi-player on-line strategy game that provides entertainment via the Internet.
Lawrence evaluated the 12 business plans created by his students and identified the top four finalists that will compete at the event.
"Our students are extremely talented; this event showcases their abilities," Lawrence said. "They couple the innovation of creating a new idea with the intricacies of developing a technical business plan. Some graduates of our program use these plans to start new ventures."
The competition, sponsored by the CU-Boulder Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, features awards from Bank One, Integer Group and Cornerstone Equities.
Bank One donates $15,000 to the competition聮s winning teams. The Integer Group, Colorado聮s largest marketing firm, offers $10,000 in prize money to the top marketing-oriented plan. Cornerstone Equities, a privately owned Colorado venture fund, sponsors the Cornerstone Seed Capital Award, which dedicates $20,000 to the plan with the greatest promise as a viable, growth-oriented firm.
In addition, Cornerstone will invest between $25,000 and $250,000 as start-up capital in the winning team聮s venture.