The business plan for Wally.com, a pre-paid Internet purchasing card for teens, swept the CU-Boulder $45,000 Business Plan Competition Dec. 8.
The team from the College of Business and Administration's Business Plan Preparation course won the first-place $3,000 prize from Bank One, the Cornerstone Equities聮 Seed Capital Award valued at $20,000 and the Integer Group聮s Excellence in Marketing Award worth $10,000 聴 netting the team $33,000 in prize money.
In addition to the Seed Capital Award, Cornerstone Equities will invest from $25,000 to $250,000 of venture capital in Wally.com.
Wally.com focuses on teenagers under the age of 18 who cannot legally access credit cards or commercial banking accounts. The pre-paid Internet purchasing card, which will be available at retail stores where teens can purchase the card with cash, will be used for on-line purchases. Wally.com will hire teens 16 and older as direct sales representatives to communicate the value of the card to other teen users.
"This is an extremely innovative idea," said Denis Nock, director of the Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. "They are a very talented group who identified a niche market with great potential."
The CU-Boulder Business Plan Competition聮s $45,000 prize money total is second in the nation behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology聮s $50,000. Stanford and Harvard follow with $25,000 and $20,000, respectively.
The second-place winner of the Bank One prize of $1,250 was Power Trip, Inc., a developer and publisher of multi-player on-line strategy games.
Medilink, the third-place Bank One prize winner, netted $750. The prospective company is an application service provider of technology solutions to help physicians manage all aspects of their medical practices.
The competition is the culmination of the Business Plan Preparation course taught by Professor Steve Lawrence. Wally.com will now participate in the Venture Challenge 2000 International Student Business Plan competition hosted by San Diego State University March 30 聳 April 1, 2000.
The CU-Boulder Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship sponsored the competition. The center is a joint program of the colleges of business and engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Following are the team members:
Wally.com:
Ethan Holien (303) 448-9904
Eric Hagen
Jeff Finkelstein
Andrew Wilson
Lisa Ferrari
Power Trip:
Julie Seidel
Scott Jones
Pam Hill
Jeffery McMullen
Christine Jones
MediLink:
Nathan Foran
Millie Quinto
David Bonnett
Jonathan Tofel
Crystalline Software:
Joe Treat
Eve Lee
Aimee LaFerriere
David Mallery