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Five final-round teams will compete for $38,000 in prizes on Friday, February 24 in the College of Management's 2006 Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition.
Participation in the annual Business Plan Competition is open to all Georgia Tech students and alumni who've graduated within the last five years. Started in 2001, the competition is intended primarily as an educational exercise, but it often leads to the creation of real technology-based businesses.
Of twelve teams that entered this year's contest, five advanced from preliminary presentations to the final round, which is closed to the general public in order to protect intellectual property. The public can attend the awards presentation and reception from 4:30 to 5:30 PM Friday in the atrium of the Management building.
The public is also welcome to attend a reception and trade show from 6 to 8 PM on Thursday, February 23 in the atrium during which all twelve contest participants are invited to feature displays and explain their businesses. At 6:30 PM, these teams will compete for $500 in the Elevator Pitch Contest, in which they get only one minute to verbally sell their business concept - the amount of time they might have in an elevator with a potential investor.
Prizes presented Friday include best overall plan and most fundable plan. The latter goes to the team most ready to enter the marketplace. Two new awards added this year are the sustainability prize, given for the plan that best addresses environmental concerns and/or demonstrates social responsibility, and the showstopper award, which honors the team that does the best job of selling its plan to judges in the trade show Thursday. The last two categories are open to any teams that entered the contest, but the best overall and most fundable awards only go to finalists.
Prizes awarded include a total of $18,000 in cash and $20,000 in services (legal, financial, etc.). Team finalists include:
EvIslet (pronounced "E-Violet"), a research-and-development company for medical devices including team members John Stallworth, Jeff Gross, Scott Anderson, and Kamran Salour. Their innovation improves the success of islet-cell transplantations used to treat diabetes. EvIslet's testing technology can determine whether these insulin-producing cells are of sufficient quality to warrant transplantation, reducing hospitals' cost and patients' risk. Future markets for this technology include liver transplants and stem cell research.
Intrinsic Security, which includes team members Aldor Depp, Jozeff Purdes, Abhishek Kumar, Bobby Henebry, and Chris Clark. The team's technology addresses one of the largest security problems facing computer users: how to efficiently monitor high-speed network traffic. Intrinsic's solution enables network monitoring at speeds over 1 gigabyte, allowing real-time response to threats, with lower hardware requirements than anything else now on the market.
MARRS, a business-to-business software solutions provider including team members Molly DiBartolo, Andy Watson, Rodney Miller, Mike Rouse, and Seong Lee. Its Voice Search Solution product can help businesses improve their data management by enhancing existing search capabilities, allowing clients to quickly search through text, audio and video information using spoken language. MARRS's business model leverages existing communication models to deliver state-of-the-art technology through direct market sales, licensing to original equipment manufacturers, and alliance partnerships.
MousePrint, which includes team members Narendhra Seshadri, Jesse Jacobson, and Lindy Sellars. Its technology to make online transactions safer involves a unique biometric approach using a person's mouse movements that is designed to guarantee personal-identity protection. MousePrint's innovation provides a viable alternative for industries such as online banking and online retailing.
PolyDerm Delivery Systems, which includes team members Steve Selfridge, James Stefanakos, and Sean Sullivan. Its PolyDerm patch is a drug-delivery application employing polymer microneedle technology. The patch's array of microscopic needles are large to deliver large-molecule drugs effectively to the body, but small enough to avoid pain-causing nerves in the skin. The competitive advantage of Polyderm is that both the drug and polymer are microneedles that dissolve, releasing the drug into the body.
Sponsors of the 2006 Business Plan Competition include HLB Gross Collins PC, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, PaloAltoSoftware, RBC Centura, and Speechworks/Asher Communications.
Final round judges include Tony Antoniades, Advanced Technology Development Center; Stephen Gross, HLB Gross Collins PC; Knox Massey, Atlanta Technology Angels; Sig Mosley, Imlay Investments Inc., and Bill Oaks, Acorn Equities.
Preliminary round judges include Carter Allen, CGA Technology Counsel; Tom Barnes, Mediathink LLC; Mark Braunstein, Patient Care Technologies; Rhen Cain, Entrepreneurs Foundation of the Southeast; Stephen Fleming, chief commercialization officer of Georgia Tech; Rob Hassett, Casey Gibson Leibel PC; Kathleen Kurre, Fusion Advisors; Mary Leary, Advanced Technology Development Center; Jack McMillian, Tech Bridge; Mark Morel, Procuri Inc.; Charles Vaughn, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP; and Mike Vollmer, Attorney at Law.
Sustainability Award Judges include Ray Anderson, Interface Inc.; Carol Carmichael, Georgia Tech's Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development; and Ben Hill, Venture Lab.
For more information, contact .
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