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Many, many thanks to everyone who made this year's Technology Business Plan Competition such a wonderful success!
All teams were winners for demonstrating their commitment to innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit -- they did a fantastic job presenting to our judges, and we commend them for their hard work. Here are those who went on to win prizes:
First Place: APS, Advanced Pulmonary Systems: Kevin Stevenson, Robin
Perini, and James Baldwin. Inventor: UNM COP Professor Graham Timmins.
We were particularly happy that Dr. Timmins was able to join us for the
awards banquet. $25,000 APMC / Michael Gallegos Prize for
Entrepreneurship and $1,500 in legal services from Brownstein Hyatt
Farber Schreck.
Second Place: Surya Skincare: Steven Renfro, William Reichard, Miles Nelson, Peter Duselis, and Klaus Mueller. $10,000 TVC Lockheed Martin Prize.
Third Place: ABQari Wellness: Meghan Norvell and Isaac Estrada. $5,000 vSpring Capital Prize.
CONGRATULATIONS to all of these students!
2008 UNM Technology Business Plan Competition Took Place Friday, April 11th
On Friday, April 11th, The Anderson School of Management will host the third-annual UNM
Technology Business Plan Competition. This year, we will award $40,000 in prize money to
students looking to form their own high-tech startups in New Mexico. These awards are the
Michael Gallegos Prize for Entrepreneurship ($25,000), the TVC Lockheed Martin Prize ($10,000),
and the vSpring Capital Prize ($5,000). Venture capital partners have also offered more than
$100,000 in seed funding as incentives for our teams.
More business community partners and Anderson faculty are involved in mentoring our budding entrepreneurs than ever before, and the field of competitors promises to be our strongest yet.
The alpha (morning) round of team presentations will happen between 9:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. in ASM rooms 1016, 1017, and 1064. Judges will then confer to decide which teams from the alpha round will advance to the omega (afternoon and final) round presentations. The omega (afternoon and final) round will take place from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., with judges hearing formal team presentations in ASM 1017, then conferring to decide which teams will be awarded prizes that evening.
In the evening, winning teams will be announced at the UNM Technology Business Plan Competition Awards Reception and Banquet. This awards celebration takes place from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel Downtown.
Sherman McCorkle, President and Chief Executive Officer of Technology Ventures Corporation,
will deliver the keynote address at the banquet. And Michelle Coons, Commercial Banking
Manager with Bank of the West, will be our emcee for the evening.
The UNM Technology Business Plan Competition wishes to thank our valued sponsors:
Our alpha round judges are:
John Freisinger, Technology Ventures Corporation
DeAnne Morgan, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
Perry E. Bendicksen III, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schrek
Deborah Peacock, Peacock Myers, P.C.
Philip D. Askenazy, Ph.D., Peacock Myers, P.C.
Ned A. Godshall, Altela, Inc.
Lawrence Chavez, Flywheel Ventures
Francine Sommer, Village Ventures
Randall McDonald, Miller Stratvert P.A.
William (Bill) F. Bice, Verge Fund
Belinda Padilla, Technology Transfer Division, LANL
John Mott, Technology Transfer Division, LANL
Les Matthews, Mesa Capital
Daniel M. Sachs, TEAM Technologies, Inc.
Doug Lee, WESST Corp
Our omega round judges are:
Michael Gallegos, APMC
Lee Trussell, Technology Ventures Corporation
Gavin Christensen, vSpring Capital
Stephanie Spong, Epic Ventures
Trevor R. Loy, Flywheel Ventures
Beverly R. Bendicksen, Bank of the West
Ten student teams will compete this year (in alphabetical order by venture name):
The ABQari Wellness team, Isaac Estrada and Meghan Norvell, plans to produce innovative, high quality nutraceutical compounds at the cutting edge of nutritional science. These compounds are designed to reduce the risk of such diseases as prostate cancer, inflammation, and connective tissue injury.
The Advanced Pulmonary Solutions (APS) team, comprised of Kevin Stevenson, Robin Perini, and James Baldwin, aims to commercialize innovative, non-invasive diagnostic tools for a wide array of bacterial infections of the pulmonary system.
Brandon Schoen and Stephen Segura of Advant-Go, will pitch a plan based on a new technology for digital-mobile advertising media.
Art Life 360 team members David Bowman and Marc Wikowski plan to create an innovative e-commerce system to connect artists and art buyers, combining the best of Internet-based tools with the best of the real-life gallery experience through an interactive virtual gallery environment.
The BabyCharms plan focuses on toys with artificial intelligence capabilities that can be customized for individual infants. Team members are Gopala Rao Gandikota and Matthew Behm.
Robert Tierney, of Defensor Biotechnology, will propose a venture using virus-like particles (VLPs) for rapid identification of specific antibody response.
The team of EchoPill, comprised of Linhson Do, Mengli Wang, and William Zortman, centers their plan on a product which combines patented ultrasonic technology with proven capsulation methods to expand current endoscopic diagnostic tools.
Cynthia Kaiser, Samuel Johnson, and Ross Hipple, of HJK Labs, will present a commercialization plan for a live attenuated bacterial vaccine for cattle. This vaccine enduces antibodies to prevent adherence of E.Coli to the animals' intestines.
The My Investment Index.com team, consisting of Jovan Heusser and Jonathan Bundy, plan to create a website offering specialized services to small- and medium-sized investors in diverse portfolios.
The Surya Skincare team's plan builds on patented nanotechnology to offer consumers the first-ever optically transparent sunscreen able to claim complete protection against cancer-causing UV radiation. Team members include Steven Renfro, William Reichard, Miles Nelson, Klaus Mueller, and Peter Duselis.
UNM TBP Competition web site: techbizplan.mgt.unm.edu