2013 Business Plan Competition
Congratulations to the winners of the 2013 Shocker Business Plan Competition!
1st Place: FUNGO- Sarah Hirsh, Nathan Elmore
Advisor: Dr. Chris Broberg
FUNGO is a manual baseball\softball soft toss machine. It can toss any type of small ball, preferably softballs or baseballs. Its three uses include batting, catching, and fielding.
2nd Place: WichitaLimelight.com- Tori Deatherage
Advisor: Lou Heldman
Today, successful advertising does not interrupt the consumer; it becomes a destination. WichitaLimelight.com is a complete entertainment resource that unites consumers and Wichita’s wide
variety of attractions, events and entertainment.
3rd Place: Linea Solutions-Timothy Farha, Gabriel Stevens
Advisor: Dr. Chris Broberg
Linea Solutions is the maker of the VitalTouchPro, an all-in-one EMR/EHR automated medical kiosk that securely collects patient's critical medical information and increases physician workflow
efficiency.
4th Place: iNOv8v Health Technologies- Heidi Bell
Advisor: Dr. Jeremy Patterson
iNov8v Health Technologies’ patented software enables devices to become medical tools by capturing physical health and fitness measures without the use of invasive electrodes and straps.
Elevator Pitch Winner: LifeBand Pulse Detector- Shifath Khan, Ali Ghazinezami
Many steps are involved in translating great ideas into great businesses. A key step is the creation of a business plan. A business plan attempts to reduce the uncertainties surrounding the decisions needed to launch a business. It can be thought of as a blueprint or a roadmap. A business plan helps you determine if the business has a market, can make a profit and can produce the money you need.
The Shocker Business Plan Competition is a state-wide student business plan competition, hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship, W. Frank Barton School of Business. This is the marquee event for the Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE). The competition is designed to encourage student innovation and venture creation by providing a forum in which students can present new business ideas to local business community leaders, including entrepreneurs and investors.
The Wichita Eagle, April 23, 2009
The 2013 Shocker Business Plan Competition
Student teams consisting of 1 to 5 members from any four year college or university in Kansas are encouraged to enter. The only requirements are that all the team members must be currently enrolled as full or part-time students and that the submissions are the teams' own original work and ideas.
The competition consists of three rounds. After entering the competition, each submitted business plan will first go through the Screening Round in which a group of judges read and evaluate the plans. The top 16 teams will proceed to the Trade Show. This round takes on a trade show format where each team sets up its own booth to attract visitors, among whom will be the judges for this round. All visitors are free to walk around the trade show room and talk to different teams. Each judge is to decide how much of a fictitious $10,000 will be invested in each team by the end of the round. There will be eight teams that rise from the Trade Show and will be eligible to compete in the final day of competition, which consists of the Semi-Final and Final Rounds. During the Semi-Final round, the eight teams will each give a 20-minute presentation to their panel of judges and answer any questions judges have. Four teams from the semifinal round will advance to the Final Round.Those teams that do not advance will be eligible to compete in the Elevator Pitch round. The four Final Round teams will participate in a second presentation for another set of judges. Out of the four teams, judges will select the top three teams to receive prizes. The results will be announced in the evening at the Center for Entrepreneurship Banquet.
Prizes
A total of $25,000 in cash will be awarded to the top three teams whose new venture ideas have the greatest potential for growth and for attracting outside financing. First Place is a one-time payment of $10,000; second prize is a one-time payment of $3,000; third prize is a one-time payment of $1,500; and the elevator pitch winner receives $500. The place money goes directly to the student winners. The winning team will also receive professional one-on-one consultation in banking, legal and accounting professions as well as a one year membership to the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce.
Competition Stages
Screening Round
This is the first hurdle in the competition. Following our competition guidelines,each registered team is required to submit one electronic copy of their business plan in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) format by Tuesday, April 2nd, 4:00 pm. Each business plan submitted is read and scored by two to three judges. View the general evaluation criteria requirements here. All judges scores will be averaged to determine each teams total score. Judges will be encouraged to provide either handwritten or electronic feedback directly to each plan. The 16 teams with the highest total scores will advance to the Trade Show.
Trade Show
Friday, April 19th, 2013, 3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at Charles Koch Arena Concourse
The Trade Show, arguably the most exciting event of the competition, follows a trade show format in which teams set up intricate displays and interact with investors/judges to sell their idea. Each
team will have a 6 ft by 2 ft table to set up their display. The judges, all prominent members of the local business community, will be given $10,000 in Shocker Dollars at the beginning of the
event. It is their job to invest their dollars in a portfolio of teams that they consider the "most viable" - that is, the teams that have the best chance for success in the real world.
Each judge is allowed to give a maximum of $2,000 per team. At the end of the event, the investment decisions are collected and tallied. The eight teams receiving the highest total amount of
Shocker Dollars will advance to the Semi-Finals two weeks later. Click here for Trade Show tips and picutres from last year's Trade Show.
Final Day of Competition
Friday, May 3rd, 2013
Semi-Final Round*
The Semi-Finals and Final Round conclude the competition. After perfecting their presentations, the eight teams first compete in the Semi-Final Round. Two panels of four to six judges, all leaders in the local business community, are assembled prior to the event. These are different judges from the Screening Round. The eight teams are randomly divided into two brackets the morning of competition and evaluated separately by the two panels of judges. Each team has 15 minutes to present their business plan, plus 15 minutes for Q&A. After all four teams finish presenting, each panel of judges, will discuss the relative merits of the four teams, and, through consensus, two teams will be selected to proceed to the Final Round in the afternoon. Advancing teams will be announced before lunch. The remaining teams will be eligible to participate in the Elevator Pitch. The Semi-Final Round is for competition participants and judges only.
Elevator Pitch*
The four teams that participated in the Semi-Final round that did not advance to the Final Round will have a final chance to give an Elevator Pitch. An elevator pitch is a concise, planned and practiced description of your company that explains to your audience what your company is and what your company does. The purpose is to simply inform and grab your audiences attention, but do not overwhelm your audience with too much information. In this pitch there should be an overview of the idea, service, project, person or other solution. The elevator pitch also helps you to brand your business idea. The reward for the Elevator Pitch is $500 cash. The students participating in this round will have 6 minutes to pitch their business concept to judges. All participants should already have a shortened version of an elevator pitch mastered that they used at the Trade Show. To find out more information of what an Elevator Pitch is, click here. The Elevator Pitch is for competition participants and judges only.
Final Round*
2:00 p.m., 107 Devlin Hall
The Final Round is open to all competition participants, faculty, students and guests. The Final Round judges, a different set of five to seven members of the local business community, arrive during lunch and have approximately two hours to prepare for the Final Round. Their preparation begins with a briefing from the Semi-Finals judges about the reasons for their selection decisions. Judges will have ample time to familiarize themselves with the four finalist plans. Each team has 15 minutes to present, in addition to 15 minutes of Q&A. In the Final Round, judges will pick the winning team that is most likely to achieve its goals given the teams timeline. At the conclusion of the round, the judges will adjourn to the judges room to begin their deliberations. The judges will, once again, reach their decision by consensus. Winners will be announced at the Center for Entrepreneurship Banquet later that evening.
*The order of presentations at the Semi-Final, Elevator Pitch and Final Rounds will be determined randomly immediately prior to each round. Students must submit seven hard copies of their revised business plan and one electronic copy Monday, April 29th by 4:00 pm.
The Center for Entrepreneurship Banquet & Business Plan Competition Awards Ceremony
Date: May 3, 2013
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview (400 W. Douglas Ave., Wichita, KS 67202)
Keynote Speaker: Charlie Q. Chandler, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, INTRUST Financial Corporation Click here to view Mr. Chandler's Bio
The Banquet provides students, judges and the community the opportunity to network without the pressure of the competition. Winners are announced at the end of the evening. All teams and their faculty advisors competing in the final day of competition are welcome to attend.
Attendance is on a first come first serve basis and open to the community. Limited seats are available. Advance reservations are required.