Experience paid dividends at the Rice University Business Plan Competition in Houston, where a seasoned team from Brigham Young University won third place and took home $9,500 in prize money.
Adam Robertson from Santa Rosa, Calif., a recent graduate from BYU’s Marriott School of Management, and Tim Wessman, a junior from Idaho Falls, Idaho, majoring in manufacturing engineering, won $7,500 for placing third overall and an additional $2,000 for writing the best executive summary.
They presented plans for their startup company, Precision Surveying Solutions, which sells specialized calculators equipped with communication technology to professional surveyors. In fact, the team made a quick detour on their way to Houston to meet with a potential customer. Such real-world business experience gave them an edge at the competition.
“Many of the judges were just amazed and wondered why we were there,” Wessman says. “Most of the companies at this competition have an idea but nothing more. The fact that we already have customers really set us apart from the other companies.”
The three-day event featured 36 teams from a field of 140 from around the world. Teams made written and oral presentations as if pitching their companies to potential investors. The judges evaluated the presentations on the quality of the idea, the strength of the management team, and the clarity and persuasiveness of the written and oral presentations.
“The judges grill you with questions on why your business won’t work,” Robertson says. “They judge you on how worthy your company is of receiving investments.”
Many teams promoted plans built around new technology. A team from Johns Hopkins University won first place with a computer program that explores alternative uses for prescription medication. Second place went to a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology touting a new anti-bacterial coating for artificial hips.
The enhanced calculator from Precision Surveying Solutions showed such promise that several judges — all of whom are small-business investors — approached the team privately to express interest in investing. The team’s success in Houston follows a string of triumphs at various competitions. They previously placed second in the 2006 BYU Business Plan Competition, the 2006 Fortune Small Business Competition and the 2007 Utah Economic Summit and Funding Competition.
The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, organizational behavior and entrepreneurship. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.
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Writer: Arie Dekker (801) 422-1395
