The Business Launch Competition at UMass Boston kicked off on March 1st, with an emphasis on launch. “Other Universities have Business ‘Plan’ Competitions,” the college pitched to its students back in February, “At UMass Boston, we have Business ‘Launch’ Competitions.” The competition was hosted by the UMass Boston Entrepreneurship Center, which is part of the University’s College of Management — both of which run the University’s flagship Venture Development Center (VDC).
“Here at UMass Boston, we don’t sit and write business plans,” remarked entrepreneur-in-residence at the VDC and director of the Entrepreneurship Center, Dan Phillips. “We go out in the streets and launch a business.”
Students entered their business submissions at the beginning of the competition, and unlike others that focus on students’ ability to refine and build that plan, these UMass Boston students were evaluated based on the actual progress of their business after a two month period. Viability of their businesses as well as their pitches were also evaluated in selecting the winners. Presentations were given on May 11th, and those who showed the most progress were named winners.
Pamela Aldsworth of Silicon Valley Bank and Jeff McCarthy of North Bridge Venture Partners were judges of the competition. Up for grabs was free space at UMass VDC, in-kind legal consulting, and cold hard cash:
- 1st place: $2,500, a legal consulting package from K&L Gates valued at $10,000, and three months of access to the (VDC)
- 2nd place: $1,000 and three months of access to the VDC
- 3rd place: $500 and three months of access to the VDC
A dozen student startup ventures were drawn to the competition, with seven selected to give presentations the end of last week. First place was awarded to an eco-friendly surfboard company, Sigma Surf Research. Founders Michael Emery and Kevin Schoenthaler (both seniors) are New England natives and have discovered how to use recycled and bio-derived materials to manufacture surfboards that leave considerably less of a mark on the environment.
What sort of an impact has this Business Launch Competition had on these two young founders? How about enough cash to launch their e-commerce site, a social marketing campaign, incorporate their business, and go to potential customers with complete confidence in saying, “I can build you a board.”
In second place was Yvon Dorsainval, another fourth year student from the area, who opened a service-oriented dry cleaners in his hometown of Everett. Joy Dry Cleaners, with a home on Hancock Street, offers free pickup and delivery for laundering and dry cleaning. Dorsainval will use the winnings toward a passenger van for pick up and deliveries.
In third place is Kevin Hom, an MBA at UMass Boston from San Francisco. He is the founder of WarChamp, a company that earned a whopping $11,000 in revenues during the two-month contest. WarChamp corners the massive World of Warcraft market, offering “loot cards” for the game and providing video and text based tutorials.
To read more about the winners and competition, we suggest you check out this article on The Point and photos from the event here on Flickr.
Congrats to these winners and on UMass Boston for its inaugural competition!
