The Pryor-Hale Award for Best Business for $20,000 went to Fashion Forward Maternity – a socially responsible online boutique where savvy professional women can borrow high quality and designer maternity and nursing fashions at a fraction of the price of new

Erin Lewis (EMBA ’12), Judy Skiles Lavers (NOT PICTURED:Sannie Sapier)

Photo by: Austin Thomason, U-M Photo Services

Runner-up Converge Medical Technologies was awarded $10,000 – a medical device company that develops patient brain function monitoring solutions through principles of neuroscience

Jay Johnson (MSE, MIC Fellow ’12), Anna Ng (MHA, MIC Fellow ’12), Mike Johnson (MD/MBA, MIC Fellow ’12), Anthony Tsai (MD, MIC Fellow ’12) (NOT PICTURED: George Mashour)

Photo by: Austin Thomason, U-M Photo Services

@Fingertips received $26,000 in Prizes and Grants including $5,000 for the Williamson Award for Most Successful Team of Business and Engineering Students – a for-profit social-entrepreneurial company that builds devices enabling the blind to use modern touchscreen devices

PK Mishra (MBA ’12), Nick Wilcox, Roger Potter (BSE ME ’12), Siyang Chen (MFA ’13)

Photo by: Austin Thomason, U-M Photo Services

Thru.im was awarded the Most Successful Undergraduate Team for $2,500 – a mobile website that lets you transact with any business via free text messaging for consumers who want to communicate with businesses through text

Chad Stark (BBA ’11), David Spiro (BBA ’12) (NOT PICTURED: Calvin Gee (BS Informatics ’12), Cheng Chen (BS Computer Science Engineering ’12)

Photo by: Austin Thomason, U-M Photo Services

The Beet Box was awarded a Applebaum Dare to Dream Integration Grants of $5,000 – providing healthy fast-food options that support and reward a healthy lifestyle

Alexander Perlman (BA ’13), Robert Fitzpatrick III (BA ’13),  Eric Harbour (BS ’13), Alex Horak (BS ’13)

Photo by: Austin Thomason, U-M Photo Services

Digital Maxim was awarded the $2,500 Applebaum Dare to Dream Integration Grants- providing regional books in eBook format for all popular eReader devices to serve the needs of immigrant populations living in developed countries

Thirumurthi Ranganathan (MBA ’13) (NOT PICTURED: Sriram Ramanathan (MBA ’13), Deviprasad Taluk (MBA ’13), Ramalingam Subramaniyam, Manushyaputhiran)

Photo by: Austin Thomason, U-M Photo Services

 Award winners and grant recipients received funding totaling nearly $90,000 for innovative new business concepts and compelling business plans. Fashion Forward Maternity received $22,500 for its online maternity fashion concept, while finalist @Fingertips received $26,000 in prizes and grants for touchscreen devices for the blind. Several teams will go on to compete at intercollegiate business plan competitions where winning Michigan teams in 2011 brought home $326,350 in prize money and services.

The 29^th annual four-month, multi-round Michigan Business Challenge began in the fall with nearly 145 students from across the University representing 45 teams. The teams were narrowed down over the course of two rounds of competition to eight teams. On Friday, February 17 the semi-finalist teams were narrowed down to a field of four finalists that presented their businesses in an interactive session with professional investors.  The Pryor-Hale Award for Best Business for $20,000 went to Fashion Forward Maternity – a socially responsible online boutique where savvy professional women can borrow high quality and designer maternity and nursing fashions at a fraction of the price of new.

In total, the competition awarded $62,000 in prize money. Other top winners included: 

• Runner-up for $10,000 to Converge Medical Technologies – a medical device company that develops patient brain function monitoring solutions through principles of neuroscience.

• Erb Award for Environmental and Social Sustainability for $7,500 to @FingerTips - a for-profit social-entrepreneurial company that builds devices enabling the blind to use modern touchscreen devices.

• Williamson Award for Most Successful Team of Business and Engineering Students for $5,000 to @FingerTips

• Marketing Award sponsored by Mark Petroff for $2,500 each to @FingerTips and Fashion Forward Maternity

• Most Successful Undergraduate Team for $2,500 to Thru.im - a mobile website that lets you transact with any business via free text messaging for consumers who want to communicate with businesses through text.

• Outstanding Presentation for $2,000 each to Thru.im and Converge Medical Technologies

• Best Written Plan for $2,000 to StrideSports – a designer and manufacturer of fitness and exercise equipment with a mission to create fun, exciting, innovative products that inspire people to live healthier lives.

• Finalist Awards of $1,000 each to @Fingertips and StrideSports

• Round Two competitors each received $200; Semi-finalists that did not advance or receive a larger award each received an additional $300.

 In addition to the Challenge, recipients of Dare to Dream grants were also named on Friday, for students students looking to test their business idea, formulate a plan, and work toward launching their business while earning their degree. The first phase, a Venture Shaping grant of $500 sponsored by the Mayleben family, allows teams to determine how to transform identified opportunities into businesses. More venture-ready teams may apply for a $1,500 Assessment grant to establish the feasibility of their business or a $10,000 Integration grant to move their company toward launch. Grants are awarded in the fall and winter terms.  $27,000 in grants were awarded for winter term.

Applebaum Dare to Dream Integration Grants of up to $10,000 were awarded to:

• @Fingertips ($10,000)
• The Beet Box ($5,000) – providing healthy fast-food options that support and reward a healthy lifestyle
• Digital Maxim ($2,500) – providing regional books in eBook format for all popular eReader devices to serve the needs of immigrant populations living in developed countries.

Applebaum Dare to Dream Assessment Grants of $1,500 were awarded to:

• EVStation – investigating the feasibility of a business delivering a platform for electric vehicle charging station access
• Thrively – investigating the feasibility of a business establishing online platform for professionals to share feedback
• Torch Hybrid Marine Systems – investigating the feasibility of a business based on hybrid-electric marine propulsion systems

Mayleben Family Venture Shaping Grants of $500 were awarded to:

• AudioCode – addressing an opportunity utilizing smartphone technology
• AutoEat – addressing a pain in the restaurant industry
• DrankBank.com – addressing the issue of connecting campus area businesses to student populations
• Footnotes – addressing an opportunity to improve the impact of events among attendees
• Google but Vocal – addressing the issue of connecting rural Indian populations to information
• Ritmosim – investigating opportunity to develop novel solution to spinal orthoses
• Shutterhub – addressing a pain in the consumer photography market
• StudentKit – addressing a need for targeted communication among university student populations
• YourCall – addressing a pain in the sports entertainment industry
• YouTrivia – investigating novel approach to online marketing

It gives us great pleasure to announce that the Michigan team at the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) placed first in the Mountain Division during the regional semi-finals held on February 10 at the University of Colorado. The team, which consists of Sachin Agarwal (MBA 2012), Kwesi Buabeng (MBA 2012), Steve Davidson (MBA 2013), Abhishek Kakani (MBA 2012), and George Tan (MBA 2012), beat out competitors from Rice, Chicago, Kellogg, Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

VCIC is an annual international educational event for MBAs to learn about venture funding. Now in its 15t^h year, VCIC is a very powerful learning experience during which students are the investors, and real entrepreneurs pitch to them while over a dozen VCs serve as judges. It’s a win-win-win experience: students learn (and win cash), entrepreneurs connect with investors and VCs get an early peek at some viable deals.

Coached by Tom Porter, Manager of the School’s Frankel Commercialization Fund, the Michigan team will be heading to the VCIC international finals on April 12-14 at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC. Good luck!

On Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Facebook filed their prospectus, which was highly anticipated for the startup turned social network giant. On the day the document was filed, Peter was featured on MSNBC as a source for the article, “Facebook offers plenty of reasons not to like its shares.” Peter analyzed the risk factors including the unknown total value of the company, and “restrictions on getting into China, which could hamper its growth.” Peter also compared Facebook to Groupon explaining, “if Facebook can keep costs down that’s good.”

The next day, Peter was featured in Forbes and VentureBeat. In Forbes, “Facebook Valuation: We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know,” Peter brought insight into how the value of Facebook may be affected by information not available in the prospectus such as the challenge to improve the click-through rate as well as the overseas laws which prohibit detailed data about users, which could impact future target-marketing. He concludes, “Careful analysis of the risks associated with its revenue streams almost certainly will mean that the hype and recent growth rates cannot be sustained, and that the initial offering will not be reflective of its valuation going forward.”

Peter was also featured in VentureBeat’s article, “What Facebook isn’t telling you about its risky ad business.” Peter argued, “Facebook, for its part, partially alluded to this potential risk in the S-1, but didn’t do so in a way that provided full transparency to would-be investors.”

VentureBeat had a follow up article, Facebook worth $94B, private market says, about the dollar value of Facebook. Peter pointed out, “the $100 billion number that has been circulated so widely… is all based on 5 percent of the shares being worth potentially $5 billion.”

While Peter provided expert opinion on the Facebook IPO, Tim Faley offered his perspective on entrepreneurial education. “Entrepreneurs are only taught half the lesson” focuses on how entrepreneurial education is incomplete and ends with a hopeful call to action for business schools to offer more well-rounded entrepreneurial curriculums. Tim’s opinion has spurred additional commentary responses such as this reaction in the Financial Times.

Check out the articles in their entirety below:

·         MSNBC

·         Forbes

·         VentureBeat

·         VentureBeat Follow Up

·         Financial Times

It takes a lot of practice and coaching to learn what’s needed. At the Zell Lurie Institute students can get involved in the Michigan Business Challenge – a multi-stage, campus-wide business plan competition – that requires business plan component deliverables due as teams move further along the competition track or the Dare to Dream program offering funding to explore an idea, research the business potential, develop a business plan, and launch. Both programs provide the opportunity for students to team up with other entrepreneurially minded students from across campus to move a business idea forward and to receive one-on-one coaching from Institute staff.

Having a great business idea needs a great pitch to succeed and a key component for any pitch begins with learning how to succinctly plant the seed to start a longer discussion.  Professor Tom Kinnear has some interesting thoughts on the topic.  Tom is also the Executive Director of the Zell Lurie Institute as well as an investor, board member or founder in starting 11 companies.  One piece of advice he has for distinguishing your pitch is to communicate “what it is you are trying to do – that’s big and solves a problem [pain] not currently solved by others.”

Following are key components of a successful pitch:

• A successful pitch conveys the passion of the speaker and clearly articulates the market need. It is well-crafted and rehearsed and stays on time. It is the beginning of a longer discussion that piques the interest of your audience and ultimately convinces them to continue the conversation.  The best feedback after a pitch is “tell me more.”

• The ultimate goal of the pitch is to communicate, succinctly but adequately, the service or product you offer as well as describes the solution of how you are going to solve ‘the pain’ and your product’s/service’s unique, value-add offering.

• The content of your pitch should not only address the problem that needs solving and the product or service that will solve it, but also the customer, the market, how the company will make money, the competition, and the company’s competitive advantage. Together this information should foreshadow the future potential of your startup.

Always remember that you are in front of investors and business leaders who often serve as judges and who have the potential to serve as mentors or future board members or to provide initial funding as you grow and develop your business.  Whether or not you take top prize, the competition experience, as well as the coaching you receive and the connections you make among other teams and with the judges are all ways to develop your entrepreneurial skills and knowledge while earning your degree.

It also offers a peek into a lighter side of the business, including: the famous entrepreneur who decided not to buy a third of Apple for $50,000 in 1977; venture capitalist Arthur Rock raising $3 million to start Intel with just a one-page, typo-filled business plan; and the first genetically engineered bacteria being transported from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a Genentech investor’s pocket.

Refreshments will be served following the movie and the event is sponsored by Jaffe Raitt Heuer and Weiss and the Michigan Venture Capital Association. This film will not be shown in theaters. Public welcome.

MGCS features programming and opportunities for startups and venture capitalists. Since 2000, more than three-hundred companies have presented at the Symposium and about 70% of those companies have gone on to raise capital totaling more than $1.7 billion in investments.

Applicants should be privately-held companies from a range of industries and seeking $500,000 to $20 million in funding. For any company that presents, there is a valuable opportunity to pitch their business to venture capitalists, angel investors and institutional investors. Another valuable tool is that presenting companies have access to expert coaching, preparation assistance, exhibit space, and investors all in one place.

The early application deadline is February 23 and the final deadline is March 6 at midnight. Presenting companies will be independently selected by a committee of qualified venture capitalists from across the U.S. The selected companies will be notified on April 5. The application, as well as registration and sponsorship information, can be found on the Symposium’s website, www.MichiganGCS.com.

This competition simulates the multi-phase business development and planning process required to commercialize a great idea, while also providing mentoring at every step in the process. In the past decade alone, over 500 teams have participated in the Michigan Business Challenge where they have received nearly $375,000 in prize money. Many earn enough seed funding in this and subsequent business plan competitions to fuel a successful launch and at times, attract sizable Series A investments.

Semi-finalists were named on Friday, Jan. 20 they are:

• @Fingertips – Building a device that enables the blind to use modern touch-screens on smartphones and other devices
• ASK Interfaces – Designing a user interface for mobile devices for individuals with fine motor control disabilities
• AutoBike – Designing a user-friendly automatic shifting system for recreational bicyclists
• Converge Medical Technologies – Creating a neuro-monitoring device would allow improved evaluation of patient sedation and awareness in surgery and in the critical care unit
• Fashion Forward Maternity – An online boutique for women to rent high quality and designer maternity fashions
• Stride Sports – Designing and manufacturing fitness and exercise equipment
• Surf-face – Mobile dating application that leverages Facebook to facilitate meaningful connections
• thru.im – Mobile website that lets customers transact with any business via free text messaging

The semi-finals and finals will take place on Friday, Feb. 17, during which the eight semi-finalist teams will present their entire business plans to judges. Following the semi-finals that day, four finalists will be selected to discuss their businesses with a panel of professional investors during a 30 minute interactive session. The winning teams for the Challenge and the Winter 2012 recipients of Dare to Dream grants will be announced during an evening reception at the Ross School of Business. For more information, see www.zli.bus.umich.edu.

The Venture Shaping program will serve as a perfect stepping stone between two of the University’s top existing entrepreneurial grant programs. As the newest part of the Institute’s well-established Dare to Dream grant program, Venture Shaping will allow student teams to participate in an action-based, three-step process to measure the potential value of their business in the market.  These measurements include: a directed discovery, value system synthesis and profiting from capabilities (PFC) framework evaluation.  At the end of the iterative process, students will have a clear description of a business that will solve a validated market need, as well as tangible insight into its commercial promise.

Twenty-five student teams will be awarded cash prizes to take their idea to the next step in the business development process, with guidance from Institute faculty and potential cash infusions from more advanced phases of the Dare to Dream program. Visit http://www.zli.bus.umich.edu/events_programs/ for further details on upcoming deadlines and how to participate.

“Bringing our region’s top entrepreneurial educators together is the best way to ensure we maximize every opportunity for students throughout Michigan to create meaningful entrepreneurial ventures, impact start-up development, or innovate within a corporate environment,” said Managing Director of the Zell Lurie Institute Tim Faley.

At the University of Michigan, the Forum represents another way the Zell Lurie Institute, a part of Michigan Ross, is delivering on the long term vision of Sam Zell to catalyze the proliferation of entrepreneurship throughout the greater Michigan region and the entire country. The group will next meet in May. For more details about Friday’s forum, check out the Xconomy article.