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BYU student start-up Property Solutions was announced today as one of twelve finalists in the National Institute for Entrepreneurship`s Venture Bowl 2004. With hundreds of entrants, Venture Bowl is the nation`s largest college business plan competition. All twelve finalist teams, including BYU students David Bateman and Benjamin Zimmer, will be brought to New York on April 24th to compete for a shot at winning a funding offer, and one fortunate person will be crowned Forbes Magazine`s Future Capitalist. The Grand Prize winning team will open The NASDAQ Stock Market on Tuesday, April 27th at 9:30 a.m., which will be televised to millions around the globe.
"This is the third year for the Venture Bowl, and the quality of the participants is the best we`ve seen," comments Suzanne Isack, Executive Director of The National Institute for Entrepreneurship, adding, "We`re not only impressed by the teams and their plans, we`re equally impressed by how much support we`ve received from universities across the country."
Teams will present their plans to a celebrated panel of judges made up of distinguished business and thought leaders, including: Adriane Antler, Jones Day; Enlai Chu, Ancer Pharmaceuticals; Dr. Santanu Das, TransSwitch Corporation; Brian Le Gette, 180°s(tm), LLC; Andrea Macdonald, MacDonald Media; Andrew Maslow, Esq., Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Tom Potter, The Brooklyn Brewery; Paul Sun, President; Motia, Inc.; Chad Troutwine, VeritasPrep; and Julius Walls, Jr., Greyston Bakery.
"There`s been a lot of talk lately about the lack of new job creation. It`s been a pivotal issue in this election year. The fact is, though, small businesses generate some 75 percent of all new jobs," says David Geliebter, a serial entrepreneur and Managing Partner of Carrot Capital, a principal sponsor of Venture Bowl. "It`s initiatives like the Venture Bowl, that are nurturing and encouraging young people to pursue the American Dream of starting a business. Michael Dell started his made-to-order computer business from his college dorm room. FedEx started as a business plan Fred Smith wrote for a Yale University class. There are hundreds of similar success stories, Netscape, Yahoo, Cisco Systems, and the list goes on."
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