Michigan Business Challenge - 2008 Competitions

Overview | Format | Awards | 2008 MBC Winners | 2007 Intercollegiate Winners | 2008 Competitions

Intercollegiate competitions provide further opportunities for students to refine their plans, expand their networks, receive funding, or learn about other aspects of their entrepreneurial venture.

The competitors at these events come from all over the world. In order to maintain the high level of competition, each host university invites a limited number of other business schools to select a student team to apply to its competition. Students from the Ross School of Business are eagerly courted through the Institute due to the reputation of the University of Michigan and past student success.

Other competitions accept applications directly from students. For those competitions, teams should follow the links given and apply according to the hosts' rules and guidelines for consideration. Unlike the competitions that require an invitation to apply, the host school selects which teams to invite to the competition which may include mulitiple or no Michigan teams. Teams must notifity the Institute at the time of application in order to be considered for reimbursement of travel expenses for current University of Michigan students.

Competitions with confirmed teams

Idea to Product Competition University of Texas - Austin		Commercialization competition Thursday, November 1
Potentia manufactures a microfabricated battery-replacement component to generate power by scavenging environmental energy. Ruba Borno (Ph.D. ’08) and Tzeno Galchev (Ph.D. ’09) placed 3rd in this competition and received $2500.
ABI Corporate Restructuring Competition Northwestern University		Corporate restructuring competition Thursday November 8
Rishi Das (MBA '08), Himayat Khan, James Lynch (MBAs '09), and Shripal Meghani (MBA '08) competed in this competition to solve a complex bankruptcy and restructuring problem for a hypothetical company before a panel of crisis experts.
Venture Capital Investment Competition University of Colorado		Investment competition Friday, February 8
Ryan Baxter, Nathan Bosco, Punit Chiniwalla, David Forsythe, Catherine Lee (MBAs '08) competed in this competition and received the Entrepreneurs' Choice Award and $500.
Cardinal Challenge University of Louisville		Graduate business plan competition Friday, February 22
Slow Kitchen Post operates an internet retail service that delivers healthy, artisanal food to customers’ homes. Robert Fetter (MBA ’08) and Glenn Tarcea (MBA ’09) competed in this competition and received $750.
Clean Tech Venture Challenge University of Colorado		Sustainable business plan competition Thursday, February 27
Potentia manufactures a microfabricated battery-replacement component to generate power by scavenging environmental energy. Ruba Borno (Ph.D. ’08), Rishiraj Das (MBA ’08), and Tzeno Galchev (Ph.D. ’09) placed 1st in this competition and received $15,000. Forest Eye Delivers forest inventory assessment and asset utilization recommendations using remote sensing technologies for forestland owners. Brewster Boyd (MBA/MS '09) placed 2nd in this competition and received $10,000. Cymergy generates energy from waste heat gases emitted by industrial complexes that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Harsh Nahar (MBA ’08) placed 3rd in this competition and received $5,000. EnDep applies a configuration to off-the-shelf components to create a conversion package that enables hybrid vehicle owners to plug their cars in at home in order to increase fuel efficiency and reduce reliance on gasoline. Arie Jongejan and Tom Leahy (MBA/MSs '10) placed 4th in this competition and received $1,000.
Spirit of Enterprise Competition University of Cincinnati		Business plan competition Thursday, February 28
Army Property develops a secure, online, multi-user inventory management system for individuals in the Armed Forces to organize, delegate, and account the military equipment that they are responsible for. Angelo Adams, Ambra Heard, and Sherman Powell (MBAs '08) placed 1st in this competition and received $10,000 with an automatic entry to Moot Corp.
Northwest Venture Championship Boise State University		Business plan competition Thursday, March 6
Project Freestyle offers social networking services for soccer enthusiasts. Aly Juma, Brent Medema (B.S.s ’08), Chris Mwakasisi (B.S. ’09), and Michael Parke (B.S. ’08) competed in this competition.
McGinnis Venture Competition Carnegie Mellon University		Business plan competition Thursday, March 13
ePack Corp provides high volume, high yield, batch mode micro-device packaging for semiconductor manufacturers. Jay Stewart Mitchell (Ph.D ’08), Sang Woo Lee, and Akshai Rao (MBA ’08) competed in this competition. Blaze develops devices for measuring the degradation of blood quality during storage. Michael Tarasev (MBA ’08) competed in this competition.
Venture Challenge San Diego State University		Business plan competition Thursday, March 27
Audiallo designs and develops hearing instruments around a new audio signal microprocessor technology. Aaron Nelson (MBA/MA ’09) placed 2nd in this competition and received $3,500.
The Elevator Competition Wake Forest University		Elevator pitch competition Friday, March 28
Potentia manufactures a microfabricated battery-replacement component to generate power by scavenging environmental energy. Ruba Borno (Ph.D. ’08), Rishiraj Das (MBA ’08), and Tzeno Galchev (Ph.D. ’09) placed 1st in this competition and received an automatic entry to Moot Corp..
Nascent 500 Ball State University		Undergraduate business plan competition Friday, March 28
VidFlips combines aspects of Facebook, JumpCut, YouTube and iMovie in a new online product for users to record events in a personalized manner. Jared Ailstock (B.A. ’08), Andrew Baron, Alice Chen, Tara Colli, Richard Lam, and Mark Thompson (BBAs ’08) competed in this competition.
Social Venture Capital Investment Competition University of North Carolina		Investment competition Friday, March 28
Jennifer Anderson, Erin Cready, Andy Davis (MBAs '08), Nina Henning (MS/MBA '09), and Vikram Vaishya (MBA '08) placed 2nd in this competition and received $1,000.
Stuart Clark Venture Challenge University of Manitoba		Business plan competition Thursday, April 3
Org Org offers an internet tool for organizations to manage and communicate with their members and for members to define their interests in the organization while networking with and discovering other organizations. Jennifer Anderson, Abhishek Gopalka, Lauren Rosenthal, Heath Silverman, and Sriram Viji (MBAs ’08) competed in this competition.
Business Plan Competition Rice University		Business plan competition Thursday, April 3
Potentia manufactures a microfabricated battery-replacement component to generate power by scavenging environmental energy. Ruba Borno (Ph.D. ’08), Rishiraj Das (MBA ’08), and Tzeno Galchev (Ph.D. ’09) received the 2nd place Sustainability Award, 4th place Elevator Pitch, and 5th place in the Wildcard Round for a total of $6,500.
New Ventures World Competition University of Nebraska		Business plan competition Thursday, April 10
VidFlips combines aspects of Facebook, JumpCut, YouTube and iMovie in a new online product for users to record events in a personalized manner. Jared Ailstock (B.A. ’08) and Mark Thompson (BBAs ’08) placed 4th in the undergraduate competition. Hitchsters operates a service that connects travelers going to and from airports so that they can share a cab and split the fare. Catherine Lee (MBA ’08), Jason Lin (MBA ’09), and Sriram Viji (MBA ’08) placed 3rd in the graduate competition.
International Business Plan Competition University of San Francisco		Business plan competition Thursday, April 24
GIDEON provides CAD software that enables and accelerates nanotechnology research and development. Mark Birac, Katie Miller (MBAs ’09), and Ankit Shah will compete in this competition.
MOOT CORP Competition University of Texas, Austin		Business plan competition Wednesday, April 30
ePack Corp provides high volume, high yield, batch mode micro-device packaging for semiconductor manufacturers. Razi Haque (MBA '09), Jay Stewart Mitchell (Ph.D ’08), and Akshai Rao (MBA ’08) will compete in this competition. Potentia manufactures a microfabricated battery-replacement component to generate power by scavenging environmental energy. Ruba Borno (Ph.D. ’08), Rishiraj Das (MBA ’08), and Tzeno Galchev (Ph.D. ’09) will compete in this competition.

Available business plan competitions
These competitions often resemble the final rounds of the Michigan Business Challenge. A panel of judges reviews the business plan document, critiques the investor pitch, and awards prizes. Students advance through a a series of rounds and may even be asked to create a trade show presentation. These competitions are usually multi-day events; the day listed is the first day of the event.

Quick Pitch University of Michigan - FuturTech		Elevator pitch competition. Friday, January 25
All interested students may apply directly to this elevator pitch competition hosted by FutureTech at the University of Michigan by sending an email to murcan@umich.edu by January 13.
Entrepreneurial Ventures Harvard Business School		Minority business plan competition Saturday, February 23
All interested students apply directly to this business plan competition by sending an executive summary to the hosts by January 7. Teams must have at least one minority student on their team to qualify.
International Business Plan Competition Hong Kong University of Science and Technology		Business plan competition Thursday, April 17
All interested students may apply directly to this business plan competition located in Hong Kong by submitting an executive summary by February 18.
Global Social Venture Competition University of California - Berkeley		Business plan competition Thursday, April 17
All interested students may apply directly to this competition focused on businesses with an emphasis on social goals by submitting an executive summary by January 16.
Venture Adventure Colorado State University		Undergraduate business plan competition Friday, April 18
Currently no Michigan competitor. Contact the Institute if interested.
Jungle Business Plan Challenge Jungle Media Group, New York		Business plan competition April '08
All interested students apply directly to this business plan competition sponsored by Jungle Magazine.
BMEidea Competition Virtual competition		Commercialization competition June '08
All interested students may apply directly to this competition focused on the commercialization of biotechnology.
Boomer Venture Summit Santa Clara University		Business plan competition Tuesday, June 17
All interested students apply directly to this business plan competition focused on business supporting the baby boomer generation by submitting an executive summary by April 25.
Global Business Plan Competition Singapore Management University		Intercollegiate business plan competition August '08
All interested undergraduate students may apply directly to this business plan competition located in Singapore. Dates to 2008 have not yet been announced.

The traditional case competition for the Ross School of Business are coordinated through the Office of Student Life. If you have questions about these events or know of other competitions that should be added to the list, please email the Institute at zlicontact@umich.edu.

2007-08 Business Plan Competitions Poster
This zip file is 12MB and contains a 16MB pdf file that may be downloaded for printing at your location. Poster size: 24" x 36".