Competition aids hopeful entrepreneurs

A student team can win $25,000 in venture capital in the Wharton Business Plan Competition. Students who think they have a clever business idea can channel that entrepreneurial spirit into a quick $25,000. That's the grand prize in the the 1999-2000 Wharton Business Plan Competition, which was introduced to a well-packed audience of predominantly Wharton students at an information session in Meyerson Hall yesterday. This will be the second year for the competition, which is sponsored by Safeguard Scientifics, a venture capital firm in the suburbs of Philadelphia. "Our first year was a huge success," former Business Plan Competition Events Director David Pingarn said. "We're expecting even bigger and better things this year." Last year, the competition produced such hot new companies as PayMyBills.com -- which became successful with the help of funding from the investment firm Idealab -- and first place-winning radioXchange, a company that provides an electronic marketplace for the radio industry. Mark Fraga, former managing director of the competition and current director of the Wharton Entrepreneurial Program, explained the various vagaries of the competition. He walked the audience through the three stages of the competition, the final Venture Fair and the eligibility criteria, which have been slightly modified this year. In the first stage, groups submit a three-page business concept. The top 50 teams are chosen to move on to the second phase where they develop their product. From there, 25-30 semifinalists advance to the third phase, which includes one-on-one meetings with professional mentors. Finalists then present their plan to a distinguished panel who will decide on awards on May 1 at the Venture Fair. Last year, several students had to be turned away in late December because they hadn't participated in the first stage in late October. But this year the core committee changed that stipulation and decided that students would be able to join the competition in the second stage. Additionally, whereas last year each group competing in the first phase had to have at least one Wharton student among it, this year a team can apply for the first phase without having a Wharton student aboard. The team must have a Wharton student to be eligible for the second phase. As evident from the introductory meeting, many students were enthusiastic about the competition. Students in the Operations and Information Management 399 class might develop an information technology business plan and work on it as a class project. "I'd like to make it to the top 50 teams," said Wharton senior Jerilyn Keit, who noted that she already had a group of four other Wharton students in her team. And first-year MBA student Hermann Calabria said, "It's a fantastic opportunity for all the students at Penn." Organizers are currently encouraging students to offer suggestions for a new name for the competition to set it apart from similar competitions held at other universities. They are even offering a $50 prize to the student whose suggestion is finally incorporated. A similar, but more elaborate info session will be held October 12.