Launch - Winter 2007 - (Page 20)

The company has raised more than $1 million in funding. They won $250,000 by taking first runner-up from the 2004 National Institute for Entrepreneurship’s Venture Bowl, the nation’s largest university business plan competition. They beat more than 300 teams from national graduate and doctoral programs. Funding stopped when they became profitable in 2007. Property Solutions now has approximately 400 customers in the multi-family space, and approximately 4,000 customers in the apartment space. “Although revenue growth is strong, we feel we’ve only started to scratch the surface,” Bateman says. “There is a lot of room for growth.” Calle www.callesoccer.com The idea for Calle was born in July 2005 when Josh Robbins, Travis Winn and Steve Magleby turned their passion for street soccer into a business. The three based their business idea on their collective experiences living in Brazil, Spain and other places around the world where street soccer is common. The name Calle means “street” in Spanish. In this sport, convenience reigns. Players compete wherever it’s most convenient — not just in a soccer field, and use whatever goal is most convenient — a garbage can, for instance, would do the job. In addition, team sizes are flexible. Before long, Calle soon became a global brand with products ranging from hats and apparel to Calle soccer balls. Calle won first place in the 2007 BPC and was awarded with $50,000. Until that point, they had been operating on family loans. “The competition was definitely one of the most beneficial things we have done,” says Robbins, director of finance. “We found holes to fix to make the company better.” After winning the BPC, the Calle co-founders realized that competitions were a great way to obtain funding for their company. They subsequently entered and won $5,000 as a runner-up (essentially second place) in the University of Utah’s Utah Entrepreneur Challenge (UEC), plus an additional $5,000 for in-kind services. Calle was also one of three finalists that qualified as a student team, and one of six finalists overall in the Fortune Small Business business plan competition. The company began making a big push to sell their products to retail businesses in May, and, within five months, made $102,000. At press time, Calle’s products are in 39 stores in the United States and Canada, with new stores being added weekly. “It’s catching on for sure,” Robbins says. “I went to the grocery store yesterday and some guy asked me if I played ‘calle’ and told me that his friends play all of the time.” to two-page executive summary of an innovative and marketable idea, not a full business plan. “The University of Utah Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) started Tech Titans as a statewide competition for graduates and undergraduates to really educate them about the integration between science and business,” says TCO Director Brian Cummings. While the individual cash prizes are smaller than BYU’s BPC and the UEC, the less restrictive entry rules encourage more and different students to compete. Scott Duvall, a finalist in the competition, was among approximately 100 competitors from eight different Utah colleges and universities. Though he did not win, Cummings said Duvall really stood out as a finalist. Duvall, a doctoral student at the University of Utah School of Medicine, was frustrated that so many student presentations were placed on posters, then thrown away soon after. He proposed a technology that would allow individuals to save their posters as searchable documents. For example, a poster explaining published research and showing 500 data points on a graph would be saved in a manner that a researcher could actually see the details of the data points. This way, Duvall says, “The research can live on … it’s academic poster preservation.” “His idea was really novel and we felt he should be thinking about the next steps in his idea,” Cummings says. The TCO provided him with market research and mentors, so that Duvall could become an equity holder and a key decision maker in his idea without having to worry about the aspects of business that did not appeal to him. The TCO also handles the legal aspects of the business. Duvall founded Trapeze Media Solutions in September. It recently won a University of Utah Next Stage Micro-Grant, which allowed it to finish development. The company was also selected by the Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah to do market research. Trapeze will also be attending its first medical conferences this year. Wasatch Microfluidics www.microfl.com When Wasatch Microfluidics won $40,000 by taking first place in the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge (UEC) in 2005, Josh Eckman, Bruce Gale and Jim Smith got the funding they needed to start their company sooner than expected. Initially, Eckman approached University of Utah professor Bruce Gale about a patent that Gale had filed. The two decided to start a company, beginning with a business plan in late 2004. While turning to the Lassonde New Venture Development Center and center director Troy D’Ambrosio for help with market research and other assistance, Eckman met Smith, who then became a co-founder in the company. Wasatch Microfluidics is a technology that allows researchers to print biomolecules on surfaces using microfluidics. This technology allows researchers to study how different molecules, like DNA and proteins, react to each other. The company began building prototypes in spring 2005 in partnership with the University of Utah medical school. They have now Trapeze Media Solutions www.trapezemediasolutions.com Last year was the first year of the Tech Titans Innovation Challenge, a state-wide design and idea competition for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a Utah college or university. Unlike with other business competitions, Tech Titans candidates only need a one20 launch winter http://www.callesoccer.com http://www.microfl.com http://www.trapezemediasolutions.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Launch - Winter 2007

Launch - Winter 2007 Contents Editor's Note Dashboard Mentor Column Funding Column Diary Column Sales Column Feature: Moving Forward: College Business Competitions Turn Ideas Into Reality Cover Story: Are Awards Worth the Effort? Company and CEO Awards: Contributing to the Bottom Line or Just Feeding Egos? Entrepreneur Spotlight: Benoy Tamang - Hooksell Entrepreneur Spotlight: Clayton Jenkins - Premium Steam

Launch - Winter 2007

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