Clean tech shines at annual UW Business Plan competition

It started with 90 business plans. Now, it's down to five. The University of Washington's annual business plan competition is in full swing today as young minds from around the region vie for $60,000 in prize money. The pressure is intense.

"That was a lot rougher," said finalist Ryan Bergsman after pitching the business plan for Shockmetrics to a panel of 7 judges. His colleague, Erik Roby, admitted that it had been a "hectic" week as they prepared for the competition.

But it paid off, as the medical device maker made it into the final round. Other finalists included Energizing Solutions, HydroSense, Nanocel and Soluxra. In fact, the quality of presentations was so high that the judges accepted a fifth finalist for the first time this year.

Interestingly, four of the five finalists have companies based on technology from the UW's TechTransfer department. And four of the five have technologies in the clean tech or alternative energy arena, including a maker of solar panel cells and a developer of liquid cooling technology for electronics. That didn't surprise Connie Bourassa-Shaw, who said students always are "on the leading edge."

"There's a lot more visibility for these kinds of ideas," said Shaw, executive director of the UW's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. And she noted that students these days are interested in clean tech because they "want to do good while making money."

Daniel Rossi, the co-founder of Nanocel, summarized that view when he offered what could be the catchphrase of the day.

"We are mean, we are lean and we are green," said Rossi, a second year MBA at the UW. Rossi's company -- which is developing a method to cool game consoles, laptops and other electronics -- incorporated earlier this month with help from the law firm of Perkins Coie.

As a new startup, Rossi said they could use the $25,000 grand prize. Asked what he would do with it, Rossi said matter-of-factly: "It will go straight to the lawyers."

The 31-year-old entrepreneur is hopeful that his team will secure the top prize, but they've lost out before. At two recent business plan competitions, Rossi said they finished in second and third place, respectively.

More than 30 judges from the Seattle business community are participating in the event, including Voyager Capital's Bill McAleer, former Internap CEO Tony Naughtin, Ignition's Adrian Smith and NanoString's Amber Ratcliffe. 

I'll update this post later this evening after the winners are announced at an awards ceremony in downtown Seattle.

Nanocel founders Daniel Rossi and Dustin Miller

The founders of Soluxra

UPDATE: Here are the winners from the awards ceremony tonight at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center:

Best Tech Idea: Nanocel

Best Consumer Product: Big Canvas

Best Innovation Idea: Shockmetrics

Best Service/Retail Idea: Ecowell

Best Sustainable Advantage: Sisalwood

Best Clean Tech Idea: HydroSense

$5,000 Finalist Prize: Shockmetrics

$5,000 Finalist Prize: HydroSense

$10,000 Second Place: Energizing Solutions

$25,000 Grand Prize: Nanocel

 

 

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