2006-2007 1st Annual $50K Entrepreneurship Competition Overview

Providing a collaborative environment, the UCSD Entrepreneurship Competition facilitates relationships that intend to lead to successful business ventures. The competition is open to everyone as long as there is at least one member that is a UCSD student. The competition features two stand-alone phases: Phase 1 - Business Concept Competition in the Fall, and Phase 2 - the Executive Summary Competition in the Winter and Business Plan Competition in the Spring Quarter.

In the Fall Quarter, $50K events support the idea of entrepreneurship to students on campus, encouraging those people that might not normally think to commercialize their ideas to meet people with expertise in commercial areas. Concepts of intellectual property and regulatory processes are covered. Individuals are encouraged to start forming teams, facilitated with our online team-matching database. At the end this quarter, the teams submit their one page business concepts and undergo a live "elevator pitch" round of judging.

In the Winter Quarter of the competition, the competitors further develop their ideas and the educational seminars focus on marketing and the commercialization process. At the conclusion of this quarter the competitors present a three page Executive Summary. Finalists from this phase of the competition are encouraged to apply to the CONNECT Springboard program, for more intensive business mentoring and coaching.

In the third and final phase of the competition occurring during the Spring Quarter, teams undergo intensive business plan education, including one-on-one sessions with their Mentors. Teams submit a detailed business plan slide deck and the semi-finalists present their plans to our panel of distinguished judges at a fi nal live-judging ceremony. Through several rounds of judging, the most promising team is selected and receives the first prize of $30K, with two other promising teams receiving $10K each.

The $50k Organizing Team

• Front Row (Left to Right): Neha Patadia, Nicole Justis Truitt 
• Second Row (holding sign, from Left to Right): Yalda Sedaghat, Peter Chang, Tom Cohen, John Yamauchi, Smita Pathak, Rita Finones.
• Back Row (Left to Right): Jason Lanier, Warren Tseng, Jason Tongbai, Kevin Hsieh, Diego Nino, Michael Song, Stephen Cheng, James Cregg, Guille Hoefel, Jeff Wang, Scott Saiget

In 2006-2007 over 70 teams consisting of 1-6 members competed in the inaugural $50k Entrepreneurship competition. The following winning teams were selected by TIN's esteemed panel of judges, representing the spectrum of San Diego's entrepreneurial community, from nanotech to biotech, from Venture Capitalists to attorneys to business executives.

Business Plan Competition 1st place: Omega Sensors
$30,000 Award

• Brad Chisum: M.B.A., SDSU
• Craig Braun: 2007 M.B.A., UCSD Rady School of Management
• Nick Rhea: M.B.A., SDSU

Omega Sensors Incorporated (OSI) is commercializing highly advanced MEMS (Micro- Electro-Mechanical Systems) displacement sensors developed at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR). OSI claims this technology will be the first low cost high performance sensor and will disrupt multiple markets ranging from oil exploration to

Business Plan Competition 2nd place: AlisTech
$10,000 Award

• Nicholas A. Boyle, Ph.D., 2007 M.B.A., UCSD Rady School of Management
• Brian Guzik, Ph.D., 2007 M.B.A., UCSD Rady School of Management
• Vanee Pho, Ph.D., 2007 M.B.A., UCSD Rady School of Management
• Mike Sitzman. 2007 M.B.A., UCSD Rady School of Management
• William Warner. 2007 M.B.A., UCSD Rady School of Management

AlisTech is currently developing a proprietary combination treatment of cancer therapy induced ulceration (mucositis). Th e AlisTech strategy is to use canine cancer patients as models for human drug development, maintaining rights for the veterinary market while licensing human applications to major pharmaceutical companies.

Business Plan Competition 3rd place: ImageAware
$10,000 + 50% TechTIPS topper = $15,000 Award

• David Anderson: 2007 M.S. in Computer Science, UCSD
• Jeff Wang: 2007 Master's in Computer Science graduate, UCSD

ImageAware is developing a fully automated brand monitoring service for Internet video to enable brand-monitoring companies to monitor new media channels. ImageAware's mission is to monitor brands and corporate identity across all new online media channels, providing early warning to our partners when brands are under attack. UCSD Technology.

Business Plan Competition Finalist: NeuroVigil

• Philip Low: Graduate Student in the Computational Neurobiology Program, UCSD
• Dr. Terrence Sejnowski: Professor of Computational Neurobiology, Salk Institute and UCSD

Neurovigil has developed a technology that accurately analyzes an entire night of sleep data in under a minute using a single channel of EEG. NeuroVigil's goal is to provide an internet-based service allowing individuals to accurately diagnose their sleep patterns in the comfort of their own homes and avoid protracted and expensive hospital stays.

Business Plan Competition Finalist: Nemasys Pharmaceuticals

• James Lu: Pharmacological Chemistry, UCSD
• Dr. David Minh: recent Ph.D. graduate in Physical Chemistry, UCSD
• Dr. Raffi Aroian: Assistant Professor, Biology, UCSD
• Dr. Michael Capello: Professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, Yale University

Nemasys Pharmaceuticals is developing a Bt crystal protein worm treatment for use in the sheep industry, whose viability has been threatened by the emergence of drug-resistant nematode worms. Future product applications will involve treatments for worms in goats, horses, cattle, and eventually human beings. UCSD technology.

Fall Quarter Business Concept winner: SolASE Corporation
$1,000 Award

• Joshua Windmiller: 2007 B.S. in Electrical Engineering, UCSD
• Sam Litvin: 2007 B.S. in Electrical Engineering and B.S. in Physics, UCSD
• Ashkan Arianpour: 2007 B.S. in Electrical Engineering, UCSD
• James McCanna: 2006 B.S. in Electrical Engineering, UCSD

SolASE is a photovoltaic company developing a revolutionary nanoscale thin-fi lm solar cell using proprietary, patent-pending technology.