Des Moines Business Record
03/12/06
Pappajohn competition rewards students’ innovation
By Erin Morain
erinmorain@bpcdm.com
For Matt Heying, it meant nearly a year of developing a prototype, and two
sleepless nights in front of the computer writing his business plan.
But in the end, it also meant $5,000 and an opportunity to move forward with
RoboTrucker, his entrepreneurial endeavor.
A graduate student studying human-computer interaction at Iowa State
University, Heying was one of three finalists in the 2006 Pappajohn New
Venture Business Plan Competition, which awards seed money to three
individuals or teams of entrepreneurs enrolled in undergraduate or graduate-level
programs in Iowa.
Each of the state’s five John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers hosts a regional
competition and can select up to three finalists for the statewide competition,
which this year was held in conjunction with the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Iowa
Conference on March 3. Twelve finalists pitched their business plans to
Pappajohn, the competition’s funder and one of the state’s leading venture
capitalists, as well as members of his staff at Equity Dynamics Inc. The plans are
judged on their content and viability, and Judi Eyles, assistant director of the
JPEC at Iowa State, said entries that are very innovative tend to do well.
This year’s other winners are:
* Matt Swanson, Peter Wong, James Marshall and Tony Ross, juniors majoring
in computer engineering at Iowa State. Their business, R5 Solutions, is a
software company that creates development tools for software programmers.
Their most recent development tool is Synergy, a collaborative text editor.
* Govindarajan Veeraraghavan and Omer Mermer, University of Iowa students
who founded OMR Sensors Inc. Through the company, they intend to develop
prototype “interactive display” applications, with manufacturing licenses given to
leaders in the field of electronic flat-panel displays.
“Each year, the plans get better and better and more competitive,” Eyles said.
“For some reason, the level of ability demonstrated gets higher.”
Heying landed seed money to help fund the development of RoboTrucker, a
device for the commercial trucking industry that produces visual evidence of an
accident. (The recording mechanism is the same as that which inflates a
vehicle’s airbags.) He said the device will produce significant savings for the
motor carrier and its insurance company when an insurance dispute arises.
“I was nervous,” he said of the competition. “But going into it, even before I wrote
the first draft of the business plan, I had a feeling I was going to win. Just from
past years, it seemed like it was these mom-and-pop business plans, and I
actually had a prototype built and I had a reason I needed the money in the first
place.”
Heying intends to complete his prototype this spring and then find a trucking
company that will agree to test it on a portion of its fleet.
“It sounds bad, but hopefully one of the trucks gets into an accident with
(RoboTrucker) on board and then we have a case study and we can tell people
about the return on investment,” he said. “I’ve driven around with it in my truck,
but it wouldn’t really work unless I crashed into something.”
Heying’s strategy for his company is to develop a product, manage it until it
becomes profitable and then sell it. He and a partner are planning to apply to the
U.S. Department of Transportation for a grant through its Small Business
Innovation and Research program. If they receive a grant, they intend to develop
a program that would monitor truck driver fatigue.
Though Heying likely would have continued with his plans for RoboTrucker
regardless of the competition’s outcome, his $5,000 seed grant allowed him to
pay off the $2,500 worth of credit card debt he incurred in developing his
prototype. In addition, the competition provided him with invaluable experience in
developing a business plan.
“I think for anybody who’s thinking about doing some kind of entrepreneurial
endeavor, win or lose, it’s still a good experience,” he said.
Eyles said most students who enter the competition initially have their eye on
winning the money. But in the end, participants take the most out of the learning
experience, which includes writing a business plan and, in the case of the state
finalists, pitching it to Pappajohn.
“With each step of the way, they become more and more into the project,” Eyles
said. “They own this thing and become very driven and motivated to do a good
job.”
In the six years since the competition was launched, Pappajohn has awarded
more than $75,000 to 18 individuals or teams of entrepreneurs from a variety of
academic backgrounds – about 60 percent are non-business students – with a
variety of business plans, ranging from retail stores and restaurants to pet
products and new technology.
Much of the participation in the competition has been driven by entrepreneurship
programs at the JPECs, colleges and universities. Iowa State offers an
interdisciplinary minor in entrepreneurship, and the University of Iowa offers a
certificate program. Of the Iowa State students who submit business plans for the
competition, Eyles said she is familiar with most of them because of their
involvement in other entrepreneurial programs on campus.
“We have switched from trying to find people to compete to having people
wondering when the next time is to compete,” Eyles said.
2006 FINALISTS
Other finalists in this year’s Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan Competion:
Becky Jackson, Drake University – Mom’s Muffins and More, a family-owned and
-operated bakery. Paul Gratton and Chad Schreck, Drake – Jam Session, an
online music composition collaboration tool.
Carlos Arguello, University of Northern Iowa – CAAL Translation Services, which
provides English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English translation and
interpretation services.
Andrea Boyd, University of Northern Iowa – Bean’s Pawsitive Pet Products,
which provides a healthful alternative for pet owners with all-natural dog treats.
Justin Appenzeller, University of Northern Iowa – Boone County Biodiesel, which
plans to sell B100 biodiesel to truck companies.
Colin Shepard, Iowa State University – AIMSBio, which will license its plant
biotechnology to companies for use in product development
Chris Meade, Tyler Scheppman, Charles Matesi, University of Iowa – The Turi
Group, which created Remote Assurance, a product that equips construction
sites with Internet cameras for around-the-clock monitoring to protect against
theft.
Mike Hubbard, David Oliver, University of Iowa – LiveinIowaCity.com, a Web site
that allows landlords to reach renters faster and more often.
Judith Ann Willemssen, North Iowa Area Community College – Cedar Valley
Ranch, which provides various types of horse boarding, as well as horse sales
and riding instruction.
PAPPAJOHN CENTERS LAUNCH NEW COMPETITION
After six years of handing out money to collegiate entrepreneurs, venture
capitalist John Pappajohn has created a new statewide competition to stimulate
business development among a broader set of entrepreneurs.
The John Pappajohn Iowa Business Plan Competition, funded by Pappajohn
and open to Iowans age 18 or older, will award a total of $50,000 to three startup companies.
“We think this is an exciting opportunity for businesses and one more reason for
them to step forward, or for people with an idea to see if they can make it a
reality,” said Jamie Zanios, director of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial
Center at North Iowa Area Community College. “And that’s certainly the goal of
(Pappajohn) and the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers throughout Iowa:
to stimulate entrepreneurship.”
The competition is sponsored by the state’s five Pappajohn Entrepreneurial
Centers, Pappajohn and his company, Equity Dynamics Inc., with assistance
from the state’s Small Business Development Centers and business accelerators
and incubators in Ames, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Davenport and Mason City.
Business plans will be accepted April 1 through June 30 and will be initially
screened at the JPEC at the University of Iowa. The best plans will be selected
for further review by the judging panel, and the finalists will present their plans to
Pappajohn, who will announce the awards at the 2006 Venture Capital and
Entrepreneur Conference in the fall. Awards will be given in the amount of
$25,000 for first place, $15,000 for second and $10,000 for third.
“If we can stimulate that business plan development and those businesses get
launched, even if they don’t win the money, that doesn’t mean they’re not going
to be a good business,” Zanios said.
For more information, including rules and eligibility, visit
www.iowabusinessplancompetition.com.