Congratulations to the Winners of the First Wiscontrepreneur Whiteboard Challenge!
The UW–Madison Office of Corporate Relations Wiscontrepreneur Program is pleased to announce the winners of the inaugural Wiscontrepreneur Whiteboard Challenge. On November 16th ten UW-Madison students were selected to compete at this first-time event for $600 in cash prizes during Global Entrepreneurship Week. Cash prizes and a reception were sponsored by 5NINES, and Flatt Cola. provided packs of energy drinks for all participants.
Competitors had 5 minutes and the use of a whiteboard to present innovative technology concepts, novel solutions to known problems, new business propositions, or other unique ideas to a panel of five local business owners judging the competition. Notes, props, prototypes, handouts, costumes and all other physical presentation materials or enhancements were prohibited.
Thank you to all 10 finalists for sharing their exciting ideas: Mark Oswald, Gavin Blasczyk, Eli Sonkin, Travis Blomberg, Scott Hatfield, Lucia Angel, Jason Chiange, Vincent Ford, Wally Graeber and Kendra Hill.
Wiscontrepreneur Whiteboard Challenge winners:
- 1st Place – Eli Sonkin, a Junior majoring in Finance, Investment and Banking, presented a Vegetarian Shoes market opportunity.
- 2nd Place (tie) – Kendra Hill, a Graduate Student studying Brand and Product Management, presented an early stage company business proposition for an online competition database.
- 2nd Place (tie) – Jason Chiang, a Graduate Student studying Biomedical Engineering, presented an innovative technology concept for a tumor-specific microwave ablation applicator.
Competitors were judged on the following criteria:
- Does the idea clearly identify a problem or challenge?
- Is a solution clearly identified?
- Is the idea realistic and is there market potential?
- Uniqueness of idea
- Appeal of presentation
A special thanks to our event MC Phillip Kim, Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business (LINK TO: http://bus.wisc.edu/) , and all of our judges: Anton Kapela, Vice President of Data Center and Network Services with 5NINES, Kent Chase, co-founder and CEO of Intense Engineering; Susan Carlson, a partner in the accounting firm Accede CPA and owner of Carlson Creative Enterprises, LLC; Mark Huber, director of global channels for IVDiagnostics, Inc.; and Samantha Crownover, Executive Director of the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society.
Thank you to all our Global Entrepreneurship Week sponsors: The Kauffman Foundation, Intense Engineering, 5NINES, and Anton Kapela, Google, Madison Gas & Electric, and Flatt Cola.