2012 Schedule
Finals - February 15, 2012
McCombs School of Business, Legacy Events Room - CBA 3.202
6:00 PM Embarkly
Embarkly is the Orbitz.com for the pet boarding industry. We help pet owners make reservations at pet boarding facilities. Travis Skelly, MBA 2012
6:35 PM eyeQ
eyeQ provides retailers the ability to monitor consumer purchasing behavior, generate retail business intelligence and influence consumer purchasing at the shelf. Our solution utilizes algorithms based on video analytics to create consumer data for the retailer and provide the customer with a content rich buying experience. Michael Garel, MBA 2012; Harish Jayakumar, MBA 2012
7:10 PM Athena Laboratories
Athena Laboratories is a medical device company providing a patented laser technology to physicians. The laser will be sold under the name FemtoSmooth™ and will be used to treat cellulite in a minimally invasive manner. The treatment differentiates from competing products based on efficacy, shorter duration of treatment and pain. Ravine Woods, MSTC 2012; Wayne Whitmire, MSTC 2012; Albert Alvarez, MSTC 2012; Wendell Johnson, MSTC 2012; Wendy Wu, MSTC 2012; Alex Garcia, MSTC 2012
7:45 PM Simple Invest
For an individual investor, diversification via asset allocation, regular re-balancing and low fees are the best methods to achieve sustained long term returns in financial markets. SimpleInvest is a cloud based automated solution that enables an investor to achieve these goals without the need of an expensive financial advisor. Rohit Sharma, MBA 2013
Judges
Jeff Harbach, Central Texas Angel Network
Hassan Johnson, ThaTrunk
Sangram Kadam, Orodoro
Aaron Lyons, Urban Dish
Jay Manickam, uShip
Brett Newswanger, Xeris Pharmaceuticals
Robert Reeves, Austin Technology Incubator
Semifinals - February 1, 2012
Division I – CBA 3.202
6:00 p.m. - Risk in Motion
Risk in Motion is a provider of advance Commodity and Energy Trading Risk Management software. Its products provide innovative and comprehensive solutions to address the complex commodities value chain and the four key areas of risk: market, operational, counterpart credit and regulatory. Risk in Motion enables transparency into risk measures and analytics and allows organizations to holistically manage and mitigate risk, a requirement to succeed in complex commodity and energy markets. Lei Ye, TEMBA MBA 2011
6:35 p.m. - TraK Solutions
For wireless telecom carriers that have informational needs and high interactional costs between carriers and service providers, TraK Solutions, a SaaS web and mobile portal with access to unique telecom industry specifics database, provides instant access, project management and collaboration tools to parties involved in delivering large scale telecommunications network projects. Karin Williams, MSTC 2012; Ricky Blair, MSTC 2012; Carlos Chen, MSTC 2012; Toni Miranda Aranda, MSTC 2012;Steve Beacham, MSTC 2012; Michelle Taylor, MSTC 2012
7:10 p.m. - Embarkly
Embarkly is the Orbitz.com for the pet boarding industry. We help pet owners make reservations at pet boarding facilities. Travis Skelly, MBA 2012
7:45 p.m. - Escapaide
Escapaide provides customized leisure itineraries via web and mobile device for international business travelers based on their unique situation (preferences, travel plans, location, time available, etc.). Andrew Allen, MBA 2012; Harsh Gupta, MBA 2012; Gui Sessa, MBA 2012; Aniket Srivastava, MBA 2012
Judges
Greg Greeson, Industrial Designer/Entrepreneur
Jonathan Kaplan, DLA Piper
Casey Leaman, Escalade
Richard Piotrowski, Outram Capital
Marc Yagjian, Origin Partners
Division II – GSB 3.104
6:00 p.m. - FairMarkets
FairMarkets will provide a web platform for customers to get the best possible package at any specific time by making suppliers compete with each other in a reverse auction model. It will initially concentrate in the new car market where products are very standard but customers get different prices from different dealers with a lot of room for haggling. In other words, our platform will help customers capture that hidden value under the haggling process. Rajesh Jangareddy, TEMBA MBA 2012; Brian Hopkins, TEMBA MBA 2012; Sofia O’Malley, TEMBA MBA 2012
6:35 p.m. - eyeQ
EyeQ provides retailers the ability to monitor consumer purchasing behavior, generate retail business intelligence and influence consumer purchasing at the shelf. Our solution utilizes algorithms based on video analytics to create consumer data for the retailer and provide the customer with a content rich buying experience. Michael Garel, MBA 2012; Harish Jayakumar, MBA 2012
7:10 p.m. - Connectiva Mobile
Introducing GlucoseAlert, the world’s first connected glucose meter, providing peace of mind for the parents of diabetic children and caregivers of elderly diabetic loved ones. Powered by the Cloud, this device can send patient data (including GPS location and blood sugar readings) and will alert caregivers by text and/or email message as dictated by the patient or their legal guardians. Chris Jones, MBA 2012; Salvador Mandujano, MBA 2012
7:45 p.m. - PACT
PACT is an education service company with a primary focus in online professional development for classroom teachers. PACT is positioned to deliver high quality, subject expert developed training materials to school districts and individual teachers. Our goal is to improve the teacher’s daily experience, thereby improving the quality of education. John Pruett, MSTC 2012
Judges
Isaac Barchas, Austin Technology Incubator
TJ Harais, AMD
JT Keating, Entrepreneur
Dick Moeller, Enovate Enterprises
Glenn Reinus, Reinus Strategy Partners
Division III – GSB 3.130
6:00 p.m. - GoodsWorth
Under our proposed business model, buyers list what they want to buy. Sellers can see what the going market prices are for goods they own and decide if they would like to sell. Based on this information, sellers will realize that what they own has value. GoodsWorth will track historical selling prices of goods, helping original purchasers and secondary owners understand the depreciation curve of their items. We will facilitate these interactions via social platforms like Facebook. Ben Pruden, MBA 2012; Josh Gladding, MBA 2012; Ryan Black, MBA 2012
6:35 p.m. - Green Monster
Green Monster will develop tools to enable realtors to provide their clients with accurate, simplified and easy-to-compare information regarding the true cost of home ownership. The software will incorporate home energy performance as well as energy usage habits to predict a home buyer’s actual energy expenditures in their new home. Eric Fehr, MBA 2012; Jessica Filante, MBA 2012; Paul Pine, MBA 2012
7:10 p.m. - VecturaLux
Accelerating demand for streaming video and cloud computing has left a wide gap between the capabilities of existing fiber optic technology and what high speed networks need today. VecturaLux has bridged that gap with Paralux; a communication chip that brings up to 40x bandwidth or 10x distance to fiber networks. Matt Clayton, MBA 2012; Kumar Appaiah, PhD Electrical Engineering
7:45 p.m. - Athena Laboratories
Athena Laboratories is a medical device company providing a patented laser technology to physicians. The laser will be sold under the name FemtoSmooth™ and will be used to treat cellulite in a minimally invasive manner. The treatment differentiates from competing products based on efficacy, shorter duration of treatment and pain. Ravine Woods, MSTC 2012; Wayne Whitmire, MSTC 2012; Albert Alvarez, MSTC 2012; Wendell Johnson, MSTC 2012; Wendy Wu, MSTC 2012; Alex Garcia, MSTC 2012
Judges
Chris Eckerman, Covera Ventures
Toney Jennings, CoreTrace Corporation
Michael Kentor, The Kentor Company
Mark Murdock, Attorney
Steve Sigler, Thirdwave Partners
Division IV – CBA 3.304
6:00 p.m. - Chorus
Chorus is a cloud based social application that allows virtual teams to collaborate and manage their workflow. Nilesh Bagad, MBA 2012; Dave Bhattacharjee, MBA 2012
6:35 p.m. - Simple Invest
For an individual investor, diversification via asset allocation, regular re-balancing and low fees are the best methods to achieve sustained long term returns in financial markets. SimpleInvest is a cloud based automated solution that enables an investor to achieve these goals without the need of an expensive financial advisor. Rohit Sharma, MBA 2013
7:10 p.m. - Quorum
Quorum is an online commerce company focused on group purchases directly from manufacturers, cutting out retailers and minimizing inventory while saving customers money. Adam Guerra, MBA 2013; Anne York, MBA 2013
7:45 p.m. - BioReplicon
Bio-Replicon plans to develop a commercial version of Sepsis diagnostic test based on its proprietary universal bacteria MDx test technology and license the IP to key current players in the IVD industry. Bio-Replicon holds exclusive rights to a patent pending MDx technology capable of detecting a full range of pathogen bacteria and identifying their specific types within four hours. Matthew Lee, MSTC 2012; Vinod Boopalan, MSTC 2012; Jason Clark, MSTC 2012; Leonid Kurza, MSTC 2012; Nelson Leung, MSTC 2012
Judges
Jim Farrell, Phunware
Walter Kalmans, Lontra Ventures
Tim Klitch, Comerica Bank
Pat Noonan, Austin Ventures
Van Williams, Vosk Energy
Additional Information
TVLIC Rules
The Venture Labs Investment Competition (VLIC) is designed to mimic the real world process of raising venture capital. The competition is for University of Texas at Austin graduate students to gain real experience in this process while developing and growing new ventures based either on their own ideas and technologies or those developed by others.
The spirit of the competition is to allow companies conceived and developed during the graduate school experience to participate. This means excluding companies that were started before graduate school admission or are an expansion of an established business.
This document sets out guidelines to capture these goals. Not every circumstance can be anticipated. We reserve the right to disqualify any team that violates the rules, regulations or the spirit of the competition. Any questions regarding eligibility should be sent to the VLIC Director, Rob Adams.
Faculty advisors are responsible for ensuring their teams meet these requirements. The teams are also responsible for ensuring their own eligibility.
IP Considerations
- Teams requiring non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) should not participate.
- All sessions of the competition are open to the public and may be broadcast to interested persons through media which may include radio, television and the Internet.
- Any data or information discussed or divulged throughout the competition should be considered information that will enter the public domain.
- The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business and the organizer of the Venture Labs Investment Competition may make photocopies, photographs, video recordings and/or audio recordings of the presentations including the business plan and other documents, charts, media or other material prepared for use in presentation at VLIC.
- The above entities may use the materials in any book or other printed materials and any videotape or other medium that they may produce, provided that any profits earned from the sale of such items is used by these entities solely to defray the costs of future Venture Labs Investment or affiliated Competitions. These entities have non-exclusive world rights in all languages, and in all media, to use or to publish the materials in any book, other printed materials, videotapes or other medium, and to use the materials in future editions thereof and derivative products.
Written Plans
- Plans should be submitted as a single, printable PDF file. Plans are limited to no more than 10 pages (not including a single cover page and single table of contents page) and can include up to 6 additional pages of appendices. Page format is 1.5 line spacing with one-inch top, bottom, left and right margins, and 12 point font. This line spacing and font requirement applies to the textual content of the document and not to titles and descriptions accompanying pictures, graphs, tables or worksheets. All pages must be numbered excluding the cover page.
- Financial data should include cash flow, income statement, and balance sheet details.
- Include an explanation of the offering to investors indicating how much money is required, how it will be used and the proposed structure of the deal.
- Delineate the exit strategies if equity is part of the offering.
- Appendices should be included only when they support the findings, statements and observations in the plan.
Presentation Rules
- The presentation format is 30 minutes running clock. Judges may interrupt at any time with questions.
- Each member of the team present at the competition must participate fully in the formal presentation of the plan.
- Teams may not observe other teams’ sessions in their division until after they have presented their own plan.
- Each team needs to supply its own PC-compatible laptop computer and is responsible for assuring it works with the provided audio-visual equipment in advance of their presentation.
Student Involvement
The competition is for student created, managed, and owned ventures. This is the most common area for requested rules clarification. The guidelines are:
- Students played a major role in conceiving the venture by having key management roles and owning significant equity in the venture.
- Significant equity is 50% or more of the equity allocated to the management team and key advisors.
- The objective of this rule is to exclude ventures formed and managed by non-students who have token student representation to compete on the investment circuit.
Team Composition
This is a competition for graduate students; teams with a minority of undergraduates can compete. Students from any graduate program (not just MBAs) are eligible to participate, including executive and evening format programs. Non-students may be members of the venture’s management team and may participate in planning the venture, however only students may participate in the competition.
Any team participating in an undergraduate competition, regardless of team re-configuration, is disqualified from the Venture Labs Investment Competition.
Student Enrollment
The competition is for students currently enrolled in graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. Executive or evening program formats are eligible in the next competition season following their graduation.
Nature of Ventures
Companies must intend to be operating companies with corporate structures and financial statements that reflect real operating revenues and expenses. This is intended to exclude investment vehicles, partnerships, licensing and other pass-through entities where returns are measured for investment value versus operating earnings.
The competition focuses on new, independent ventures in the seed, start-up or early growth stages. In addition to what is outlined in the above paragraph, generally excluded are the following: buy-outs, expansions of existing companies, roll-ups, real estate syndications, tax shelters, franchise based outlets, licensing agreements for distribution in a different geographical area and spin-outs from existing corporations. Licensing technologies from universities or research labs is encouraged assuming there has been no previous commercialization. Key in these types of ventures is demonstrating significant added value to the technology through the efforts of the management team.
All ventures must be seeking outside equity capital.
Prior Activity
Ventures with revenues in prior academic years are excluded. Ventures that have raised investment capital from sources outside of friends and family before the current academic year are excluded. Ventures and their base concepts may compete for only one season in the Venture Labs Investment Competition or in any of the qualifying competitions.