April 26, 2004
Student Entrepreneurs Compete for $170K
In Global MOOT CORP® Competition

Also See Moot Corp Website for the world's original and largest student business plan competition.

Event: 2004 Global MOOT CORP® Competition at The University of Texas at Austin.

When: Wednesday-Saturday, May 5-8.

Where: Omni Austin Hotel and the McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin campus. See www.mootcorp.org for schedule, maps and parking.

Who May Attend: The competition rounds (May 7-8) are open to the public.

Background: Armed with business plans that have won honors in regional contests from Latin America to London, 30 teams from top-ranked universities will vie for more than $170,000 in prizes May 5-8 in the 2004 MOOT CORP® competition at The University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business.

The global champion will receive the chance to negotiate a $100,000 investment from the MOOT CORP Pontoon Fund; a launch package from the Austin Technology Incubator valued at $25,000, including office space, legal and accounting services, and discounts on Dell products; and prosecution of a first American patent by Fish & Neave, valued at $25,000. MOOT CORP Director Gary Cadenhead will also invite the winners to join him in opening the NASDAQ Stock Market Aug. 6.

All teams have a chance to refine their presentation skills and attract investors from among the judges, seasoned entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from Ernst & Young, Clear Channel, Austin Ventures, the Kauffmann Foundation and an array of entrepreneurial organizations.

Participants gain entry to the competition by invitation or by winning one of 15 regional contests. The 30 teams that made it to Austin this year hail from 24 universities, including Carnegie Mellon, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford, Thammasat University (Thailand) and The University of Texas at Austin.

Over three days, aspiring entrepreneurs will go head-to-head presenting ideas for 30 new ventures, including

• Neuronetrix, a first-of-its-kind process that screens newborns for dyslexia.
• DigiCam, a comprehensive rental service for digital cameras.
• Maestro Music, an Internet-wireless plan for playing and sharing digital music.
• Filt-Air Technologies, an odor-control system for agricultural producers.
• Jet Red, a new low-cost Chinese airline.
• UShip, an “eBay for shipping” that matches shippers of oversized items with drivers who have excess cargo capacity.
• Chipotle Business Group, which plans to commercialize an electronic chemical sensor technology developed at The University of Texas at Austin.

Two teams will represent The University of Texas at Austin at the contest. Chipotle Business Group earned entrance the traditional way, winning the University's campus round of MOOT CORP in January. The second McCombs team, uShip, won entrance as an alternate selection from San Diego State University's Venture Challenge.

According to Moot Corp Director Cadenhead, all of the plans coming to the contest represent more than classroom exercises—they are built around viable products and services that can be taken to market.

“The value for the competing teams is in how well this process simulates the real-life challenge of soliciting start-up funds from investors,” says Cadenhead. “If these students get financial backing, they can go out and actually launch their ventures.”

About half of each year's teams launch their ventures after the contest. Recent winners include Private Concepts, now in FDA trials for a new cervical cancer test, and Isochron Data, a wireless monitoring venture successfully launched and sold to private investors in 2002.

Founded in 1984 by two MBA students at The University of Texas at Austin, MOOT CORP® is the first and longest-operating, intercollegiate, new-venture competition in the world. Visit www.mootcorp.org for more information, including a list of 36 ventures that have launched out of the contest.

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For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.