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Next Generation of Entrepreneurs
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Business New Haven
6/24/2002
By: Anne-Marie Brungard
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The entrepreneurial fur flew in this year's ACE-Net's “You Belong in Connecticut” business-plan competition. Sixty applicants competed for $50,000 in prize money (from the state's Department of Economic & Community Development) and the chance to present their plans to venture capital groups.
The collegiate finalists came from five Connecticut universities - Fairfield, Quinnipiac, Eastern Connecticut State, Bridgeport and Yale. All four start-up finalists came from New Haven.
Managed by Angel Capital Electronic Network (ACE-Net) with assistance from the Connecticut Venture Group (CVG), this year's competition also featured a new category for early stage start-up businesses. Early-stage winners earn exposure on ACE-Net's national listing service with access to more than 500 angel investors and an invitation to Crossroads, CVG's venture and technology fair.
CVG founded the competition in 1998 and works with companies seeking venture-capital funding and partners with AC-Net in several areas to maximize the state's resources. Originally established by the U.S. Small Business Administration, ACE-Net matches entrepreneurial companies with the angel marketplace and provides access to capital for these start-ups.
In the final stages of the competition, eight collegiate and four start-ups presented their business plans before a panel of judges representing venture capitalists, an ACE-Net officer and a DECD staff member.
“The purpose of the business plan competition is to support young entrepreneurs in Connecticut,” explains Rita Zangeri, deputy commissioner of DECD. “Young, innovative entrepreneurs belong in Connecticut. Connecticut wants them to participate in the economy of the state.”
Two New Haven companies took top honors. NextStep, a Yale student company, was named collegiate winner of the competition, and AQ Solutions was named the winner in the new early-stage business category.
NextStep provides Internet educational services to prepare for college and graduate school admission tests. First-place winners received $20,000 in the fifth annual competition. Other collegiate winners submitted plans that develop a device to measure the force chiropractors use on patients, offer stock insurance, provide smart energy-management systems to residential customers and offered accelerated payment to medical providers via a Web-based exchange.
Chuck Troutwine, a founder of NextStep and an MBA student at Yale, said winning the competition will help his company get launched. “The quality of the competition was good,” he noted. “Winning the competition means the judges see us as a viable company.”
Winners of the early-stage business category, AQ Solutions also earned consultation services from DECD, a listing on ACE-Net, a one-year membership with the CVG, the opportunity to present at the next ACE-Net Entrepreneur Showcase, and a listing in Angel Investor News, an online newsletter about private investing.
AQ Solutions is a software company that provides offshore services and solutions to U.S.-based companies that use Internet technology. The company has been in business for just over a year and is based in New Haven with its development center in Accra, Ghana. Founder and president Awo A. Quaison-Sackey thought winning the competition showed that her company was attractive to investors.
“This was fantastic,” said Quaison-Sackey. “Presenting at this competition helps us to sharpen our pitch to investors. It's a big opportunity for us.”
ACE-Net Director Dan Mitchell judged the business-plan competition a major success, adding 45 more applicants than the previous year.
“The quality of the participants was outstanding” he says. “We're proud to help some of the state's most innovative young entrepreneurs and start-up companies get an opportunity to bring their ideas closer to reality.”
More information about each organization's programs is available at www.ace-net.org and www.cvg.org. For more information about DECD initiatives visit www.decd.org.
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