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Giving Students the Business
Campus-spawned companies compete for seed dollars
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Business New Haven
5/12/2003
By: BNH
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NEW HAVEN - Jet Direct, a Yale student-run company, is the collegiate winner of ACE-Net's 2003 "You Belong in Connecticut" Business Plan Competition. The fledgling firm has been awarded $20,000 in business development funding to establish its venture in the state.
Jet Direct is one of five winners selected by judges to receive a portion of $50,000 in funding from the state's Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD).
The business-plan competition, hosted by the Angel Capital Electronic Network (ACE-Net) with assistance from the Connecticut Venture Group (CVG), annually recognizes start-up businesses formed by young entrepreneurs, a target audience of DECD's 'You Belong in Connecticut" campaign.
Jet Direct, which offers shared leasing of corporate aircraft, was declared the first-place winner after presenting its business plan to a panel of judges at the sixth annual competition. The other collegiate winners were:
o Second place ($10,000): Eagle Eye Integration from the University of Connecticut, which produces hand-held locators and guides for amusement parks.
o Third place ($10,000): Connecticut Eldercare of Sacred Heart University, which offers eldercare consulting.
o Fourth place ($5,000): Connecticut Home Ownership from Quinnipiac University, which provides home renovation services.
o Fifth place ($5,000): Yale-based Athletic Clubs of America, which focuses on athletic club management.
Judges included a commercial banking representative (Jeff Hubbard of Webster Bank), two executives of an investment services company (Bill Tkacs and Walter Allen of Vested Capital Partners), an angel investor and entrepreneur (Tom Heide of Stamford), and a managing director of a biotech firm (Len Vignola of Beacon Partners).
The 2003 competition drew a record 150 applicants, compared to 60 last year and 25 in 2001. The collegiate finalists came from four Connecticut schools: Yale, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and the University of Connecticut.
DECD is the lead agency for the state's economic and community development activities. ACE-Net, originally established by the U.S. Small Business Administration, matches entrepreneurial companies with the angel marketplace and provides access to capital for these start-ups.
CVG, which founded the business-plan competition in 1998, works with companies seeking venture capital funding and partners with ACE-Net in several areas to maximize the state's resources.
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