The winners of the second annual IdeaChallenge, a business plan competition started last year by Georgetown students, were announced on Thursday, April 18. The grand-prize winner was Viable Technologies Inc., a team of students headed by senior Tim Riker (MSB ’02). A prize also went to Linear Communications LLC, headed by Arman Daie (MSB ’03) and Valleria Gallardo (MSB ’02).
After preliminary rounds, which began in February, the four finalist teams were announced on March 28. The final round of the competition took place Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. in the Philodemic Room in Healy Hall. The teams were required to include at least one undergraduate or graduate Georgetown student. Two finalist graduate teams and two finalist undergraduate teams were chosen to compete in the final round.
The teams were each allowed 15 minutes each to present their business plans to the judges, after which the judges deliberated for five minutes. The judges included four venture capitalists and three Georgetown professors. Each team’s presentation was followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer session sion. After the presentations finished at 3 p.m., the judges spent 20 minutes conferring and then announced the undergraduate team winner and the graduate team winner. They also announced the grand-prize winner, which was chosen from the two previously announced winners.
Each of the four finalist teams received a trophy. The first place winner, Viable Technologies, also received cash prize of $1,000. The second place winner, Linear Communications, LLC, won $500. Daie, however, donated the $500 his team won back to IdeaChallenge to help finance next year’s competition. In addition to the prizes, participants said they gained valuable exposure to venture capitalist firms through the judges and an important networking opportunity.
This year’s cash prize was much less than last year’s $10,000 prize.
“Although this year’s annual competition was beset with several challenges such as the effects of a weak economy and fewer financial sponsors, the quality of competing business plans and participation of judges exceeded our expectations.The IdeaChallenge organization has strongly proven to be resilient amidst tough circumstances and to be able to successfully promote the entrepreneurial spirit on the Georgetown University campus for future years to come,” IdeaChallenge Co-President David Roh (MSB ’02) said.
Viable Technologies, headed by Riker, entered the competition as a graduate plan because more than two team members had already finished their undergraduate degrees. The team includes four deaf or hard of hearing members, including Riker. “My idea focused on improving the conditions of people with hearing loss in the United States. Many more deaf and hard of hearing students are not realizing their fullest potential because schools for the deaf are being closed down and these students are not getting adequate access to education because of lack of service providers. My goal was to come up with an idea that would provide affordable, high quality solutions to these growing problems,” Riker said.
Riker described his business proposal as a remote translation service for students with hearing loss. “We will provide translators with subject matter expertise so they have equal access to the lectures. A professor speaks through a lapel microphone connected to a cordless, wireless phone. Our translators listen to what the professor is saying and transmits the captions through the Internet to the student’s laptop,” Riker said. According to the plan, the student can then read the captions on the laptop, add notes if needed and download an edited transcript within 24 hours. “Our service is ideal for lecture-based classes and vocabulary-intensive classes that are difficult for the student to take notes while lip-reading or watching a sign language interpreter,” Riker said. “We hope our service will help many deaf and hard of hearing students have equal development of vocabulary, reading and writing skills as their peers by exposing them to spoken English.”
In terms of his future plans for Viable Technologies Inc., Riker said he planned to continue his work in the future. “After graduation, I plan to bring the business idea into fruition, and hopefully help hundreds of deaf and hard of hearing people gain access in the classroom and workplace this fall,” Riker said.
Second-place Linear Communications, LLC developed an audio enhancement device called the Linearizer, to be used in communications, data and recording systems. According to Gallardo, the device improves sound quality by eliminating background noise and feedback.
The other two finalists were Dash Corp, an undergraduate team, and DiaMed Inc., a graduate team.
Dash Corp, created by Scott Weber (MSB ’02) and John Joory (SFS ’02), formed a business proposal that would create and market a secure payment device activated only by the fingerprint of the person who owns it. Weber said that it would be a small device that could be carried on a key chain and used as identification and authorization for cash or credit purposes. Weber said that he and his partner hope to eventually partner with a bank or credit card company to continue developing the device. Weber said there was still a lot of work and research to be done. “We’re sorry we didn’t win, but we’re really excited to make it to the final round,” Weber said.
DiaMed, Inc.’s lone team member, Sharon Stroup (GRD ’03), is earning a master’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology. Her business plan was to develop diagnostic kits that would enable doctors to more easily and inexpensively detect infectious and genetic diseases.
Former IdeaChallenge Vice President for Public Relations Eric Engelman (MSB ’02) said that although he is a senior, he hopes to begin an entrepreneurship program for nonprofit or philanthropic ventures at Georgetown, in which proposals would be judged not on how much profit they will make, but how much good they can do. He said he hopes to recruit underclassmen in starting such a program during the next academic year.