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Eight Great Business Plans, But Only One Is the Winner at the Wharton Business Plan Competition

Ask anyone involved in the healthcare field — doctors, insurers, drug makers, and certainly patients — and they will tell you that the industry is in dire need of an overhaul. But chaos, which often precedes change, presents opportunities too.

Five of the eight teams in the Venture Finals of the 2005 Wharton Business Plan Competition see promise in the upheavals that are roiling the healthcare sector. These teams proposed businesses that would, among other things, help in the treatment of critical wounds, prevent drug abuse and test for serious illnesses such as breast cancer. The three remaining teams focused on information technology, offering plans to prevent Internet fraud, improve college fundraising and enhance "mission-critical" computing.

The Business Plan Competition unfolds in four phases, during which students present business ideas that eventually turn into full-fledged plans. In the months leading up to the finals, participants can tap a variety of Wharton resources, ranging from mentoring to workshops on such topics as business plan writing and the legal challenges of entrepreneurship.

A panel of six judges evaluated the final plans on April 26, interrogating each team during a question-and-answer session that followed a 10-minute team presentation. The judges, all investment professionals, came from Johnson & Johnson, Perseus Group, Arboretum Ventures, First Round Capital, Sienna Ventures and Arzu Inc.

The competition typically attracts more than 200 student teams and is open to any team that includes a University of Pennsylvania student. The top three finishers win cash prices — first place gets $20,000 –plus in-kind donations of business advice from lawyers and CPAs. Missing from this year’s competition, sponsored annually by Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, were the off-beat ideas — like pet insurance, manicure stations at airports and space tourism — that have enlivened recent finals. Nor was the group heavily weighted by technology-based ideas, as was the case in competitions that preceded the 2001 dot.com bust.

Full Story (Registration Required) http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&ID=1190

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