Venture Plan Competition 2009 Press Release

The 1st annual Venture Plan Competition at Bucknell University took place at Bucknell over the weekend of February 27^th-March 1^st, 2009. Eight teams from Bucknell and one team from the University of Pennsylvania competed for a cash prize of $5,000 by presenting their plans to a panel of alumni and parent judges.  This panel judged competitors' plans on several things including: investment potential, feasibility of the plan, and the overall presentation along with how well the plan was written.  Participants had a chance to network with successful entrepreneurs and were able to get informal feedback on their plans outside of the actual competition. The keynote speaker for this event was Dr. Richard Caruso M'66 who founded and is the CEO for Integra Life Sciences Corporations, Provco Group, and the Uncommon Individual Foundation.  Dr. Caruso was also named the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006.  The program was sponsored by the School of Management, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Bucknell University Alumni Association Board of Directors, Dr. Richard Caruso and the Uncommon Individual Foundation, and Peter '84 and Mary Ann '83 Mattoon. 

Elizabeth Geisinger '09 and David James '09 of Bucknell University took 1^st place and were awarded $5,000 for their plan, MyHometownLink LLC.  Daniel '09 and Preethi '09 Harbuck of the University of Pennsylvania took 2^nd place and were awarded $2,500 for their plan, Stealth Rowing, a crew boat company.  Daniel and Preethi worked in coordination with several Bucknell engineers in creating their plan. Brian Chew, Hironori Maeda, and Jason Mehr took 3^rd place for their venture plan, Discover Vogue, an online fashion website.

 The competition was designed and run by Sam Krassenstein '11, who is an International Finance major and is a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity.  Sam gave a presentation to the Summit during the morning session about the importance of Entrepreneurship from a student perspective.  Sam also presented Friday, April 3^rd at the Bucknell Business Advisory Board Meeting with winner Elizabeth Geisinger.  The competition was held in coordination with the 1^st Entrepreneurship Summit which involved discussions of entrepreneurship at Bucknell amongst administrators, faculty, parents, alumni, and students including: Provost Smyer, President Mitchell, and Dean Hopp, Dean Allen, Professor Shrivastava, Dr. Richard Caruso M'66, Mr. Richard Humphrey '74, Mr. Sam Krassenstein '11, Ms. Elizabeth Geisinger '09, Mr. Patrick Moon '09, and the Bucknell Student Government Executive Board.

-Sam Krassenstein '11
Director, Venture Plan Competition