Spring Break
Registration deadline approaching for Business Plan Competition
Winning business venture will earn $10,000
Liza Atamy
Issue date: 4/24/08 Section: News
Klein said he is participating in the upcoming competition with two group projects.
SJSU business marketing alumnus Andrew Noll said he participated in last year's competition with colleague Vincent Guerrieri with their startup company, Gold Star Biodiesels, which focuses on second-generation biofuels.
"Our idea was derived when we had an entrepreneur … come speak to us in our business class with Professor Chuck Fishel," said Noll, 26. "Vincent and I met with Fishel … and created a relationship with them. A few weeks later, we were working on multiple opportunities with a management team we became a part of."
Noll said the competition taught him how to properly seek out capital, talent and consulting, and to spread the word of an upcoming company to "important" people.
"After submitting business plans to companies, I learned that investment bankers and other financial institutions do not want to see a 20-plus page report of my company and ideas," he said. "They would rather see one to three pages of information and facts on the idea."
Faisal Gowani, a senior management and marketing major, said he is also participating in this year's competition and that he will be entering two different business plans.
"The first is in relation to my own business; I own a few convenient stores," Gowani said. "With my business idea, I aim to give buying power to small-business owners."
Gowani said he attended the competition last year as the incoming president of the Entrepreneurial Society.
"I had a chance to attend the session where the judges asked the finalists questions, and I really liked the project that won," he said. "The competition helps me prepare for questions venture capitalists - that I hope to contact after I graduate - will have in regard to my business idea."
The Business Plan Competition is open to all SJSU students, alumni, staff and faculty, said Basu, director for the Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship.
The online registration deadline is Saturday, April 26, and the submission deadline for the completed business plan is May 12, according to the center's Web site.
SJSU business marketing alumnus Andrew Noll said he participated in last year's competition with colleague Vincent Guerrieri with their startup company, Gold Star Biodiesels, which focuses on second-generation biofuels.
"Our idea was derived when we had an entrepreneur … come speak to us in our business class with Professor Chuck Fishel," said Noll, 26. "Vincent and I met with Fishel … and created a relationship with them. A few weeks later, we were working on multiple opportunities with a management team we became a part of."
Noll said the competition taught him how to properly seek out capital, talent and consulting, and to spread the word of an upcoming company to "important" people.
"After submitting business plans to companies, I learned that investment bankers and other financial institutions do not want to see a 20-plus page report of my company and ideas," he said. "They would rather see one to three pages of information and facts on the idea."
Faisal Gowani, a senior management and marketing major, said he is also participating in this year's competition and that he will be entering two different business plans.
"The first is in relation to my own business; I own a few convenient stores," Gowani said. "With my business idea, I aim to give buying power to small-business owners."
Gowani said he attended the competition last year as the incoming president of the Entrepreneurial Society.
"I had a chance to attend the session where the judges asked the finalists questions, and I really liked the project that won," he said. "The competition helps me prepare for questions venture capitalists - that I hope to contact after I graduate - will have in regard to my business idea."
The Business Plan Competition is open to all SJSU students, alumni, staff and faculty, said Basu, director for the Silicon Valley Center for Entrepreneurship.
The online registration deadline is Saturday, April 26, and the submission deadline for the completed business plan is May 12, according to the center's Web site.
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