UA News

Late nights, early mornings, team disputes, international travel, pride and achievement – this is one student's summation of an intense semester culminating in the birth of a plan for an entrepreneurial venture and the realization of a dream.

Two student teams from the nationally-ranked McGuire Entrepreneurship Program at the Eller College of Management took 1st and 2nd place in separate intercollegiate business plans competitions in the same weekend. McGuire undergraduate team Original Theory received top honors at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, triumphing over a field of more than 50 competitors from business schools throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The multidisciplinary graduate team MSDx, LLC – with students from biology, medicine, and business – placed second at the prestigious Spirit of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED) business plan competition sponsored by Westmont College, Santa Barbara, Calif. The SEED competition included more than 80 teams.

Capitalizing on the art background of art history and entrepreneurship major Michael Farkas, team Original Theory developed a business plan for an online service to promote, publish and sell student art. Team members Farkas, Jonathan Pucciarelli, Stephen Tanenbaum and Greg Rosborough, all seniors, received a $15,000 award, which they plan to use toward the launch of their company.

"It was like one of those big checks you see pro golfers take home from tournaments," laughed Rosborough, senior marketing and entrepreneurship major. "It was funny carrying it through the airport because it drew a lot of attention. We go to the Enterprise Creation Competition, hosted by Indiana, Ball State and Syracuse University in a couple of weeks, and if we win that we will have almost enough money to really make some things happen with this venture."

MSDx, LLC continued a McGuire tradition of earning a spot among the top eight teams in the SEED competition, and achieved the program's best finish yet. Team members Stephen Basset, Allan Conger, Simran Nirh and Marie Wesselhoft developed a business plan for a patented blood test to detect Multiple Sclerosis. Bassett brought his biology expertise from the College of Science to the table to facilitate the project conception.

"We are proud of the accomplishments of these students. Both awards show that good things happen when students with very different backgrounds are exposed to a curriculum that mimics the integrated way in which real-world business problems are solved. The success of Team MSDx, LLC highlights the real value of integrating science and business management," said Paul Portney, dean of the Eller College of Management.

SEED Competition Finalists
Allied Polymer, Inc., Duke University
Berz Perspective Designs, Inc., Washington State University
Bosna Sauna, LLC, Syracuse University
Internet Security Company, Inc., University of Georgia
Just Kidding, LLC, University of Houston
MSDx, LLC, The University of Arizona
Polaris Athletic Training Systems, LLC, Westmont College
Safe and Happy Foods, Inc., Columbia Business School, NY
Waste Wide Technologies, Inc., Rice University

About the McGuire Entrepreneurship Program
For 21 years, the McGuire Entrepreneurship Program at The University of Arizona has been a nationally recognized leader in collegiate and graduate entrepreneurship education. Among the first such programs in the country, the program has been a pioneer in the highly dynamic and innovative entrepreneurship discipline with initiatives that have helped to define this explosive industry. U.S. News & World Report ranks the program 8th among undergraduate and 13th among graduate entrepreneurship programs nationally. Entrepreneur magazine, the only ranking that evaluates entrepreneurship exclusively, ranks the program #2 in the nation.