Their idea is worth $25,000.
MBA student Anthony Shop, alumnus David Raffel, B.A.’76, Daniel Zaslavsky and Thomas Sanchez beat out a record 112 teams to win the 2011 GW Business Plan Competition on April 15. Their idea, Lead Driver, provides customized car brochures for customers and is already in use at five dealerships in Kansas City, Mo.
LeadDriver’s web-based software, DealerPrints, creates brochures that are made specifically for the dealership, the car and the customer. A dealership’s sales staff enters unique information about the customer and their needs and as a result generates a personalized brochure for them that will hopefully shorten the sale cycle.
“This win is a great boost of confidence for us,” said Mr. Shop. The team will use the funding to implement Lead Driver in 24 dealerships in Kansas City and Chicago.
Business Plan Competition Director John Rollins said the team’s varied professional backgrounds—Mr. Zaslavsky’s in auto dealerships, Mr. Sanchez’s in software and Mr. Shop’s in business school—was what ultimately helped them prevail over their competitors.
“The judges were very impressed that Lead Driver is a product that’s up and running today in multiple car dealerships and also that it was a multidisciplinary team,” said Mr. Rollins. “That kind of balance makes a big difference when you’re starting a business.”
The company prevailed over four rounds of competition that included developing an executive summary and business plan as well as two rounds of oral presentations in front of a panel of entrepreneurs and venture capital investors, including alumni and friends of GW.
One of this year’s judges, Edward R. Barrientos, M.B.A. ’90, CEO and chairman of the board of Brazen Careerist, received GW’s 2011 Annual Entrepreneurship Award.
The three runner-ups—Bookstore Genie, Leafworks and Ascend Air— received $10,000, $4,000 and $1,000, respectively. GW junior Farhan Daredia of Bookstore Genie, a company that sells textbooks online at the cheapest price, also won $10,000 for “best undergraduate team.” Leafworks sells disposable dinnerware made of leaves as well as offers sustainable tips, and Ascend Air is a skyship that helps executives in Virginia avoid traffic during their commute.
“It was a tough decision for the judges this year,” said Jim Chung, director of GW’s Office of Entrepreneurship. “The level and depth of talent among the teams this year was much deeper than in previous years. I’m really excited about all four companies; all are very viable, real companies that I expect to be successful going forward.”
The GW Business Plan Competition finals are a two-day culmination of a yearlong series of educational events and mentorship for teams of GW students, faculty, and alumni.
The event, held in Duques Hall, is funded by entrepreneurs Florida Gov. Richard Scott (R) and his wife, Annette, whose daughter Allison Guimard, B.B.A.’05, is also an entrepreneur. Additional sponsors this year included Blank Rome, iStrategyLabs and Tech Cocktail.
This year’s participants received guidance from mentors and weekly workshops, which trained participants on how to conduct market research, make financial projections and give oral presentations.
Mr. Chung said involvement from the School of Business, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Science and Columbian College of Art and Sciences “encouraged the building of interdisciplinary teams, which has a big impact on the team quality.”
“I’ve been involved in business plan competitions at other schools, and the level of participation at GW is amazing,” he said. “The entrepreneurship culture here at GW is strong.”
Mr. Shop said the support his team received throughout the process was the reason Lead Driver became a reality.
“We made tremendous progress that we’d never have made if we weren’t part of this competition,” said Mr. Shop. “Wining is great and is icing on the cake, but we’ve come so much further along just because we participated.”
“I love this competition,” said Mr. Rollins, an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at GW. “I think entrepreneurship and innovation at GW is at an all-time high. Entrepreneurship is the solution to our economic problems in our country today.”