Young entrepreneurs win $6,000 in prize money

On Tuesday night at the annual Jalé and Warren Trepp Business Plan Competition, three teams of young entrepreneurs studying at Sierra Nevada College competed for $6,000 in cash prizes.

This event is one of the most exciting celebrations of the academic year at SNC Tahoe. After each team presented twenty-minute oral presentations to a panel of live, external judges and a public audience of more than 100 people, the room waited in anticipation for the announcement of the winners.

First Place and $4,000 went to Change, a card to eliminate coin change in Canada, presented by Ted Porter, Grant Furlan and Freddy McCarthy; Second Place and $1,250 went to Chaperone by Tektor, an electronic safety system for equine facilities, presented by Megan McClintock and Joie Rhein; and Third place and $750 went to Warrior Adventure Rapport, a therapeutic program for veterans with PTSD, presented by Jason Maynez, Kyle Rockwell, Nick Galantowicz, and David Phelps.

Also presenting on Tuesday night was Stitches-on-the-Go, a kit for emergency stitches targeted for military and outdoor adventure uses, presented by Andrew Clifton and Steven Jenab.

Teams are mentored and judged by seasoned entrepreneurs and faculty. A panel of local entrepreneurs and business leaders, including Roland Schumann, Madylon Meiling, Meredith Williams, and Scott Levy, judged the live presentations. Barry Golombik, Ted Parkhill, Jameson Stafford and Tim Olesnavage of Elevate Blue, Steve Lenzi, Vanessa Franking, and Robin Holman also provided judging and feedback on the written business plans submitted in advance of the competition.

The student business plans being presented at the Trepp competition are a result of a months-long planning process. Mentors include SNC Tahoe’s business faculty and advisors such as Tim Cohee, the program director for the college’s Ski Business and Resort Management program, as well as faculty and instructors in the Entrepreneurship major. Some students began the idea generation process in professor Rick Winfield’s Creating Entrepreneurial Ventures class last semester.

All four teams plan to submit plans to the statewide D.W. Reynolds Governors Cup Business Plan Competition, which will take place in April.