A transportation engineering consulting firm that provides services for the Intelligent Transportation Systems took top honors in the sixth annual Bard Center Business Plan Competition. Apex Design, with partners Nate Algoe, Jason Osaki and Scott Thomas, garnered top nod and top dollar—$10,000 to be precise—in addition to thousands in in-kind award at the June 13 presentation. The company provides traffic strategies and alternatives to public and private transportation agencies, developers and consulting firms. An example of their work includes the newly introduced signs on Interstate 70 telling travelers how many minutes, rather than miles, to various destinations determined by how fast other vehicles are moving and factoring in road congestion.
Second place honors and $5,000 in cash were awarded to Dizgo, founded by Jeffrey Kohn, Tomas Kaplan and Jeff Cahoon. The business provides mobile-based advertising for retailers using text-messaging technology.
In third place was Dr. Ivan Vesely’s ValveXchange, a heart valve exchange system for patients with long-term needs, such as children and young adults. Currently, a complete valve replacement is needed in youths after five or 10 years. The new valve would greatly simplify the procedure. In addition to the $2,500 cash award for second place, Vesely received the competition’s $5,000 bioscience award.
Awards including $1,000 in cash went to three other competition finalists:
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DenverVIP.com: an online luxury lifestyle concierge company that targets corporate clients
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VenueJet: an online event-site search enabling consumers to quickly find the perfect locale for personal and business events
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Red Rocks Motion Pictures International: a company planning to produce six films in 12 years primarily in Colorado.
Keynote for the awards luncheon was UCD Chancellor M. Roy Wilson, who spoke on the importance of innovative thinking. “Entrepreneurship is what is going to keep the United States in the forefront of the global economy,” he stressed. “Entrepreneurship must be an important part of our university in the 21st Century.”
Alexander Bracken, outgoing executive director of the Bard Center, received a standing ovation for his contributions to the center. In his final event as executive director, Bracken noted that again, the plans were better and the competition tougher than ever. “This is the capstone event for the Bard Center where we can gather each year to really celebrate what the center is all about,” he stressed. “It’s about teaching entrepreneurship through graduate courses. And it’s ultimately about helping new businesses get launched and grow, generating new employment opportunities in the Denver community.”
The Bard Center for Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition has given away more than $500,000 in cash awards and in-kind prizes since it launched in 2001. The center is a division of the University of Colorado Denver Business School in downtown Denver.
ABOVE: Scott Thomas and his team at Apex Design took top honors at the 2007 Bard Business Plan Competition.