In the end, devising a solid business plan and a team of advisers and investors — as well as an understanding of a potentially devastating medical condition — earned the student creators of Asta Fluidic Technologies first place in this year’s UC Santa Barbara New Venture Competition.
The $10,000 top prize was awarded Wednesday night to mechanical engineering students John Herr and Alex Russell during the finals of the 14th annual competition for aspiring entrepreneurs in UCSB’s Technology Management Program (TMP).
The duo’s Asta Fluidic Technologies venture, which aims to better diagnose fetomaternal hemorrhage (FMH) during pregnancy, was deemed the best of six business ideas presented during the four-hour event in the Corwin Pavilion.
The six finalists were whittled down from an original 20 groups of undergraduate and graduate students during last month’s New Venture Fair.
On Wednesday, students were given 20 minutes to make a case for why their products deserved consideration and cash prizes, with 10 minutes for presentation and another 10 minutesfor a Q&A with a panel of four enterprising judges.
Many of the young entrepreneurs exuded commanding confidence, carefully explaining business models, market size, and exactly how and when they planned to make money.
“You can see we’re really changing the landscape here,” Russell said of Asta Fluidic Technologies, which would provide a less subjective screening process for fetal blood hemorrhage.
After brief deliberations, judges returned a verdict that essentially agreed with Russell.
“This team was just so mature and so far along,” event judge Cliff Hannel said.
The second-place $5,000 prize went to students Patrick Clary and Ben Shukman of Komodo Interactive, who hope to develop a line of remote-control toy robots for children ages 8 to 12. The third-place prize of $2,500 was awarded to Napses, cloud-based software to replace student course readers.
The $5,000 People’s Choice Award, determined via text votes from the audience, also went to Komodo Interactive.
The remaining groups — Gain Changer, MyConciergeMobile and PolySpectra — all received a $1,000 cash award as event finalists.
Winners were greeted with smiles, handshakes and congratulations after accepting extra large checks and medals.
Before the end of the program, TMP program manager Mike Panesis asked the audience to give a round of applause to the dedicated students and the mentors who helped them perfect their business ideas over several weeks.
“They do all of this on their own time,” Panesis said. “They don’t get credit. They’re really enthusiastic about it. I’m so proud of all of them.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.