Photo by Keith Walters '11
On April 13, SUNY Geneseo will host the 2016 New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) for the Finger Lakes Region. The competition will consist of thirty-seven teams of entrepreneurs pitching their ideas to a panel of respected members of the business community. Teams representing Geneseo, Hobart and William Smith, Rochester Institute of Technology, St. John Fisher College, State University of New York at Brockport and the University of Rochester will participate in the competition, each hoping to win a place in the statewide finals.
Established in 2010, the New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) is a venture creation and innovation competition that was established to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship throughout New York’s colleges and universities. The competition encourages New York colleges and universities to submit business plans intended to address an unmet need.
During the competition, the teams will have ten minutes to talk about their plans, followed by five minutes of questions from the judges. Presentations will run in parallel in five rooms based on category. Categories include Biotechnology/Healthcare, Energy/Sustainability, Information Technology/Software, Nanotechnology/Advanced Technology, Products/Services, and Social Entrepreneurship/Non-Profit. The top two teams in each category will go on to compete for $500,000 in prizes at the statewide finals at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany on April 29.
Last year, teams from SUNY Geneseo's entrepreneurship program took the competition by storm, winning six of the 12 awards presented at the regional semifinals.
This year’s Finger Lakes Regional Contest is supported by US Foods, Provista, Geneseo, RIT, and the University of Rochester.
The competition judges are:
• Dave Braverman, President and CEO, iLUMENATi
• John Buttrill, Former Regional CEO, American Red Cross
• David Chauncey, Managing Member, Echo Bay Ventures LLC
• Dean Faklis, President, Perluma
• Steve Fraum, Principal, Sidecar Capital Management
• Conger Gabel, CEO, Greater Rochester Summer Learning Association
• Mike Garsin, CTO, Brand Networks
• Ben Gibson, Founder, SyrRoc
• Dave Jones, President, ASM Publishing
• Jean Kase, Executive Director, The Entrepreneurs Network
• David Mammano, CEO, President and Founder, Next Step Publishing
• John McDermott, SCORE
• Sameer Penakalapati, President and CEO, Avani Technology Solutions
• Mark Peterson, President and CEO, Greater Rochester Enterprise
• David Rusin, Founder, American Fiber Systems
• Raul Salinas, Business Analyst, City of Rochester
The event will take place in Newton and Bailey Halls from 5:50 to 9:30 pm, and is free and open to the public.
Media Contact:
SUNY Geneseo Communications
Phone: (585) 245-5516
Email: pr@geneseo.edu