UK Student Venture Challenge Winners Head to Idea State U

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 10, 2012) — Stadionaut, a mobile application development startup, took the grand prize in the first-ever iNet Venture Challenge, a business competition for University of Kentucky student entrepreneurs held at the Alumni House the end of March.

Start-up companies made up of UK undergraduate and graduate students vied for cash prizes and valuable "face time" with the judges in two competitions, one for business concepts and one for business plans. The winning teams in each category, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, will move on to the 2012 Idea State U competition to be held April 20-21 at the Lexington Convention Center.

"We could not be more pleased with the quality of our student teams' business plans and business concepts for iNet’s first annual Venture Challenge," said Dan O’Hair, dean of the UK College of Communications and Information Studies and board of directors chairman of iNet, the Innovation Network for Entrepreneurial Thinking. "We will be taking four exceptional teams to represent the University of Kentucky at the state competition, Idea State U."

Animal science major Evan Leach and computer science major Scott Wagner received the $2,000 first prize for their business concept for Stadionaut LLC.

Stadionaut’s product is Crowded, a free application that uses live, interactive play prediction and trivia at baseball games to test the knowledge of competing viewers. The user interface allows fans of all ages and levels of sports knowledge to play, while delivering advertisements for team and stadium sponsors.

Third-year medical students Edward Wood and David Nelson took second prize and $1,000 for their business concept for EHW LLC. Wood has developed a prototype for an improved medical walker inspired by his grandmother who had Parkinson’s disease.

The other two teams who will represent UK at Idea State U are Tag-a-Pet in the undergraduate business plan category, and AwesomeMed, in the graduate business plan category.

Tag-a-Pet's plan involves integrating "smart" pet ID tags with a website that allows information to be stored and accessed electronically, using smartphones and other capable devices. Its principals are business majors Michael Ward and Bryce Perry, political science major Mac Glidewell and computer science major Ben Wilson.

AwesomeMed is a three-month pre-medical program that teaches classes and topics at the same intensity found in medical school so that prospective medical students can figure out if a career in medicine is something they are truly cut out for. Its principals are medical student Luke Perry and MBA student Calah Krutcher.

The following teams also competed in Venture Challenge: Tidal Moon,
Matt Dieruff, electrical engineering; Crambu, Tommy Crush and David Booth, mathematical economics and finance B.B.A.; Smart-Lit, Zach Jacobs, Graduate Research Assistant, Space Systems Lab, Marc Higgins-Rollins, Grant Weherley, economics, Chris Lee, business management and marketing;  Snack Map, Henry Yan, electrical engineering, Joshua Chang, biology.

Judging the Venture Challenge competition were Brian Rainey, founder and CEO of APAX Software and Awesome Inc.; Charles Seal, member of the Bluegrass Angels; and Harvie Wilkinson, director of MBA programs and the Executive Education Center at the Gatton College of Business and Economics.

The iNet Venture Challenge was sponsored by the UK College of Communications and Information Studies, Big Blue Starters, the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship/ Lexington Innovation and Commercialization Center, and the Bluegrass Business Development Partnership, which includes the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Commerce Lexington and the University of Kentucky.

About iNet

The University of Kentucky Innovation Network for Entrepreneurial Thinking (iNET) is a university-wide, interdisciplinary academic initiative to develop innovation and entrepreneurial leaders who will create social and economic wealth in Kentucky. UK iNet includes a robust network of students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and community leaders and stakeholders in the economic development enterprise. UK iNet includes programs and activities such as a new undergraduate certificate, the Venture Challenge business plan competition and mentoring for Idea State U, summer e-academy for high school students, entrepreneur-in-residence, and the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program. UK iNet is located in the ASTeCC campus business incubator, which also includes the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship and the Big Blue Starters, and is part of the UK College of Communications & Information Studies.

MEDIA CONTACT: Keith Hautala, (859) 323-2396; keith.hautala@uky.edu
Deb Weis, (859) 257-8296, deb.weis@uky.edu