Capping off a night of great presentations by five finalist teams and insightful commentary and questions from a panel of successful venture capitalists and experienced investors, SmartestK12 took home the $15,000 first-place prize. The Dun and Bradstreet-sponsored People’s Choice Award, which went to RxCUE, included a suite of D&B services, $2,000 and a sleeping bag “for those long nights of hard work.” RxCUE also won the $6,000 second-place prize.
The other finalists were third-place winner, Liveguide; fourth-place finisher, phresh; and fifth-place winner, vuPad. Prizes were $4,000, $3,000 and $2,000 respectively. John Tabis (’06), founder and CEO of online floral retailer The Bouqs, served as emcee. “Whether you win tonight or you get great feedback or bad feedback, it pretty much matters not,” he told the crowd in Korn Convocation Hall. “There is literally no reason why, no matter what your passion is, that your idea cannot come to fruition. You're going to be told ‘no’ a whole lot more than you'll be told ‘yes.’ Not letting that sway you from your dream of being an entrepreneur is the important thing.”
Knapp Venture Competition sponsor Bud Knapp, one of the final judges, handed out awards with Elaine Hagan (’91), director of the Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. “I’m very proud of all the presentations and the written proposals. It’s a great pleasure to give the money to a lot of people who worked very, very hard to get to this point,” said Knapp. “Betsy could not be here tonight, but we always take great pleasure in wishing the teams success,” he said of his wife and competition co-sponsor Betsy Knapp.
UCLA Anderson Dean Judy Olian kicked off the event with opening remarks, commenting on the success of past Knapp Competition winners and on the noteworthiness of this year’s finalists. “This is real life, not a case study, a midterm or a final,” she said. “The next company to sell for one hundred million dollars might be launched tonight.”
During final deliberations, the judges — Bud Knapp, Prema Sampath (’08) of YP Holdings, Louis Dienes of the Pasadena Angels, Richard Jun of BAM Ventures, and Igal Litovsky of Offit Capital — weighed not only the merits of competitors’ ideas, but also the quality of the presentations.
Check out more on SmartestK12, RxCUE, Liveguide, phresh and vuPad on the blog. More information on the Knapp Competition can be found on their Anderson page and their homepage.
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