2011 Business Plan Competition Winners

>>Innovative Ventures and Sustainable Tracks<<

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First Place: $10,000
Project: Solanux Inc.
Team: Gaylene Anderson, Anna Hansen, Jacob Pierson,
Dan Ramseyer
Mentor: Kerry Huber, Associate Professor, College of Agriculture
and Life Science
SOLANUX Inc. (Solanux) is an Idaho based food ingredient company that produces potato products with high amounts of resistant starch (RS).
These novel products offer a low glycemic response as well as several other digestive health benefits which are currently unavailable in the food industry. Solanux is moving the Glucosan Process™ through the final stages of product development and setting up the company for early market growth. The corporate HQ is located in Pocatello, ID.

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Second Place: $6,000
Project: Crisis Assessment Consulting
Team: Colin Gordon, Daniel Bietz and Nathaniel Essex
Mentor: Nigel Davey, Instructor, College of Business and Economics
Crisis Assessment Consulting has a solution which we believe can help prevent needless deaths. We are designing and implementing an online program called Suicide Assessment Training (SAT) that will educate medical staff about suicide awareness and prevention. We are teamed with Dr. Paul Quinnet, one of the world‘s foremost suicide prevention experts, and we are using his widely recognized, accredited and empiri-cally-tested Question, Persuade, Respond (QPR) training methodology as the basis of our program design. Dr. Quinnet‘s worldwide network of thousands of practicing clinicians and suicide mitigation experts offers an unparalleled opportunity for effective testing and early customer adoption of our program.

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Third Place: $4,000
Project: FishPro
Team: Carl Morrow, Ryan Barrie, Brian Bialke, Kristin McGee,
Richard Pendegraft, Brett Watterson
Mentor: Steve Shook, Professor of Marketing, College of Business
and Economics
FishPro will be the start-up company spawned from the efforts of the U of I researchers. We propose to manufacture and sell the Direct Fed Microbial (DFM) using personal sales starting in the NW. The DFM will be grown, harvested, freeze-dried, and packaged at our facility. The final product will be premeasured treatment packs containing sufficient doses to treat 100,000 fish once per day for 30 days. Customers will mix the DFM with fish feed and administer the treated feed daily. The DFM will emerge from dormancy upon consumption and begin to popu-late the intestine of the fish. The treatment course is designed to en-sure the population of our beneficial microbes will be sufficient to com-bat subsequent exposures to CWD and treatment can begin the day the fish start to feed.

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Fourth Place: $3,000
Project: Smart Beam LLC
Team: Brianna Milford, Megan Gilchrist, Kristi Schaible
Mentor: Steve Shook, Professor of Marketing, College of Business
and Economics
Smart Beam LLC is a manufacturer and distributor of the new age wooden I beam. The wooden I beam is made from small diameter logs and provides an environmentally friendly alternative to current products used for door, window, and garage door headers. The wooden I beam combines two proven engineering concepts: the steel I beam which has been used in
industrial construction for over one hundred years and dry kilned wood which has been used in home and commercial construction for the for the past forty years. By marrying these two concepts together, Smart Beam combines the best of both worlds to provide a natural and sustainable prod-uct to the growing ―green‖ construction market.

>>Small Business Tracks<<

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First Place: $3,000
Project: Bittercreek Ales
Team: Kevin Kelpe, Jesse Dyer, Emily Hecker, Curtis James,
Xiao Li
Mentor: James Forbes, Instructor, College of Business and Economics
Bittercreek Ales will be a beverage company that makes micro brewed beer and distilled spirits. The company will leverage the brands of two
successful restaurants in downtown Boise, Idaho: Bittercreek Alehouse and Red Feather Lounge.

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Second Place: $1,500
Project: Lewis-Clark Vineyards
Team: David McIntosh, Charlie Chadderdon, Kayla Didier,
Jerry Wroten
Mentor: James Forbes, Instructor, College of Business and Economics
The U.S is one of the leading grape producers in the world, which brings us to our group project proposal: a wine grape vineyard in North central, Idaho, specifically the Lewiston area. Why Idaho? Surprisingly, Idaho has been a grape producing state for over 150 years which is now making Idaho the new frontier of wine production within the United States. Idaho was awarded $100,000 to create an American Viticulture area in the North central, Idaho region where we plan on producing our vineyard as well.

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Third Place: $500
Project: The Red Brick
Team: Liza McGeachin, Marissa Duncan,
Christopher Ingebritsen, Caitlin Mitchell
Mentor: James Forbes, Instructor, College of Business and Economics
The Red Brick will open in Idaho Falls during the summer of 2012. The historic building is already purchased and is located on a main corner in downtown. This new bar will embrace qualities that a target market of 25-35 year olds will desire in their social lives. The Red Brick is meant to be unique to what already exists, to improve the social atmosphere of Idaho Falls, and to become what has long been needed in one of Idaho‘s largest cities.

>>Social Entrepreneurship & UI Intrapreneurship Tracks<<

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First Place: $4,000
Project: Find Every Possibility (FEP)
Team: Ryan Barrie, Nate Bessler, Caitlin Casey, Shane Fitzgerald, Sam Morin Mentor: James Forbes, Instructor, College of Business and Economics Find Every Possibility, or FEP, is a clothing company which strives to meet the need. We will adopt several causes to support through the sales of our clothing, causes like fighting human trafficking, giving clean water to com-munities in need, and providing education to children who cannot afford it, for example, ―Buy this t-shirt, and send a kid in Africa to school for a month‖. There will be a clothing collection designed around telling the story of the given cause. It is our aim to create quality and meaningful ap-parel which lets people take part in supporting the causes and joining the Find Every Possibility movement.

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Second Place: $3,000
Project: UI Parking and Transportation Services
Team: Kayla Uhlenkott, Macaela Brady, Meganne Brookings,
Mindy Caron, Jacey Frey, Josh Riley
Mentor: Steve Shook, Professor of Marketing,
College of Business and Economics
We propose to implement an auctioning program in which the highest
demanded parking spots and potentially lots on campus will be auctioned ff to the faculty and student body alike. This program will provide those who are willing to purchase an auctioned spot for a premium "no hassle" parking spot, while keeping the rising costs of parking down for the rest of the University. 

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Third Place: $1,000
Project: The Golden Weave
Team: Kari Eggert, Zach Battles, Brandon Cadwell,
Elizabeth Ehrsam
Mentor: James Forbes, Instructor, College of Business and Economics
The Golden Weave will distribute silk bolts woven in Pakistan to the
United States upholstery and clothing companies under the Fair Trade Agreement. As a company, we pride ourselves in paying fair wages to em-ployees, fair prices for products, and fair treatment of employees and com-panies we do business with. The Golden Weave wants to take
advantage of social responsibility and turn it into our competitive
advantage.