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business
| 4/15/2009 10:35:00 AM Email this article • Print this article |
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Matt Ackerson, founder and chief executive officer of Scrimple, winner of last year’s Big Idea competition (Photo by Rachel Philipson) |
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Big Ideas
Taryn Thompson
Reporter
Hey, what's the big idea?
It's a competition, and it's happening Friday.
The Big Idea Business Competition is in its second year as a student-friendly venue for Cornell University undergraduates to submit business ideas, gain experience in the field, and harness their entrepreneurial ingenuity.
"We're looking for any business or social enterprise ideas around the Cornell campus that could become a viable businesses," said Matthew Wagner, the manager of the competition.
"These businesses could make a profit in the long run or have a social focus - a green company versus something better for society," he said. Wagner orchestrates the entire competition and organizes the judging, marketing, and Web development.
The Big Idea Competition is a branch of the Entrepreneurship Office at Cornell, but solicits for-profit and not-for-profit enterprise ideas from any student of any department. It offers undergraduates an opportunity to figure out how turn their idea from theory into practice. Submissions for ideas, due in December, were whittled down to semifinalists and finalists, the latter of which were invited to partake in the competition finale on April 17.
This year, the Big Idea has expanded to include two tracks: the original for-profit business enterprise route and the new not-for-profit social enterprise category.
The 12 finalists - six from each track - were determined by a panel of 15 judges consisting of experienced entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, and business professionals. Each finalist was provided with mentors to coach them through the development of their ideas, Wagner said.
"Every mentor is a volunteer, and every finalist has the opportunity to work closely with these mentors, mostly successful alumni with entrepreneurial careers who wanted to get back to campus and give back to Cornell because they had a successful career," Wagner said. "Their primary focus is to be a phenomenal resource to the students."
The Entrepreneurship Office at Cornell pays for finalists' entrance fees into any events during the office's celebration weekend, of which the Big Idea Competition is like the opening number. The office also introduces the finalists to alumni and judges, and exposes them to entrepreneurs and alumni who may be interested in helping the students proceed, Wagner said.
The first place Big Idea Competition winner in 2008 was Scrimple, Inc., a company that specializes in developing solutions aimed at driving commerce at the local level through web-based, text-message coupons. The concept generated approximately $20,000 in local business revenue in the Collegetown area. Scrimple, Inc. has since been published in Popular Science Magazine and has received noteworthy mentions on Reuters.com and Forbes.com.
Founder and CEO Matt Ackerson, a senior at Cornell, said his business is focused on helping local businesses.
"It's what we're passionate about," he said. "A lot of existing solutions out there cater to larger corporations, and we want to provide innovative products and services at the local level for independent businesses to keep commerce in individual towns and local economies."
According to a press release Ackerson published several weeks ago, research shows that by spending money at local businesses, 73 percent of it stays within the local community as opposed to non-local businesses, with which only 43 percent remains.
"Our solution offers mutual benefit to business owners who want to reach local customers in order to drive sales and local consumers who are interested in saving money and supporting local businesses," Ackerson said. "With the state of the economy today, we feel that our solution is extremely timely."
He explained that he aggregates deals and discounts from other Web sites, like Restaurant.com and Campusfood.com, through which participants can opt-in to receive coupons and discounts via email or text message - their choice.
Ackerson is also working on expanding the business.
"We're creating an interface for business owners to be able to reach out and automatically send coupon incentives to customers when business might be slow," Ackerson said. "It helps resolve a fundamental problem for restaurants when, on rainy days or snowy days, business is really undercut. With this new development, they can sign into their account on Scrimple.com, have full control over the coupon ads, construct it however they like, and then send it out to people who have signed up."
The addition of a social enterprise track, Wagner said, was in response to a change in markets.
"Ultimately the genesis of it was that we've seen a huge focus globally and at Cornell on social enterprise and doing the right thing for the world," Wagner said. "We've seen the president push a social focus on being better people and recognizing the wave of future graduates who will go into careers in social advocacy."
This year, social enterprise ideas range from green energy and combating rape, to education through YouTube and unleashing the power of grassroots organizations.
YOUNG-Liberia, for example, is a yearly business competition with provision of resources to assist Liberian youth with bringing the country towards a more developed and diverse economy. YOUNG-Liberia is the brainchild of Jefferson King, a junior Civil and Environmental Engineering major.
The business challenges participants to invent and develop innovative solutions to local needs or problems, and plans to market their products or services. Participants will be provided resources in the form of workshops, a Web site, printed guides, mentors in each community, and access to information on acquiring startup money from various sources such as micro-credit loans, grants, and investors.
"The ultimate goal of YOUNG-Liberia is to inspire Africans to take charge of solving their own problems, without waiting for foreigners to present them solutions," King said.
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Suicide has recently come to Ithaca in a very public, and at times controversial, way. This past academic year, after three years with no suicides, Cornell experienced what is known in the scientific community as a "suicide cluster." OK, so maybe you're like me and you thought this whole JetBlue flight attendant story was good for maybe one news cycle.  |
