Sports Entertainment Gear wins annual business plan competition
This is Sports Entertainment Gear’s year.
Travis Williams, Brian Harge and Meghan McGaugh are the winners of the 2013 Dominic Anthony Marrocco Southern Nevada Business Plan Competition. It’s the trio’s third time entering the contest, which just goes to show that persistence pays off.
The business plan competition began in October with entrants submitting entries that were then scrutinized by local business people, including angel investors. The contest challenged aspiring entrepreneurs to submit viable business plans that were both feasible and have high growth potential.
Sports Entertainment Gear, already a running business, manufactures and sells licensed sports apparel that lights up when sound reaches a certain level in a stadium or arena.
UNLV, UNR and Michigan State are licensed thus far, but the company plans to add Penn State, the University of Alabama and Florida State by fall.
Aside from cash, this year’s winner will receive in-kind services from the accounting firm Wisan, Smith, Racker & Prescott; CIM Marketing Partners; BannerView.com, an online consulting firm; and office space from St. Rose Executive Suites.
With this win, Sports Entertainment Gear can not only double but triple its size this summer by adding three or four more schools in addition to what its owners already were planning. And, the in-kind services won’t go to waste.
“Right now my legal department is me and Google,” Williams joked.
After giving his final pitch to the contest judges, Williams described the experience as “awesome.”
“The feedback was incredible. I was just so happy to be there,” Williams said. “Dominic Marrocco, he’s huge.”
Judges for the 2013 competition were Mark Brennan, founding partner of Brennan Capital Partners; Ian McNeil, a partner in Brennan Capital Partners; Marrocco, entrepreneur in residence at the UNLV College of Engineering; Gina DeBernardi, executive director of nongaming accounting for MGM Resorts International; James G. Wright, executive editor of the Las Vegas Business Press and deputy editor, local and business news for the Las Vegas Review-Journal; and William Botts, angel investor and chairman and treasurer of the Vegas Valley Angels.
Contact reporter Laura Carroll at
lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588.
