Entrepreneurs, time to strap on your thinking caps

The organization that puts together a statewide business-plan contest for college students is seeking corporate sponsors and entrants for its spring event.

Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology is preparing for the third annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup Business Plan Competition, which will award $200,000 in cash to aspiring entrepreneurs in the Silver State.

Though competitors don't need to commit to the contest until Feb. 15, the center's executives, along with university professors from across Nevada, are encouraging students to begin thinking now about business proposals.

Dave Archer, chief executive officer of Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, said the agency is especially interested in proposals that combine disciplines, such as engineering and business or journalism and business. The center added a Lieutenant Governor's Award in 2007 for energy-related business plans, and the Commissioners' Award, new in 2008, will go to the commercial idea that best addresses the economic needs of rural Nevada. Panels of judges will sift through the plans in April.

Nevada's winners will advance to a tristate competition against students from Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Archer said he expects about 150 teams to participate in the three-state contest.

The maximum possible prize is $52,500, Archer said. Students can use the prize money to finish school or start their business.

"Most people don't realize that 85 percent of companies in Nevada have 19 or fewer employees," Archer said. "The vitality and diversity of the Nevada economy depend on small businesses. The purpose of the Governor's Cup is to encourage college students to become small-business entrepreneurs."

Rashi Tiwari, a graduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno, said joining the Governor's Cup competition earlier this year helped her and her teammates learn the strengths and flaws of their business idea. The team, which won first place, proposed an "energy harvester" that would transform vibrations in bridges and big machines into electric power.

"We got to speak to so many people (during judging) from different fields, and they made us evaluate our product very critically," Tiwari said. "After winning, we met a lot of venture capitalists and lawyers who all gave us different ideas about technology."

Corporate sponsorships of the Governor's Cup are available for $1,500, $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000. The proceeds will go toward cash prizes, the May 1 awards event and campus outreach, Archer said. Though the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is providing a significant share of the prize money, Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship must come up with nearly $100,000 to run the competition.

Sponsors already lined up to support the Governor's Cup include the Nevada Commission on Economic Development, Vegas Valley Angels, Vanguard Media in Las Vegas, and Reno-based Noble Studios Marketing & Web Development and Allegra Print & Imaging.

"It's a great way for businesses to meet students," said Janet Runge, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "These students are their potential employees, as well as people they might be doing business with in the future. It's a nice way for them to develop early relationships. And it keeps them grounded in the marketplace, connecting them directly to people who might be purchasing their goods and services."