Geyser Flow Control wins tristate contest
The Las Vegas Business Press knows how to pick 'em.
Team Geyser Flow Control beat out graduate students from Oklahoma and Arkansas in the 2012 Tri-State Donald W. Reynolds Cup business plan competition Wednesday evening, taking home $30,000 in the process.
The group's business plan took first in the Business Press-sponsored 2012 Dominic Anthony Marrocco Southern Nevada Business Plan Competition in early February. Since then, the team placed in the semifinals of the San Diego State University Venture Challenge and second in the 2012 Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition, held in April.
Geyser Flow Control hails from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and is composed of students Michael Giannini, Seth Ostrowski, Paul Kotchka-Smith, Erin Johnson and Joshua Ellison. Andrew Hardin is faculty adviser.
Peter Maksymec conceived the product, a small, disc-sized water-flow restrictor for irrigation systems that minimizes water loss from broken sprinkler heads. Maksymec contacted UNLV last summer to connect with master of business administration students and enter business plan competitions as a way to get his product in front of possible investors and possibly earn some startup cash.
So far, the group has earned $110,000.
"The students are putting the money into the business," Maksymec said.
The Geyser Flow Control disc is now in production, and the group plans to have it available by the end of June. Maksymec will remain the business' manager, and the five students will receive equity positions in the company.
Maksymec said he wouldn't have been able to achieve success without his group, and that Hardin connected all the dots.
"They brought life to this project," Maksymec said.
Contact reporter Laura Carroll at
lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588.
