Sports company wins best business plan competition
The setting to announce the winner of the 2013 Dominic Anthony Marrocco Southern Nevada Business Plan Competition was, appropriately, fit for a champion.
The awards ceremony Friday night, attended by about 200 people, was held at Marrocco’s private residence, a mansion formerly owned by world heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson.
The competition began in October with 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.
Five finalists made it to the awards, but only one plan made it out of the mansion a winner.
And for the persistent people behind the winning Sports Entertainment Gear entry — Travis Williams, Brian Harge and Meghan McGaugh — their third time entering the contest was the charm.
Sports Entertainment Gear, already an operating 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, and the company plans to add Penn State, Alabama and Florida State by fall.
Marrocco donated $20,000 to the contest this year, which was earmarked for catering and cash prizes.
This year’s winner also 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 the victory, Sports Entertainment Gear can triple its size this summer by adding three or four more schools 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 Friday morning to the contest judges, Williams described the experience as awesome: “The feedback was incredible. I was just so happy to be there. Dominic Marrocco, he’s huge.”
Final 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.
The competition was a joint venture between UNLV’s Lee Business School and the Las Vegas Business Press.
Earlier this year, Andrew Hardin, the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the business school, said the plans were the best he had seen since the competition was founded in 2010.
Sports Entertainment Gear was up against four other business plans for the grand prize: CamSa Pharmaceuticals, Hope LBC, Legacy Funeral Services and EcoBoss 16.
CamSa Pharmaceuticals was a close second, a result that gave the group automatic promotion to the finals for the 2014 contest.
“They’re not in a position to take advantage of the funds right now,” Hardin said.
CamSa’s plan focused on a synthetic compound to prevent Clostridium difficile infections, invented by Ernesto Abel Santos, a professor of chemistry at UNLV.
“This is a big deal. This thing has the potential to be a cure for a pretty nasty disease,” Hardin said.
Todd Pierson, Katelyn Orr, Tony Fleming, Hao Li, Joe Minelli and Marcell Solomon made up the team that created the business plan for CamSa.
“We’re pretty happy. We think we did pretty good,” Pierson said.
The event was their first business plan competition, and the CamSa Pharmaceuticals teammates plan to enter more contests in the future.
Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Follow @lscvegas on Twitter.
