Companies
Student entrepreneurs pitch business ideas developed at UCSC
by Melissae Fellet
UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Cruz Entrepreneurship Showcase featured cash prizes, networking, and real-world business challenges for students
The $4,000 top prize went to the Imprint team of Mark Adams and Brian Vallelunga. (Photo credit: Michael Riepe)
UC Santa Cruz undergraduate and graduate students presented prototypes and business plans to alumni and venture capitalists during an Entrepreneurship Showcase on Saturday, June 7, at the UCSC Silicon Valley Center in Santa Clara. Many of the students developed their ideas during courses sponsored by UCSC’s Center for Entrepreneurship.
The $4,000 top prize went to the Imprint team of Mark Adams and Brian Vallelunga. Their software product can be embedded in a website to monitor the site’s performance. If there are problems, the Imprint software asks the user for more information and notifies the site’s webmaster. The goal is to improve customer satisfaction and avoid lost sales due to webpage issues. The students plan to use the prize money to launch their company.
Makesmith CNC won the $3,000 second place award. Bar Smith, an electrical engineering student graduating in June, and history alumnus Tom Beckett developed a low-cost desktop computer-controlled router for tinkerers and hobbyists. A Kickstarter campaign to produce the router kits closed on June 9th after raising more than $80,000.
Read full article here: http://news.ucsc.edu/2014/06/entrepreneurship-showcase.html
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Sara Isenberg publishes Santa Cruz Tech Beat for the benefit of the extended business and technology community. When she is not volunteering her time for the tech scene, Sara makes her living by managing software projects, web strategy planning, and providing development team services (including account management, vendor management, strategic partner management, beta project management, referrals to qualified technical team members, and more). Please visit her website: Sara Isenberg Web Consulting & Project Management, or contact Sara by email if you have any project management, account management, or Development Team leadership or service needs.
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