Business
New Venture Competition Names Winners
- Undergrad Jonathon Nostrant
By Evy Jacobson on May 21, 2009 2:51 PM
The Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and its Center for Technology Commercialization announced the 2009 New Venture Competition winners at the Marcia Israel Awards banquet held in Town & Gown on April 30.
The centers presented a total of $55,000 in prize money to the winners, which included two divisions: graduate and faculty, and undergraduate.
The first-place $20,000 prize in the graduate and faculty division went to Kynna.com, a company created by USC Marshall MBA candidate John Phamvan and MBA alumna Huy Do and Jason Williams. The company produces high-quality lead generation and due diligence for asset-based lenders.
The second place $5,000 prize went to Stroome, created by Tom Grasty and Nonny de la Pena, graduate students at the USC Annenberg School. Stroome is a collaborative online space where individuals and organizations can create relevant and responsive video content.
Moshi, created by USC Marshall undergraduate Jonathon Nostrant, took the first place $20,000 prize in the undergraduate division. The company produces and markets an interactive voice response alarm clock.
USC Marshall undergraduate David Wachtel’s CollegeWeekenders.com took the second place $5,000 prize. The site provides students with affordable weekender trips.
The centers also presented the Arbitech Jumpstart Feasibility Grant, a $5,000 gift by USC Marshall alumnus Torin Pavia to BlackSilver Technologies, created by USC Viterbi undergraduates Stephan Lizcano and Michael Fitzgibbons.
The company has a prototype of a patent-pending intelligent life jacket which continuously monitors the wearer’s location in the water.
In addition to the prize money that will be used to launch their businesses, the first-place winners take away six months of free space in the L.A. Technology Business Center, which has offered internships to entrepreneurial students.
“What was unique about this year’s finalists is that they all achieved proof of concept in some manner, whether it was product sales or a working prototype validated by customers,” said Kathleen Allen, a professor of entrepreneurship in the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and director of the Center for Technology Commercialization.
TAGS: innovation
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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