For information please visit the Events page of our website www.cie.unsw.edu.au – scroll down to find contest information.
Yesterday evening’s mix’n'match event kicked off the season for the Peter Farrell Cup challenge (run by the CIE) and the Social Entrepreneurship Competition (in partnership with the CSI). Peter Kazacos, CIE Board member and generous sponsor of the Social Entrepreneurship Competition, attended the event and was delighted to hear about all the exciting ideas students were preparing to submit to both competitions.
The event began with a welcoming introduction by Dr. Martin Bliemel, who outlined the series of workshops leading up to the finals (26 Oct for the PFCup, and 27 Oct for the SEComp) and what factors judges would focus on for the PFCup competition. This was followed by an explanation from Cheryl Kernot of the CSI about the evaluation criteria for SEComp entries, and some wise words of inspiration by Peter Kazacos. After these addresses, the audience of over 40 students and even some faculty broke into networking mode to discuss ideas and crystallize team composition.
Last year, this very event catalyzed the TaxiApps team to work on their idea and submit it to the the competition. They ended up winning the 2010 Peter Farrell Cup, and went on to win 2nd place at the John Heine Challenge in Adelaide. Since then, they have used the prizes from the competitions to fund the development of goCatch, which is now available for free via the iTunes store, and are actively pitching their business to the angel community. They attended last night’s event and helped inspire the next generation of participants to pursue their dream.
Based on some of the ideas we overheard floating through noise of the networking event, this is going to be a great season of entrepreneurship competitions!
Competition 2011 Open
See http://pfcup.com.au/web/about/ for details and dates for workshops and deadlines.
Competition 2010 Results
This is a cross post from CIE.
Mobile phone-based taxi booking and payments platform developer TaxiApps took first place in the 10th annual Peter Farrell Cup Business Plan Competition last Thursday. The event was hosted by the Centre of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) in the School of Strategy & Entrepreneurship at the Australian School of Business (ASB).
The competition offers teams of students the opportunity to create and develop an innovative business idea, then present it to a panel of five judges comprising business founders and venture capitalists.
“The whole process, from coming up with idea and then thinking through what we wanted to do and how we were going to do it – the whole thing just gathered momentum and then I started thinking `Hey, we could really do this’ and now it’s just really exciting that we’re going ahead with this,” said TaxiApps team member Ned Moorfield, a student of the AGSM. “The contest really gets you going.”
Dr Peter C Farrell with 1st place winning team, TaxiApps. From L to R: Trung Nghi Tiet, Ned Moorfield, Dr Farrell and Andrew Campbell
Other winning ideas were: on-site toxic halogenated waste recycling, hangover and osteoporosis medications, and an online social network for casual workplaces.
“I was really impressed at the sophistication of not only the presentations but the ideas themselves,” commented Axelle Marjolin, UNSW student and spectator, at the evening’s events. “I certainly wasn’t expecting so many technical ideas with that much development behind them.”
Judge Gareth Dando, founding Managing Director of Southern Cross Venture Partners, also expressed surprise at the ideas presented, saying, “I’m quite impressed with the calibre of the ideas and businesses [the teams] put together. There are some quite good ideas here, and not just for students.”
Teams were judged not only on their written business plan – which determined, from the initial 25 applicants, who would go on to win one of the ten spots in the finals presentation roster – but also on live presentation and their ability to field questions from a tough judging panel.
“The Peter Farrell Cup is about articulating a business idea, and doing that through a brief written plan and verbal pitch. It provides an opportunity to experience what it’s like to actually have an idea, develop a business model around it, and then solicit interest and feedback about the opportunity from real investors – people who know what they’re talking about and evaluate such opportunities on a professional basis,” said Dr Martin Bliemel, CIE’s Director.
“Sure, the judges are looking for a unique selling proposition, a clear market and risk analysis, and investment attractiveness, but what else they really want to see is that spark in the eye of the person telling them about it, they want to see that passion for the idea,” he explained.
Dr Peter C Farrell, AM, Founder and Executive Chairman of ResMed Inc, sponsor of the competition, was on-hand to announce the winners and present awards.
Ernst & Young and TiE also sponsored the event by offering full membership with the TiE and attendance at Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year ™ awards dinner to the winners.
A special addition to this year’s competition was the unveiling of the new Peter Farrell Cup competition trophy. Jointly designed by Selena Griffith, Lecturer at UNSW’s College of Fine Arts (COFA), Dr Miles Park, Senior Lecturer in UNSW’s Faculty of the Built Environment (FBE), and Industrial Designer Hugh Worthington (BSc. Design UNSW) of Vert Design in Redfern, the uniquely stylized cup is representative of the “crucible” effect of the competition on rough business ideas that are distilled and concentrated through participation in such competitions.
New Peter Farrell Cup trophies by UNSW's COFA and FBE, and Vert Design
Made from recycled aluminium bicycle tire rims, the outside of the hollowed half-sphere has a roughly mottled surface created by a process called lost-foam casting. As the surface turns the edge from the outside, the level of polish increases until it reaches the centre of the hollow, which is almost a mirror.
“We wanted it to represent the ideas [in the competition] needing to be polished, and be something of value to hold. The polished texture changes the form, and it looks different and feels lighter as the texture changes,” said Andrew Simpson, Principal Industrial Designer at Vert.
First, second, and third place winners each receive a smaller replica of the Cup engraved with their team name to take home. The original Cup will remain on display at the CIE with the first-place team’s name engraved on the highly polished steel plate on which the trophy rests.
“Although it’s a long evening with ten 15-minute presentations, the level of activity and networking at the event was tremendous,” stated Dr Bliemel.
“One participant, Sampath from Solbij, which is a provider of solar chargers for mobile devices, did not make the finals but still came to the event and guerrilla-pitched the judges in their break to demonstrate the massive progress he made since his initial submission. Now that’s taking initiative and being entrepreneurial!” said Dr Bliemel with a laugh.
In addition to the prizes initially offered, the winning teams have also been invited to pitch to more investors at Seed Accelerator’s upcoming Sydney Startup Networking event on 9 December. TaxiApps is also going on to compete in the John Heine Entrepreneurial Challenge in Adelaide, and Solbij has received further advice from one of the founders of Sydney Angels.
Winners were:
1st place - TaxiApps (mobile phone based taxi booking and fare payment platform)
2nd place - ACIRO (on-site toxic halogenated waste recycling)
3rd place - OsteoPlus (osteoporosis medication)
4th place - Resaca de Borrachera (hangover cure at the molecular level)
5th place - Shiftr (online social network for casual workplaces)
Winning teams of the 10th annual Peter Farrell Cup Entrepreneurship Competition
For more information please contact the CIE at +61 2 9385 9730.
Finalists 2010
Our apologies for the delay in announcing the Peter Farrell Cup finalists. The judges tell me that it was not was not that easy to narrow the field down to 10.
Finalists for the 2010 Peter Farrell Cup are, in alphabetical order:
| ACIRO |
| Extron Design MeasureSafe |
| nommm |
| Osteoplus |
| Rentech Coatings |
| Resaca de Borrachera |
| Shiftr |
| Shwanki |
| TaxiApps |
| Vogelco |
Don’t forget to RSVP for the finals presentation evening which includes cocktails, dinner, and awards ceremony.
Cheers,
CIE
Competition Finals
Some new dates to remember:
Business Plan Workshop – ASB Lounge (level 5) 5:00 – 6:30 – TUESDAY 5 Oct
Registration Closes & 1-page idea synopsis due – Friday 8 Oct
Business Plan (no more than 10 pg) due – Friday 29 Oct
Finalists announced – 5 Nov
PITCH and Awards Event – Thursday 18 Nov
Don’t forget to register your team!
Peter Farrell Cup 2010
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN - register your team before 5 PM on 8th of October 2010!
Business Plan Workshop ASB Lounge (level 5) 5:00 – 6:30 – TUESDAY 5 Oct
Registration Closes & 1-page idea synopsis due – Friday 8 Oct
Business Plan (no more than 10 pg) due – Friday 29 Oct
Finalists announced – 5 Nov
PITCH and Awards Event – Thursday 18 Nov
Now in its 10th year, the Peter Farrell Cup provides students with the opportunity to bring their innovative business idea to life by pitching to a panel of experts from the Sydney entrepreneurial community. The competition is open to all currently-enrolled UNSW students, and to teams containing at least one currently-enrolled UNSW student. Teams submit a business plan and finalists are selected to pitch their ideas “live” to the judging panel. Cash prizes are awarded as follows:
1st place – $5,000
2nd place – $2,500
3rd place – $1,000
4th place – $500
5th place – $500
Competition Details
Open to all AGSM, UNSW,MBS, UTS, University of Sydney and Macquarie University students in two formats:
- Teams
- Start-ups and Existing Businesses
Team Criteria
- Students and non-students allowed.
- **Must have at least one student in the team from the Universities stated above**
Start-ups and Existing Businesses Criteria
- **Must have at least one student from the Universities stated above**
- Must not have received external funding
- Must not have revenue exceeding $500k pa
- Must be less than 2 years old
- Must be original work
Key Dates (see the CIE Google Calendar)
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN - register your team before 5 PM on 8th October 2010!
