Entreclub Press Release: The UMass Amherst Entrepreneurship Initiative Awards Thousands in Seed Funding to Aspiring Entrepreneurs.
Paul G. Silva
our recent awards ceremony. Any help you have in getting this into the
hands of reporters or others who can help Entreclub would be greatly
appreciated!
-Paul
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The UMass Amherst Entrepreneurship Initiative Awards Thousands in Seed
Funding to Aspiring Entrepreneurs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
March 31st 2005, Amherst, MA - This week the UMass Amherst
Entrepreneurship Initiative, also known as Entreclub, completed its
Spring 2005 Business Competitions, awarding thousands of dollars in
seed capital to aspiring UMass Entrepreneurs.
In their Concept Pitch Competition, Entreclub helped students learn to
communicate their core business concept quickly and effectively. The
Initiative's Executive Summary Competition helped students a bit
further along in the process learn the basics of writing down their
ideas and understanding the first steps of developing their concept
into a reality.
The 1st place winner of the Executive Summary Competition was Textics.
As described by co-founder Kerry Pierce (UMass MBA student), "Textics
seeks to publish and deliver online multimedia e-textbooks to the
collegiate marketplace. As an Internet company that couples technology
with a modern business model, Textics is able to easily enter and
disrupt the traditional Textbook industry as a low-cost entrant."
The 2nd place winner of the Executive Summary Competition was College
Mattress Pros. According to cofounders Neal Van Patten and Seamus Gahan
(both UMass MBA students), "Collegiate Mattress Pros is a franchise
selling overstock mattresses and relying on low overheads to offer a
quality low priced product. College students will own and operate the
franchises, allowing them to earn a substantial income while developing
their businesses skills and gaining responsibility."
The 1st place winner of the business pitch competition was Drop4Cash, a
company proposed by UMass Student Alan Hilaire. His business concept
is to help people who have a lot of goods they would like to sell on
eBay, but lack the experience or time to do so.
The 2005 business competitions represent a re-awakening of Entreclub,
which had struggled in the years after the dot-com crash. This
re-awakening was made possible thanks to the support of the Harold
Grinspoon Charitable Foundation, the donations of time and support from
Entreclub Alumni, and especially the support of leaders at the
University.
About The UMass Amherst Entrepreneurship Initiative:
Founded in 2000, the Initiative is a joint effort by leaders throughout
the university, as well as local business leaders and alumni to help
students:
· Pursue the dream of turning their ideas into real-world businesses
and organizations
· Enhance their job options upon graduation
· Accelerate development of academic-laboratory technologies
More information can be found online at www.entreclub.org
Contact person:
Paul G. Silva, Director (e: dire...@entreclub.org | v: 413-585-9692)
UMass Amherst Entrepreneurship Initiative