UAlbany Finalists in Tech Valley Business Plan Competition

Each spring, Professors Bob Schwartz and Fred Buse, managing directors of the Schwartz Heslin Group, start their graduate class, The Initiation of Enterprise Management, with a questionnaire on student experience and background, and then use the information to create teams ensuring a balance of student strengths.  The class is made of up of working professionals enrolled in the evening MBA program, fulltime MBA students, many without significant work experience and even some from the tax program.

The class is structured around researching and creating business plans.  In the past, the groups have vied against each other for top honors in the Best Business Plan competition and the winning team, chosen by a panel of venture capitalists, presented their plan and at the annual Research Forum, held each May. 

This year, Schwartz and Buse have upped the ante.  UAlbany School of Business students are not only competing against each other but also against their peers at other top schools, including RPI, Union, Clarkson and the UAlbany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in the first annual Tech Valley Business Plan Competition.  Professors Schwartz and Buse are proud to say that four of their five teams are among the twelve finalists.

There is more at stake than a grade.  The winning team takes home $10,000, second place $5,000 and third place $2,000.  In addition, the first place team receives $8,000 in in-kind services from Heslin Rothenberg Farley Mesiti, PC, and $1,000 of in-kind business strategic consulting services from ECG Consulting Group Inc.  The second place team also receives services from ECG.

Projects are judged on the feasibility, sustainability, potential market and financing of their product, and the qualifications of their management team.

Schwartz and Buse have taught the class since 1997. Though the focus of the class has always been creation of a business plan, some things have changed through the years.  Four years ago, Tom Friedman’s book, Hot Flat and Crowded, became required reading.  This year, based on the parameters of the Tech Valley competition, the projects must focus on renewable energy and sustainable innovations.  The four finalists’ projects cover hybrid cars, green buildings and public biking. 

Schwartz, a member of the School of Business Advisory Council, notes, “Entrepreneurs will solve the problems of the world.”  UAlbany students have stepped into the entrepreneurs’ shoes and are taking the first step.

The public is invited to the final round of competition on April 28, Results will be posted on the School of Business website the first week of May: www.albany.edu/business

The Tech Valley Business Plan Competition is sponsored by University at Albany School of Business and College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering, the Lally School of Management and Technology at Rensselaer, the Union Graduate College School, National Grid, the Center for Economic Growth, Heslin Rothenberg Farley Mesiti, Lemery Greisler,  Tech Valley Communications, Fenimore Asset Management, Karp, Ackerman, Skabowski & Hogan, CPAs, PC,  and the Schwartz Heslin Group.