2001 Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan Competition Winners

2001 Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan Competition, Statewide Winners (l to r): Matt Kinley (Equity Dyanmics), John Pappajohn (Equity Dyanmics), Stacy Holzbauer and Troy Kaiser

Iowa college students presented business ideas to venture capitalist John Pappajohn and his staff from Equity Dynamics, Inc. as part of the final round of the Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan Competition.

A total of nine business teams were present at the final round of the competition. These teams were composed of students from the University of Northern Iowa, Drake University, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and North Iowa Area Community College. Three business teams were selected, and each were awarded $5,000 seed grants. The winning teams were:

• Great Plains Veterinary Services - ISU Troy Kaiser & Stacy Holzbauer
• Knot Magazine – Drake University Jennie Dorris & Jim Casey
• Biomedical Solutions – University of Iowa James Fenton & Vikas Goel

ISU’s Regional Winners were Troy Kaiser and Stacy Holzbauer, Great Plains Veterinary Services; Andriy Ignatov, Hartronix USA; and Karla Mae Ayers-Elling, Fred Elling, Austin Elling and Sharon Elling, Spring Creek Vineyard.

John Pappajohn commented that the competition not only benefits young entrepreneurs, but it also benefits Iowa. He said, “We particularly like working with students because this is how we create new business activity in the state of Iowa and create successful new entrepreneurs.”

Stacy Holzbauer said, “Winning a competition like this gives you confidence that your business plan will materialize.”

Students and institutional representatives present at the awards luncheon cheered when Pappajohn said, “We’ll do it again next year!” The 2002 Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan Competition will be kicked off in the fall at the Iowa Venture Capital Conference, scheduled September 24, 2002, in Des Moines.

2001 Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan Competition, Iowa State University Regional Winners