Business plan wins $25,000 at SU

Web marketplace business selected from five finalists in annual competition.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Staff reports

A business proposal for a Web site to match real estate developers with people looking to invest in real estate for tax advantages won this year's Henry A. Panasci Business Plan Competition at Syracuse University. Tax Deferred Exchange LLC, or TDX, won the $25,000 first prize. It was selected Saturday from five finalists. "It was a close competition," said Michael Morris, the Chris J. Whitting Chair in Entrepreneurship, who oversees the department of entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises at the university's Whitman School of Management. The second-place plan, which won $10,000, was submitted by Advanced Carrier Systems LLC, a company that would sell a line of motorcycle, ATV and scooter carriers under the SweetRack brand name. Third place, and a $5,000 prize, went to Critical Communications Inc., a business that would market a commercial use for technology developed for the military to maintain communications in areas where obstacles might interrupt transmissions. "Money doesn't go to the students, it goes to the business," Morris said. "The money is meant to be seed money to jump-start them." The competition began last year, with 72 teams. "We cut that pool over the months," Morris said. "We provide quite a lot of support to the teams. Many of them have great ideas, but they come from architecture, engineering, whatever, and don't know how to write a business plan." On Friday, 16 teams presented their business plans to judges, experienced business people, venture capitalists and the like. Then the judges selected five finalists. That was an indication of the quality of the competition, Morris said; usually, four teams advance to the final day. "It was splitting hairs in terms of the final two," Morris said. Six judges who hadn't participated Friday, all from out of town, listened to the five presentations Saturday. Morris said people who, for example, sell a second home and realize a capital gain must pay tax on the gain or reinvest the money within a certain time. The winning business plan was for a Web site that would act as a market, bringing together the people needing to reinvest their money with real estate ventures.