The Gigabit Challenge, a business plan competition being hosted by Think Big Partners to celebrate the arrival of Google’s one-gigabit fiber network in Kansas City, revealed its 19 finalists today, whittled down from the 39 semi-finalists announced two weeks ago.
To reach this final stage, semi-finalists submitted a condensed business plan to a panel of 30 judges, made up of entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, professional association executives, public and private sector officials and community leaders.
According to a press release, judges selected the finalists after a rigorous analysis of business plans, which were limited to 10 pages.
“We are very enthusiastic about the response we have received to The Gigabit Challenge from contestants, partners, investors, government officials and many others,” Scott Mize, the individual who originally proposed The Gigabit Challenge and a member of the organizing team, said in a press release. “We have also been impressed by the quality of the entries. The judges have chosen these 19 Finalists from a field of 113, which hailed from 22 states and five continents.”
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Here are the 19 finalists who will compete for The Gigabit Challenge Grand Prize valued at $100,000 and a “Born Global” prize for a $250,000 investment.
- Andrew Ying, Hong (Kan.)
- Bob Wray, CourthouseUSA LLC (Kansas City, Kan.)
- Brett Simpson, record life (Mo.)
- David Windhausen, TiBi.tv (Kansas City, Mo.)
- Don Peterson, BigIris.com (Mo.)
- Eddie Tapper, Get-Giv-Got System Technologies (Mo.)
- Fortunato Cardenas, Green Earth Aerogel Technologies (Barcelona, Spain)
- Jason Arnold, Paruzia Technologies (Kansas City, Mo.)
- Jeff Stull, Risk Analytics LLC (Kansas City, Kan.)
- Jim West, Somametric (Kan.)
- Kristin Kenney, RE:Cite (Kansas City, Mo.)
- Marc Canter, Digital City Mechanics (Ohio)
- Michael McKinzy Sr., Voter Integrity Party (V.I.P.) (Mo.)
- Michael Shear, Strategic Office Networks LLC (Va.)
- S. Vaideeswaran, Damascus Fortune (United Arab Emirates)
- Samuel Belu-John, SEIN Analytics & Asset Management (N.Y.)
- Scott Hardiek, Virtual/Real World Wallet System (Mich.)
- Seak Meng Lay, Photaic (Calif.)
- Sonia Lin, Kauzu (Ill.)
Next up: Finalists have been invited to deliver at ten-minute pitch at the Gigabit Challenge Finale on January 18 at the Kansas City Public Library. Rules state finalists will be limited to 15 slides, given a five-minute Q&A with the judges and must be present to be eligible for a prize. The event is free and open to the public.
To learn more about the Gigabit Challenge see our post: “Think Big marking Google Fiber’s arrival with Gigabit Challenge“.
