Engineers Wanted for Duke Start-up Challenge 2005
Posted December 1st, 2003
Have you always wanted take the engineering skills you're learning in the classroom and shape them into next year's hot start-up?
Last year, nine start-up companies from Duke competed for over $100,000 in seed capital and services in the final round of the Duke Start-Up Challenge's multi-stage competition. Pratt engineers won the Duke Startup Challenge for the second year in a row. The Fitzpatrick Center's David Brady and Mike Sullivan and graduate student Prasant Potuluri won the $50,000 top prize for their computational optical sensors company dubbed Optopo, and a $5,000 People's Choice award. Optopo will focus on spectrometer and digital imaging products. Two years ago, Pratt's Mbright won the competition with its digital display technology.
Will you start the next Optopo this year? To find out, compete in the 2005 Duke Start-Up Challenge, a three-phase entrepreneurial competition that rewards promising start-up companies with over $100,000 in seed financing and that connects promising start-up companies with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from around the nation.
Anyone can compete in the Duke Start-Up Challenge, and only one team participant has to be a member of the Duke community. If you have a great idea but no one to help you make it happen, The Duke Start-Up Challenge can help you build a team and forge relationships with students across the university.
If you want a taste of entrepreneurial spirit but don't have a business idea, the Duke Start-Up Challenge can match you up with others who have a vision, but need your drive and skills to make the company come to life. If you just want to learn more about what it takes to start a company, compete in the Duke Start-Up Challenge and attend the various education events held throughout the year.
The university-wide kickoff will be on Oct. 7. Phase I of the Duke Start-Up Challenge is an executive summary submission due on Nov. 10. For more information about the competition and about Phase I, visit http://www.dukestartupchallenge.org.
