Winner of Freirich Business Plan Competition 2013-2014:
A 'Transmedia Fictional Universe'

April 12, 2014

Three Skidmore seniors who share a passion for storytelling were awarded the $20,000 top prize in the Fourth Annual Kenneth A. Freirich Business Plan Competition Friday. 

Making their case for Leaf Pile Media LLC, which they describe as a "transmedia fictional universe," English major Walter Barber, management and business major Ian Van Nest, and studio arts major Andrew Zimmerman impressed the judges with their plan to produce original stories on a variety of platforms ranging from games and action figures to television shows and films. 

Roommates since their first year at Skidmore, the three students will focus initially on marketing a board game they started developing two years ago with input from friends. They'll apply their award toward building a Web site to support sales, exhibiting at game conventions, and manufacturing the game, in which players journey through a fictional universe called Hara. They plan to sell the game at $50 each and, if it proves popular, develop it in other forms, such as a graphic novel, video game or film.  (Read more.)

Finalists

Six finalists were selected for the final round. They are:

1. East Coast Lacrosse LLC (Seth Berger '14)
2. Double Dee's Company (Stella Langat '16)
3. Leaf Pile Media (Walter Barber ‘14, Ian VanNest '14, Andrew Zimmermann '14)
4. Munchi Heaven Agri (Adam Beek '15)
5. Open Campus (Ezra Levy ’15, Marcella Jewell '15)
6. Rum Dogs, Inc. (Rachel Dance '14, Alexander Nassief '16, Zach Rohde '14)

The final round was held on April 11, 2014 at 2:00 PM at the Tang Museum. 

About the Kenneth A. Freirich Business Plan Competition

The Kenneth A. Freirich Business Plan Competition will award prizes valued at more than $25,000 to the Skidmore students (or team of students) who write the best business plans. The prizes are intended to act as a catalyst to help students start a new business or to assist the development of their existing business.

The impetus for this competition comes from Kenneth A. Freirich, Skidmore Class of 1990, serial entrepreneur, and president of Health Monitor Network. Ken returned to Skidmore in October of 2010 as the College's first Entrepreneur in Residence where he issued an "Entrepreneurship/Creativity Challenge" to the student body. Inspired by the impressive talent, creativity, and effort that went into the student presentations, he decided to take things to the next level: launching a business plan competition to foster entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity among Skidmore students. That competition is now in its fourth year.

Students will indicate their 'intent to compete' by Friday, October 25, 2013. The first set of business plans will be due upon return to campus in late January. These business plans will be presented during the spring semester to a panel of experts made up of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, accountants, lawyers, executives, and members of the Department of Management and Business. The judges will narrow the submissions to a list of finalists who will then spend another month honing their business plans. Final presentations of the revised business plans will occur before a panel of judges in April of 2014, and winners will be chosen at the culmination of those presentations.