Seven teams head to final round of Freirich Competition

Seven of 14 teams of Skidmore students have made it through the rigorous first round of the Kenneth A. Freirich Business Plan Competition. Conceived by Freirich, Skidmore Class of 1990, the competition will award prizes valued at $17,500 to the Skidmore student or team of students that writes the best business plan.

The competition will culminate at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in Davis Auditorium, when the teams of students will present their final business plans to a panel of judges. The following students and business plans were selected as finalists following the April 1 first round of judging:

• Carol Brown '13, SuperSports Clinic: a summer softball clinic for local youth;
• Samuel Brown '12 and Trevor Mengel '11, Slingshot: a social network for pickup sports games;
• Spencer Xianjian Dangzhi, Qinghai Travel Social Service Center: a business designed to assist non-native speaking ethnic minorities and rural, illiterate individuals in accessing urban services;
• Sarah Besler-Erlich '11, Just Call Me Cupcake: a high-end cupcake bakery;
• Malcolm Perry, Zack Rohde, and Thomas Sellers, all Class of '14, MyBad Industries: an apology lifestyle brand;
• William Powell '12 and Mike Cohen '11, FridgeCycle Exchange: a compact-refrigerator recycling service; and
• Maddie Sullivan '11, Collegiate Records: a student-run, university-wide record label and concert management company.

Judges will be the following:

• Kenneth A. Freirich '90, president, Health Monitor Network;
• Steven Sullivan '78, owner, Olde Bryan Inn and Longfellow's Hotel Restaurant and Conference Center;
• Georgette Blau '96, president, On Location Tours;
• George Ehinger, President, Beach Reach, Inc.;
• Paul Calhoun, F. William Harder Professor of Business Adminisration;
• Todd Tidgewell, Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP; and
• Carrie McIndoe, President and CEO, Strategic Capital Management.

First place will be awarded a cash prize of $5,000 and $8,500 in professional services provided by the following:

• Saratoga-based marketing specialist Paula Tancredi Penman ($3,000);
• The Saratoga-based accounting firm of Flynn, Walker, Diggin, CPA PC ($2,000); and
• The New York City-based law firm, Phillips Nizer LLP ($3,500).

A second prize of $2,500 and third prize of $1,500 also will be awarded. 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 inspiration for this competition comes from Freirich, serial entrepreneur, executive, and currently president of Health Monitor Network. While visiting Skidmore last October as the College's first Entrepreneur in Residence, he issued an "Entrepreneurship/Creativity Challenge" to the student body. Inspired by the impressive talent, creativity and effort that went into the student presentations, Freirich decided to take things to the next level and launched the Business Plan Competition to foster entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity among Skidmore students.