Throughout the spring quarter, we’re featuring several New Venture Challenge teams on the NVC blog. Teams will share their experience going through Phase II (the classroom round) of the program, tell us about new developments and challenges they encounter, and more.

Today’s post is from Rachel Hyman of Edit Huddle, recapping the first round of NVC presentations.

Edit Huddle is thrilled to be participating in the New Venture Challenge and to blog about our experiences here. As a quick introduction, Edit Huddle is a crowdsourced, collaborative editing tool for blogs and newspapers. With the ever-increasing rate at which content is being pushed out, and with cuts to newsroom editing staffs, errors are more prevalent than ever. Edit Huddle lets readers easily and privately submit any mistakes they find via a simple "Fix It" button. Bloggers can correct errors straight from the dashboard, pushing those updates seamlessly to the blog. Crowdsourced editing helps the blog become more professional and error-free, and promotes reader interaction.

This past Monday was the third, and last, week of the first round of pitches. Each team takes 12 minutes to pitch and then gets 13 minutes of often blistering feedback from the judges and coaches.

Four of the NVC teams pitched their business and the judges had time to ask questions and provide constructive feedback, ranging from the “stickiness” of the idea or product to potential legal entanglements. The most common questions focused on the start-ups’ business models and how they would acquire and keep customers. As NVC coach Troy Henikoff said: "it's easier to sell a painkiller than a vitamin."

Finally, Edit Huddle pitched. Since I explained above what we're all about, I'll jump straight to the judges' feedback. We did not include revenue projections; they commented that for this portion of the presentation, we should find analogs for companies that sold to a similar market.

They also pointed out that gameifying Edit Huddle by, say, rewarding the top editors would allow it to expand beyond being simply a feature. And finally, they suggested bringing in advisors who had experience beyond just the blog space.

So what's next for Edit Huddle? We're in the process of launching our beta with 3 Wordpress blogs, so we should have some solid data for our second presentation. I'd like to see us spend more time on the user-side experience, and better explain what compels people to use the Fix It button. This means thinking more seriously about the gameification aspect and figuring it all out before we pitch again in May.

Check us out @edithuddle, and stay tuned.

 

Throughout the spring quarter, we will feature several New Venture Challenge teams on the NVC blog. Teams will share their experience going through Phase II (the classroom round) of the program, tell us about new developments and challenges they encounter, and more.

We’re excited to kick off this series with a post by Dana Fortini, Community Manager for The Suppr Club, recapping their first presentation of the quarter, and what their plan is for the quarter:

Welcome to The Suppr Club's first installment on the Polsky Center blog!  On behalf of the team, we are very excited to have the opportunity to share our New Venture Challenge experiences with you.

What exactly is The Suppr Club and what do we do?  We are a web-based premium dining event company to help chefs create and diners find unique and unforgettable fine-dining experiences. 

As pop-up restaurants, supper clubs, and at-home chef experiences become more and more popular, there has been an unmet demand from both chefs and diners.  Chefs are experts at their craft, but often struggle with building their brand and attracting high-end diners outside of their personal networks.  Diners are on the quest to find special dining events and are looking to socialize and meet new people through food-related experiences. 

Ultimately, The Suppr Club aims to serve this two-sided market through the use of an online ticketing system where diners can purchase tickets to events, preview menus, and follow their favorite chefs online.  For chefs, The Suppr Club will serve as an online marketing platform where a chef's professional background, areas of expertise, and previous events will be showcased and we will work to provide venues for chefs to host events.

Although it is only the second week of the spring quarter, NVC teams have been busily preparing for our first presentations for over a month now.  We are no exception!  The Suppr Club presented during the first week of class, with judges on-hand to provide feedback on the initial presentation.  After the presentation, NVC judges approached us to offer help and assistance to address the weaknesses in our presentation. 

In addition to meeting with judges, we have been meeting with contacts provided to us by Professor Rudnick, and have been in close contact with our coaches to gauge our progress.  We'll be required to submit a business plan and present a second time in just a few weeks, so we've also been working on a lot of the tactical areas of the business.  This involves a lot of conversations with chefs and diners to better determine and address their pain points and what they would like to see from The Suppr Club.

It's important for the team to show significant progress from the initial presentation to the second presentation and business plan; we feel the best way to demonstrate this is, borrowing words from Professor Deutsch, to "just do it!" and have a few dining events in the pipeline.

Are you curious to learn more about The Suppr Club?  Do you want to be part of an exclusive network and be the first to find out about underground dining events?  Or maybe I've just made you really hungry?  If you answered "yes" to any of the following questions, then you should definitely sign up at http://thesupprclub.com and start following us on Twitter (@thesupprclub).

Carolyn, Farhan, Nate, and I would like to give a huge thank you to the Polsky Center for featuring us this week!

Please contact Tracey Keller if you’re interested in contributing a guest post.

 

Congratulations to the 20 teams who were selected to advance to Phase II of the Social New Venture Challenge! Brief descriptions of these teams are below.

Social New Venture Challenge 2012: Phase II Teams

Agrimex

Agrimex aims to partner with small citrus fruits agricultural producers in Mexico with three main goals: 1) generate profit by increasing production yields, improve product quality, and reach substantial economies of scale, 2) foster social welfare and development in the farmers’ communities, and 3) minimize environmental impact and resource depletion.

 

Aletheia

Aletheia is a web application that lets people map arguments in a massively collaborative environment. Our innovative, non-hierarchical structure allows users to view all of an idea's important logical relationships in one place.

 

ArtsyPros

ArtsyPros aims to provide a platform for artists with severe disabilities and lovers of art to connect and engage in commerce. We will do this by providing logistical and transactional support to the artists.

 

Dot-to-Dot Children’s Books

Dot-to-Dot Children’s Books engages communities around the world in developing children’s books that it sells through cause-related marketing campaigns to raise funding and awareness for important nonprofit causes.

 

Educocity

Educocity has developed a unique product for learning and knowledge management services through its platform, GUIDE: Grow as You Identify Delight in Education. GUIDE is a cloud-based and collaborative learning management platform for students, teachers, and educational institutes.

 

FeMME

FeMME will develop, produce, test, distribute, and market iron-fortified food products with a focus on helping adolescent girls and women overcome the consequences of one of the most pervasive and unmet health problems in much of the developing world—iron-deficiency anemia.

 

First Principals

First Principals’ mission is to leverage the expertise of private sector professionals to support and develop the capabilities of principals in US public schools. First Principals will match private sector leaders with school principals to provide coaching in areas of management which principals have identified for self-improvement. 

 

Foundations College Preparatory School

Foundations College Preparatory School is a charter school that will produce high measurable academic results through an innovative, dynamic teaching style: flexible class sizing. Class size will vary based on the subject or lesson taught, allowing for more flexible scheduling while resources are held constant.

 

Impact Measurement Lab

One of the greatest challenges facing social ventures is the ability to measure the social impact of their work. The Impact Measurement Lab is a university-affiliated business that leverages the skills of graduate students and faculty to perform impact measurements for new social ventures.

 

L.I.F.E. Mentoring Programs

L.I.F.E. seeks to benefit the empowerment and resilience of urban youth ages 12-21 and the building of their communities. L.IF.E. bridges the gap between the youth and young diverse professionals throughout the transitional period in and out high school and college.

Limit Zero

As campus crimes skyrocket, universities need to bolster their reputations as safe campuses and combat campus crime. Limit Zero aims to educate women on how not to be victims of these crimes through an innovative online self-defense virtual classroom as well as an XBOX Kinect video game and offer these services to universities.

 

LuminAID Lab

LuminAID Lab develops cost-effective, solar-rechargeable lighting products to make light more affordable, portable, and sustainable for all users. The LuminAID light—the company’s first product—is an inflatable, lightweight, waterproof solar lantern that can be packed and shipped flat and is ideal for use in emergency and disaster situations.

MoneyThink

Moneythink leverages the talent and resources on college campuses to educate urban high school students on the importance of financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Moneythink takes an innovative peer-mentorship approach to education—using customized curricula, engaging students through interactive classroom activities, and linking students with relevant opportunities outside the classroom.

 

OpenClass

OpenClass is an online forum that connects people who want to learn something new to people who have the skills to teach them. OpenClass connects the tutor and student in real time, simulating the experience of an in-person tutor.

 

Platica

Platica connects Spanish language students with conversation partners in Latin America through videoconference.

 

 

RedInk

RedInk is an online teaching assistant platform that outsources grading and data entry to qualified college students. For each inputted grading set, teachers receive completed grades and an analysis summary of student performance. By factoring out the busy work, RedInk hopes to improve teacher retention and effectiveness.

 

RideMatch

RideMatch is a third-party, smart-phone enabled booking platform that matches ordinary drivers and passengers while collecting a percentage of the fare for making the match. The passengers receive taxi-like service at near mass transit prices and the drivers receive compensation for the trip.

 

Strive

Strive is a premium candy and savory food retail franchise and wholesaler specifically designed to provide meaningful work opportunities and job training to individuals with autism spectrum disorders. A percentage of profits will fund the Strive Foundation, which will make donations and strategic investments that benefit the needs of the autistic community.

 

Voice Your Opinion

Voice Your Opinion is a platform for online discussions that provides quantitative feedback. Aimed at capturing and quantifying the disruptive online political discussions in Egypt and the Middle East post-Arab spring, it will help the people who finally found their voice and lack an open medium to share opinions.

Business skills for fledgling entrepreneurs:

“A lot of students come [to Booth] to do entrepreneurship because when they look around at what other schools do, this place has a lot going on and our New Venture Challenge teams raise real money and get funded,” Professor Steven Kaplan told the Financial Times in a recent article on the entrepreneurship program at Chicago Booth.

Read the rest of the article.

InContext Solutions, the second place winner of the 2009 New Venture Challenge just announced it received $1.5M in funding from Hyde Park Angels and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. 

The Chicago-based company expects to double its 42-member staff by next summer and will likely move to a larger office.

Power2Switch, which participated in the 2009 New Venture Challenge, announced it raised $1.3 million dollars in capital, led by OCA Ventures, Hyde Park Angels, New World Ventures and I2A, along with some private investors. Additionally, Michael Polsky, ’87 (Invenergy), Mark Achler (Redbox), and David Zyer (OCA Ventures) have been appointed to its board of directors. Power2Switch will use the financing to hire additional employees, accelerate sales and marketing, and expand the business into other deregulated states.

Several outlets covered this news, including these mentioned below:

• Power2Switch snags $1.3M investment: Crain’s Chicago Business
• Energy startup powers past fundraising target: Chicago Tribune

The Wall Street Journal's All Things D blog profiled CaptainU, winner of the 2008 New Venture Challenge, noting the company “has positioned itself between student athletes and the college teams that might recruit them, in much the same way that financial Web app Mint.com placed itself in between people building their financial goals and the banks and credit card companies seeking new clients.” CaptainU Co-founder and COO Mike Farb, ’09, is quoted throughout - read the article.

The post also includes a video interview with Farb.

After Advice From a Pal, InContext's Gillespie Creates a Virtual Store

InContext Solutions, founded by part-time student Bob Gillespie, is featured in this Crain's Chicago Business article about the company’s 3D technology and why Chicago is a good place to build a technology company.

InContext placed second in the 2009 New Venture Challenge.

Read more.

Blackboard Buyer Providence Equity Acquires Personalized Online Learning Platform From PrepMe

Digital learning company Ascend Learning is acquiring PrepMe’s adaptive learning platform and virtual classroom SaaS. Ascend is owned by Providence Equity Partners, which just acquired Blackboard for $1.64 billion.

PrepMe won the 2005 New Venture Challenge. Read the TechCrunch article. Crain's Chicago Business also covered the acquisition.