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| Taking the Trouble to Research Your Market |
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Entrepreneur Offers Insight into Winning Venture
Competitions
BusinessWeek, Oct. 20, 2004
"Want to win at MOOT CORP, the premier
intercollegiate business plan competition in the world?
Here's the simple secret: forget about your business
plan," advises Rob Adams, a former adjunct professor
of entrepreneurship at McCombs and veteran judge of
the school's global business plan contest. "Taking a
shot at the American dream, either as a competitor at
MOOT CORP, which has been hosted by The University
of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business since
1984, or as a corporate refugee, has resulted in an
unnatural fixation on the business plan," he said. Adams
recommends a focus instead on the fundamentals of
team, target market and market potential.
Read the BusinessWeek story. »
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| UT team Places First in Statewide Entrepreneurship Contest |
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A group of McCombs School graduates has taken the
top prize in the annual Shirley Murphy Entrepreneur
Contest, garnering $15,000 for their start-up business,
uShip. The company connects people who need to ship
furniture and other large items with drivers who will be
passing through their locations.
Read the Austin Business Journal story. »
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| Breker Verification Systems Moves Forward |
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Breker Verification Systems has developed a proprietary
test generation software that eliminates the functional
verification problem faced by designers of complex
semiconductor chips. Breker's TrekTM software
provides Directed Test Case Synthesis, which
automates the creation of test suites, a critical step in
the design process that currently consumes a large
amount of manual effort. TrekTM uses a patent-
pending algorithm to specify test suites in the form of
decision trees, allowing the software to generate the
complex sequences of transactions needed to properly
test the chip.
First pitched in Gary Cadenhead's New Venture Creation
class, Breker Verification Systems has come far since
Summer 2002. The company was incorporated and
patents filed in early 2003, and its first customer came
on board in June 2003. The company has begun to see
revenues from software licenses, has now grown to six
people and is poised to ramp its customer base. Still
funded by revenues, Breker is actively engaged with
venture capital and angel investors.
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| Alumni Reunion Set for Feb. 11 |
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The first ever MOOT CORP Alumni Reunion will be held
on Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 in conjunction with the Texas
MOOT CORP Competition Finals. The Reunion will begin
immediately after the last presentation in the Hall of
Honors of the McCombs School of Business.
The winner of the Finals will represent UT at Austin in
the prestigious Global MOOT CORP® Competition in
May. The Semifinals of the Texas MOOT CORP
Competition will be held Thursday, January 27, 2005 at
the McCombs School of Business. The public is invited
to watch the presentations.
If you know a MOOT CORP alumni who is not receiving
this newsletter, ask them to email
Ann.Whitt@mccombs.utexas.edu to be added to the
mailing list. We would like as many alumni as possible to
attend. Look for more details soon.
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