startups
You've got 60 seconds with Warren Buffett: What's your pitch?
April 12, 2013: 3:54 PM ETForty-two startup hopefuls delivered a minute-long hypothetical pitch to the Oracle of Omaha at Rice's Business Plan Competition. Here are our favorites.
By Anne VanderMey
FORTUNE -- The elevator pitch contest is a time-honored tradition of the MBA business plan competition. At Wake Forest University, it even takes place in an actual moving elevator.
The Rice Business Plan Competition has its own take on the ritual. The premise: You walk into an elevator with Warren Buffett and you have 33 floors (60 seconds) to convince him to invest in your startup idea. This year at Rice, 42 teams delivered that hypothetical minute-long speech to a standing-room only crowd in the business school's 460-seat auditorium in Houston. The judges will dole out awards on Saturday, and the winning team will take home $1,000. But for now, Fortune picked a few its own champions.
Best MacGyver impression
"What if I told you I could save one million lives every year with just refrigerator magnets and a laser pointer?" --Disease Diagnostic Group at Case Western Reserve University
The team plans to use the magnetic charge of malaria parasites to develop a new, cheaper, way to detect the disease in developing countries.
Best dressed
"As a future physician, I'm excited to share how BriteSeed can save tens of thousand of lives and billions in wasteful spending." --BriteSeed, Northwestern University, delivered while wearing scrubs
Briteseed has developed a technology called SafeSnips, which will alert surgeons performing robotic procedures when they are about to cut a blood vessel at risk of uncontrolled bleeding.
Biggest potential to make money while ruining your morning commute
"1.6 billion people ride the New York subway every year and virtually all of them are cut off from cell phone coverage, costing millions per week to advertisers and service providers." --EnKinta Energy, University of Southern California
The team wants to use the kinetic energy created by moving trains to generate power and bring Wi-Fi and cell phone service to straphangers. That morning subway ride could get more profitable -- and louder.
Most terrifying
"Ladies and gentlemen, passwords can't protect us anymore." --Excalibur, Harvard University and Technical University Kosice, Slovakia
Excalibur's technology would effectively turn your cell phone into a secureID. They estimate that it takes $130 to hack a Facebook (FB) or Twitter account, $160 for a Gmail account, and $500 for a corporate mailbox.
Buzziest
"Forget the lows, it's time to get high." --Kaffeination, University of Manchester, England
Taking aim at the booming energy drink market, this team has already sold more than 5,000 bags of caffeine-infused gummy bears to students in the UK looking for a boost.
More from Rice Business Plan Competition:
-
How to win a business plan competition
Past Rice Business Plan Competition victors dish on when to ignore the judges, how to pick investors, and what to do after you go home.
Apr 12, 2013 12:49 PM ET -
Welcome to the business plan battle royale
Sharpen up those PowerPoint slides. The Rice Business Plan Competition kicks off in Houston with 42 startup ideas you wish you'd thought of.
Apr 11, 2013 11:31 AM ET -
7 questions to ask before joining a startup
Going to work for a fledgling enterprise is inherently risky, but knowing what to look for can boost your chances of picking a winner.
Anne Fisher, contributor - Mar 14, 2013 12:38 PM ET -
Knowing when to call it quits on your startup
Here are a few classic signals that it's time to close your small business and start fresh.
By Katherine Reynolds Lewis
FORTUNE -- Before Craigslist, before Monster.com, there was Drei Tauben Ltd, a proprietary system for help-wanted advertising for technology jobs. Christopher Frank started the company with two business partners in 1991 and spent two years building the business.
They created a user-friendly platform that could be customized by organizations that wanted MORE
Jan 15, 2013 1:58 PM ET -
What entrepreneurs can learn from artists
Like artists, startup founders must cultivate creative habits to see the world afresh and create something new.
By Tim Leberecht
(TheMIX) -- Andy Warhol knew it all along: "Good business is the best art." And lately, a number of business thinkers and leaders have begun to embrace the arts, not as an escapist notion, a parallel world after office hours, or a creative asset, but as an integral part of business MORE
Dec 21, 2012 5:00 AM ET -
A startup's first hires: What to look for
The first employees of a new business must be up for more than just what's written in a job description. Here are a few things to consider when hiring or if you are considering joining a new company.
Nov 1, 2012 11:49 AM ET -
Dear America: It's time to up our entrepreneurial game
The old paradigm -- get good grades, go to college, get a job, start a family -- is becoming a luxury for the few. How much longer are we going to tell this generation that "good" jobs will simply reappear? By Scott Gerber
Jul 2, 2012 1:48 PM ET -
MBA startups at Stanford reach all-time high
A record-breaking 16% of Stanford B-school's class of 2011 chose to start their own companies at graduation, exceeding the school's 12% peak during the dot-com boom. By John A. Byrne
Jun 1, 2012 5:00 AM ET -
Want to get into a top B-school? Quit your day job.
MBA admissions deans are looking for people who have launched successful, or even unsuccessful, businesses to fill spots in entrepreneurial labs and other programs. By Shawn O'Connor
May 31, 2012 10:20 AM ET
-
CEO Roger Crandall thinks that means-testing and older retirement ages are inevitable, but that its unlikely entitlements for the less affluent will be touched. Play -
CEO Roger Crandall thinks rates will remain low, but says MassMutual has diversified its portfolio to protect against any changes. Play -
CEO Roger Crandall says emerging economies like China are prime growth targets. Play -
Roger Crandall says that baby boomers will have to keep working into retirement and that young people have been scared off by the stock market. Play
