{"55130":{"#nid":"55130","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Business Plan Competition: Sports Bra Technology Deemed Most Ready for Market","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen former competitive gymnast Shannon Harlow would work out,\nshe didn\u0027t like everything she saw in the mirrors at the gym.\nSpecifically, the way that sports bras flattened her chest and showed\nunsightly seams. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Most sports bras available on the market do just\none thing,\u0022 says Harlow, who will earn her MBA from Georgia Tech this\nspring. \u0022To put it bluntly, they squash.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHer solution, the curve-enhancing BeBuxom Bra,\nwon the Most Commercializable\u0026nbsp;Award in the March 12 finals of the 2010\nGeorgia Tech Business Plan Competition. Worth $35,000 in legal,\nfinancial, and other services, this honor goes to the team deemed by\njudges to be most ready to enter the marketplace.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EShannon developed the technology and plan for the\ncompany Belle Curves with fellow students in the Evening MBA Program:\nRobert Halley, Grace Powers, Richard Powers (MBA 2008), and Fran Ruskin.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOrganized by Georgia Tech\u0027s Institute for\nLeadership and Entrepreneurship, the Business Plan Competition is open\nto students in all of Georgia Tech\u0027s academic programs (graduate and\nundergraduate) as well as recent alumni. It includes multiple award\ncategories.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Belle Curves team also won the Best Elevator\nPitch prize ($500), which recognizes the company that does the best job\nexplaining its concept in a one-minute oral presentation \u2013 representing\nthe limited amount of time entrepreneurs might have to sell a concept\nto potential investors they encounter.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBelle Curves team members say they are serious\nabout taking their product to market, and they hope to raise $200,000\nto help get it there by 2011. All the team members,\u0026nbsp;four of whom are\nstill earning their MBA at night, plan on keeping their day jobs as\nthey develop the company, which they eventually hope to sell to a major\ncorporation.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHarlow\u0027s idea for a more flattering sports bra\nfor women with smaller cup sizes (AAA-B) took shape after realizing\nthat Robert Halley, her seatmate in the Evening MBA New Product\nDevelopment class, is vice president of research and development at\nAmerican Breast Care, a manufacturer of bras and other products for\nwomen who\u0027ve had mastectomies.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat separates BeBuxom from other sports bras is\nits design, Harlow says. Its silicone inserts are held in special\npockets instead of being worn directly against a wearer\u0027s skin where\nthey might shift or feel irritating. \u0022We use a lightweight silicone\nwith thin edges so that it shapes well to the body with no unsightly\nlines,\u0022 explains team member Grace Powers.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHarlow adds: \u0022We knew we were onto something when\nmany of the members of the focus group who tested the product didn\u0027t\nwant to return the bras back to us. They begged us to keep them.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFirst Place\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003EIn addition to the Most\nCommercializable Award for the team most ready for market, the Business\nPlan Competition also awarded First, Second and Third Place winners in\nthe overall competition.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe First Place honor ($10,000) went to \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.alpzhi.com\/\u0022\u003EAlpZhi\u003C\/a\u003E,\nwhich has developed an innovative manufacturing process for\nmicro-lenses. This process facilitates an improvement in the design\nflexibility of micro-lenses and the devices that incorporate them,\nincluding digital cameras, cell phones, LCD computer screens, and\nfiber-optic equipment.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to the first prize, AlpZhi also won\nthe $10,000 Innovators Award, which recognizes a potentially\ndisruptive\u0026nbsp;technology.\u0026nbsp;AlpZhi\u0027s\ntechnology will enable creation of such advanced products as 3D TVs,\nflexible displays, compact bio-sensors, and high-efficiency solar\npanels.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team includes\nAmit S. Jariwala, a PhD student in mechanical engineering; Brian Baum,\nan Emory law student; Greg Sheridan, an MBA student, and\u0026nbsp;Fei Ding, a\npost-doctoral fellow in mechanical engineering. Jariwala, Baum, and\nSheridan are part of the the TI:GER\u00ae program, a\ncollaboration between Georgia Tech and Emory Law School that brings\ntogether science and engineering PhD, MBA, and law students to work on\ncommercializing technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJariwala, who is working on the AlpZhi micro-fabrication\u0026nbsp;technology\nfor his PhD, explained that it \u0022allows for manufacturing eight times\nfaster and one-sixth the current cost of competing technologies,\u0026nbsp;eventually leading to faster market entry of next generation imaging devices.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlpZhi employs a computer-controlled system\ninvolving the addition of photosensitive resins to create lenses of\nprecise dimensions. However, instead of adding material like AlpZhi,\ncurrent competing technologies employ more expensive subtractive\nprocesses involving etching and the\u0026nbsp;use of\u0026nbsp;hard tools to achieve the desired lens structure. \u0022This additive fabrication approach leads to a\u0026nbsp;better quality lens,\u0022 says Jariwala, who hopes to the have the company\u0027s first generation micro-lens products on the market by 2011.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIdeas to SERVE\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003ERunning parallel to the Business\nPlan Competition was Georgia Tech\u0027s Ideas to SERVE (Socially and\nEnvironmentally Responsible Value Enhancement) Competition, for\nearly-stage business concepts that could help solve social issues or\nsustain the environment.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn finals held March 10, the Ideas to SERVE\nSocial Solution track winner ($1,250) was One Motion Syringe. Improving\nupon the current syringe design, its technology provides a shorter\ntraining period for healthcare workers learning to use syringes and a\nbetter ergonomic experience. The ease-of-use of these syringes could\nhelp facilitate the dissemination of vaccines in Third World countries.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Ideas to SERVE Environmental Solutions track winner ($1,250) was SecondWind.\u0026nbsp;\nIt proposes leveraging high-speed roadways to generate wind-driven\nelectric power. Small wind turbines, embedded in roadside barriers,\nwould harness the current from passing traffic in industrialized\nnations.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJudges for the multiple awards in the Business Plan\nCompetition and its sister Ideas to SERVE Competition included numerous\nleaders in the corporate, venture capital, technology transfer, legal,\nand academic communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESponsors of the Business Plan Competition were\nILE, Georgia Tech College of Management, GREENGUARD Environmental\nInstitute, Advanced Technology Development Center, Executive\nEntrepreneurs Society, Nelson Mullins Riley \u0026amp; Scarborough LLP,\nInterfaceFLOR, Hi Tech Partners, Fish \u0026amp; Richardson, Gray Ghost\nVentures, HLB Gross Collins PC, and Bondurant Mixon \u0026amp; Elmore LLP.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIdeas to SERVE sponsors included ILE, Georgia\nTech College of Management, MaRC Sustainable Design \u0026amp;\nManufacturing, Tedd Munchak Chair in Entrepreneurship at Georgia Tech,\nTech\u0027s Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, and the Arthur M.\nBlank Family Foundation Speaker Series.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"2010 Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition announces winners"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen former competitive gymnast Shannon Harlow would work out,\nshe didn\u0027t like everything she saw in the mirrors at the gym.\nSpecifically, the way that sports bras flattened her chest and showed\nunsightly seams.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Most Ready for Market won $35,000 in legal, financial and other services"}],"uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2010-03-26 13:49:10","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:05:45","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-03-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-03-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"45982":{"id":"45982","type":"image","title":"Tech Tower","body":null,"created":"1449174338","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:25:38","changed":"1475894342","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:02","alt":"Tech Tower","file":{"fid":"190013","name":"tgx26837.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tgx26837_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tgx26837_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":42265,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tgx26837_0.jpg?itok=rXyXtCSj"}}},"media_ids":["45982"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/mgt.gatech.edu\/news_room\/news\/2010\/articles\/bpcwinners.html","title":"College of Management"}],"groups":[{"id":"1317","name":"News Briefs"}],"categories":[{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2983","name":"business plan competition"},{"id":"2008","name":"College of Management"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBrad Dixon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAssistant Director of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E404.894.3943\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brad.dixon@mgt.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebrad.dixon@mgt.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brad.dixon@mgt.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}