UCLA Anderson MBA Students Win National Business Plan Competition

    LOS ANGELES, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of three UCLA Anderson School
 of Management students took first place in the Rice University Business Plan
 Competition, the largest intercollegiate business plan competition in the
 world.  After all rounds of judging were complete, the UCLA Anderson team came
 away not only with a grand prize valued at $135,450, but also valuable input
 from an array of 130 judges, including venture capitalists, patent lawyers,
 entrepreneurs and bankers.
     The winning UCLA Anderson team, named Auditude, was composed of Johanna
 Wright ('05) and Nicholas Seet ('05), who participated in the actual
 competition, and Erik Haus ('05), who provided significant input in developing
 and writing the winning business plan.  Wright and Seet were honored at a
 banquet held at the conclusion of the competition, which took place
 April 7-9, 2005, at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
     The three-day competition is aimed at simulating the real-world process of
 entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from early-stage investors and venture
 capital firms.  The competition was hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology
 and Entrepreneurship and Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice
 University.
     The UCLA Anderson team competed against the 35 top-selected business plans
 from among 130 plans entered for the competition.  From the start of the
 event, the UCLA Anderson team faced fierce competition from a number of peer
 business schools, including Harvard, Stanford and MIT, as well as from
 international teams from Colombia, India, England and Canada.  Upon reaching
 the finals, Auditude went up against six solid teams from London Business
 School, Northwestern, University of Chicago, University of Louisville,
 University of Michigan and University of Pennsylvania.
     Auditude's business plan outlines the development of a suite of technology
 services for automatic tracking of broadcast advertisements based on its
 proprietary technology.  The digital media startup's mission is to "deliver
 accountability to the broadcast advertising industry" by ensuring that
 advertisements are played correctly on television and radio.  Auditude
 technology can detect and display which radio and television ads were
 played -- literally minutes after they air.  In 2004, Auditude licensed its
 technology to Premiere Radio Networks, the syndication division of Clear
 Channel Communications Inc., and is currently engaged in active discussions
 for with several other national broadcasters.
     As the first place winning team, Auditude received a grand prize of
 $135,450, consisting of a $100,000 investment from GOOSE (Grand Order of
 Successful Entrepreneurs), $20,000 in cash, roundtrip tickets on Continental
 Airlines, one year office space and services from Houston Technology Center,
 and qualification to advance to the international finals of the MOOT CORP(R)
 business plan competition.
     "We went to this competition essentially to get feedback on our plan so
 that we could improve our chances to win the Knapp Venture Competition, UCLA
 Anderson's Business Plan Competition," said Johanna Wright.  "So it was really
 unexpected when we actually won at Rice."
     "The Rice Business Plan Competition was incredible.  It is a rare event to
 present your plan to more than one investor at once, let alone 130," noted
 team leader Nicholas Seet.  "Not only were the judges extremely supportive,
 but their feedback was honest and thorough."
     In developing their plan, Seet, Wright and Haus brought their diverse
 professional experience and also applied the knowledge they've gained from
 their UCLA Anderson management education, in particular, Professor Bob
 Foster's business plan development course.  Prof. Foster served as the team's
 faculty advisor.
     "Prof. Foster's business plan development class was instrumental in our
 writing the Auditude plan," said Seet.  "The critique delivered by the class
 and the opportunity to present the plan in front of real VCs helped us prepare
 for the Rice event."
     Below are bio briefs on the UCLA Anderson School of Management team
 members:
 
     Nicholas Seet serves as the chief technology officer for Auditude.  He has
 a bachelor of science in engineering and a bachelor of arts in economics, and
 is completing his MBA at UCLA Anderson, with an emphasis in entrepreneurship
 and finance.  He has worked for Deloitte Consulting's Orange County practice
 focusing on middleware.  Subsequent to that in 1999, he founded SIVI, a Los
 Angeles Internet incubator, and acquired TigerIT, a software development firm
 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
 
     Johanna Wright is concentrating on marketing and entrepreneurial studies
 at UCLA Anderson.  She has a background in product development for technology
 startup companies.  She spent this past summer working at Yahoo!, focusing on
 search advertising.  Prior to returning to business school, she helped to
 start the online product department for the Entertainment Coupon Book (a
 division of InterActiveCorp).  Prior to that, she led the product team at
 Droplets, a venture funded Internet startup.  Wright started her career as a
 software engineer a financial services software company.  She graduated magna
 cum laude with a bachelor's degree in mathematics.
 
     Erik Haus is currently an MBA/MS in computer science dual degree candidate
 at UCLA Anderson.  His work experience includes aerospace engineering,
 software (startup) and IT consulting.  He previously earned a master of
 science degree in materials engineering.
 
     About UCLA Anderson School of Management
     UCLA Anderson School of Management is perennially ranked among the
 top-tier business schools in the world.  Award-winning faculty renowned for
 their research and teaching, highly selective admissions, successful alumni
 and world-class facilities combine to provide an extraordinary learning
 environment.  UCLA Anderson constituents are part of a culture that values
 individual vision, intellectual discipline and a sense of teamwork and
 collegiality.
     Established in 1935, UCLA Anderson School of Management provides
 management education to more than 1,400 students enrolled in MBA and doctoral
 programs, and some 2,000 executives and managers enrolled annually in
 executive education programs.  Recognizing that the school offers unparalleled
 expertise in management education, the world's business community turns to
 UCLA Anderson School of Management as a center of influence for the ideas,
 innovations, strategies and talent that will shape the future.
 
 

SOURCE  UCLA Anderson School of Management