Category: Undergrad Information

Winning Pitch Cleans up at Competition

Entrepreneurship Club hosts another successful Elevator Pitch Competition.

Today’s university students are reminded to be careful about what they put up on their Facebook or Twitter accounts. Sometimes they forget, and that’s a job for Clean It Up, the winning entry in the fifth annual Bob Mark Elevator Pitch Competition held Thursday night on the campus of Michigan Technological University.

The late business professor Bob Mark created the competition so students could polish their 90-second, new business pitches, emulating the length of an elevator ride.

The brainchild of accounting major Nikoli Wiens, assisted by chemical engineering major Zach Eckert, Clean It Up promises to clean up content and profiles on the Internet, even beyond the cleansing that Facebook and Twitter claim to do upon request.

“Companies will still dig deeper and get the info,” said Wiens. “We know it’s important to remove certain content, and we would do it cheaper than other services.” The team claimed there was more than $1 million in revenue possible with their $25 fee; such is the need for their service.

Their motto? “Don’t let one crazy weekend ruin your life forever.” They won $1,000 for their efforts.

Second place and $500 went to a device to which university students could also relate. FairShare promised a simple plug-in to calculate individual electric power usage, an important consideration for students sharing living spaces and expenses.

FairShare was created by an elevator-pitch veteran, Abhilash Kantamneni, who won last year’s competition with an Indian dating service.

“This can help college students save money,” Kantamneni said. “It would only cost $25, so most can afford it.” Kantamneni is a PhD student in computer science.

The bronze medal and Audience Favorite Award went to the ingenious Flashion, an app for your cellphone that can take a photo of a pair of shoes, for example, and instantly find their source, price, and more.

This mobile app would be free, according to creators Armando Flores, majoring in communication, culture, and media, and Allison Strome, a management major. They credited teammate and finance major Natalia Lebedeva for their inspiration, with whom they will share $250.

“She had the idea and we just built on it,” Flores said. “We might try to get funding on Kickstarter [the online funding site] to form an LLC.

Safety Straw targeted chemicals added surreptitiously to people’s drinks. Green Receipts sought to eliminate paper receipts at businesses. And more student-friendly businesses included Experience University, to help choose the right courses and teachers; and Food Now, to get groceries and fast food delivered to their rooms when they are in mid-cram for that final exam.

Michigan Tech entrepreneurs can also set their sights on the New Venture Competition, held at Central Michigan University in March and providing $65,000 in prize money.

Bob Mark Elevator Pitch Competition

All Majors invited to Elevator Pitch Competition!

What is an Elevator Pitch?

An elevator pitch is a short speech that outlines a business idea.

Come Pitch your idea for a chance to win $1000 in 90 seconds!

When: Thursday, November 7th at 6:00 pm

Where: Fisher Hall, Room 135

Why: $1000 First Place Prize…$500 Second Place Prize…$250 Third Place Prize…$200 Audience Favorite

Even if you’re not interested in competing, please join us for what is sure to be a fun and entertaining event! We look forward to see you in the audience!

Please contact Nikoli Wiens with any questions at nrwiens@mtu.edu

www.mtuentrepreneurs.com

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Meets with Students

President Kocherlakota spoke to APMP students about monetary policy and it's ability to influence and prices in the US economy.

Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, spoke to students in Michigan Tech’s School of Business and Economics about monetary policy and its ability to influence employment and prices in the US economy.

Kocherlakota’s district is the second largest geographically and least populated, he said, stretching from Montana to the Upper Peninsula. As one of twelve districts, he is part of regular meetings of the Federal Reserve open market committee where Ben Bernanke, chair of the committee and Federal Reserve Board, presides.

The representatives of each Federal Reserve District Bank share information about their districts and eventually produce policy. “It’s pretty structured,” he said “And that’s good; it’s not a debate.”

The Federal Reserve is focused on two main macroeconomic variables in their policy deliberations according to Kocherlakota. Price stability–keeping inflation at 2 percent or lower–and reducing unemployment to at least 6.5 percent. They use the federal funds interest rate as the control variable to achieve these two goals.

The unemployment rate is currently at 7.3 percent, and the federal funds interest rate is targeted at 0.25 percent. He does not see that interest rate changing soon.

Questions from the students and others focused on current strategies, and the recession of 2008 seemed to be part of nearly every answer. Kocherlakota stressed that he was answering for himself, and it was not to be taken as official Federal Reserve Bank responses.

When asked about following commodities like oil and gold, Kocherlakota said the Federal Reserve does follow commodity prices.

“Oil can be seen as putting pressure on inflation,” he said. “And it’s hard to predict oil prices. In 2008, oil prices went sky high the first part of the year, but when they collapsed, as they usually do, inflation came down, too.”

The price of gold went up in 2008, due to people’s fear of what to do with their money, he said.

“The Dow Jones was down to 6,000 then,” he said. “When gold dropped in price recently, it meant people were more confident, less fearful than in 2008.”

Kocherlakota also said that the fed can control the federal funds interest rate, but other rates are based on the demands for goods today versus goods in the future. US Treasury securities are still in demand because of their low risk.

How does the global market inflation affect your decision-making, he was asked.

“It’s another factor for us to think about, that could influence our performance, but we are not like New Zealand where it’s all they think about. The US is a relatively closed economy.”

And does he think about the fiscal health of his own district over that of the US?

“We all provide information about our districts, but we make policy for the country,” he said. “Officially, Kansas City, San Francisco and Minneapolis get one vote to represent all three. We vote on national matters.”

As for his district’s economy?

“It’s doing well, but I don’t think the fed can take credit,” Kocherlakota said. “The Upper Peninsula faces challenges that are historical in nature. Montana and Minnesota have unemployment around 5 percent. North Dakota has the oil boom and is around 3 percent. They can’t find people to work in McDonalds! South Dakota is below 4 percent and a bit of a mystery. The labor market could actually be stronger, the economy could be stronger. There are still some 2008 effects.”

This story was oringally posted in Tech Today by Dennis Walikainen, senior editor, for Michigan Technological University’s University Marketing and Communication.

New Concentrations for Management Degree

Are you Crazy-Smart? You should study business at Michigan Tech!

Two new concentrations have been added to the School of Business and Economics’ BS in Management: supply chain and operations management, and entrepreneurship. Both hold great promise.

“Businesses want employees with the knowledge and expertise in supply chain,” says Greg Graman, associate professor of operations and supply chain management in the School. “Distribution systems are important to customers and wholesalers, and they need to be managed before they get out of control.”

The importance is borne out in co-op, intern, and job opportunities from companies such as Raytheon, Target, Kohler, Union Pacific, Dow Chemical, Oshkosh Truck, Mercury Marine and Polaris.

“I get asked directly by these companies, ‘Tell me about your supply chain program.’” Graman says.

“It’s more than logistics,” says Dana Johnson, professor of operations and supply chain management. “It’s using information technology in a fashion to facilitate timely decision making with quantitative data, for example. It’s an important process in manufacturing or service industries.”

And, it’s multidisciplinary, Johnson says. Students who transfer in from engineering or computer science are bringing quantitative aptitude, and that skill set is emphasized throughout the concentration.

But there’s also emphasis on data analysis, finance, strategic skills, global perspective and communications.

Supply chain activities can have a profound effect on the financial status of the organization. High inventory level and slow response times can have an adverse effect on cash flow.

“A supply management department may be responsible for spending 50 to 60 percent of the gross revenue of an organization, greatly impacting profitability and operational success,” she says.

The new concentration will also be a proving ground for students who want to compete in the project management competition known as THE Project sponsored by the West Michigan Chapter of the Project Management Institute held in Grand Rapids each year.

Elsewhere, future entrepreneurs can now get focused training in the SBE. The new concentration is the result of work by Saurav Pathak, Michele Loughead, Russell Louks and Tang Wang, and experiential learning in entrepreneurship will be the focus.

The concentration’s unique feature is the Business Development course wherein senior year business school students assume entrepreneurial roles over two consecutive semesters and work on real-life technology-based projects to ascertain the potential for commercialization. In addition, the concentration requires students to take two content-based courses: Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Management.

Several entrepreneurial entities on or around the Tech campus, including the Office of Innovation and Industry Engagement, the Enterprise Program, the Senior Design Program and the MTEC SmartZone have been identified and integrated into what could become a sustainable “entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Pathak says.

”These entities have contributed a total of 11 technology-based projects for the Business Development course, whose commercial potential is to be ascertained by our business school students.”

Currently, forty-three students are enmeshed in all things entrepreneurial.

“The two content-based course sequence—Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Management—fits in as an introduction and connection for the management students in the new concentration,” says Wang, “At the same time they are taking the Business Development courses in sequence.”

“And the students will be working on real projects with commercial applications, producing real business plans,” Pathak adds. “In essence, the concentration benefits from the predominance of technology on campus.

One example is an improved fishing lure that a downstate company run by alumnus is working on. Four students are helping to determine the scope of the product and potential markets where to sell it.

Other students have been working on improved blood-typing technologies, advanced tire materials, hand-held sonar, and more. “The technology all sounds great, but is there a viable business out of these is the question.” Pathak says. “Business school students need to find the answer.”

They’ll all be involved, including Pathak and Wang, in Tech’s Bob Mark Memorial Elevator Pitch competition and Business Development competition, in addition to some new challenges.

“There’s a new Accelerate Michigan competition and others that we would like to compete in,” Pathak says.

Given Michigan Tech’s track record downstate (winning the $30,000 New Venture Competition in Mt. Pleasant in 2012), sending more students seems like a good idea.

This story was originally by Dennis Walikainen, senior editor, for Michigan Technological University’s University Marketing and Communications.

Undergraduate Student Government Participation = Resume Boost

USG offers SBE students the opportunity to apply their academics and background to boost their resume and align with career goals.

Michigan Tech’s Student Government asks the students of SBE:

“What would Goldman Sachs do?”

The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) is currently exploring an idea to engage students interested in the application of business and economics.  The idea is to create a kind of student consultancy that can assist the USG Executive Team in the strategic management and investment of the Student Activity Fee (SAF) accounts, which total more than $800k annually.

Part of the USG’s mission is to support all student organizations. To do that, USG uses the SAF money to fund orgs and initiatives for the benefit of all students.  The overall vision of this role is to provide financial resources so that the student orgs can help Tech to graduate students ready to “create the future”.

USG’s Challenge: The goal of graduating students ready to “create the future” is difficult to optimize because it is not inherently empirical.  There are few metrics in use to tell USG which potential investments are most valuable, or to measure the success of investments.  Therefore, USG hopes students can answer the following questions:

  • What critical results does USG need to deliver when investing the SAF funds?
  • What processes/metrics can we use to prioritize investment to deliver those results?
  • What metrics can we use to monitor the success of an org and/or new initiative?

By providing this open ended challenge, USG hopes students can apply their training to create resume experiences in line with their professional goals.  In doing so, these students can build a network of motivated partners inside and outside the university, and leave a lasting impact on the entire Michigan Tech community.

Please contact Kyle Johnston with questions or interest.