Competition Awards Top Entrepreneurs

A multi-person discount service for small businesses and an online, used sporting goods exchange were the big winners at the 22nd annual Westmont Collegiate Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition Dec. 8. About 60 people packed into Kerrwood Hall to hear students make formal presentations about their business plans as part of Entrepreneurship and New Venture Development, a class taught by David Newton, Westmont professor of entrepreneurial finance.

Students Matt Shiney and Cole Timm of Crux, the discount service, shared first-place honors with students Dave Wolford, Bryce Randolph and Matt Kauk of Outdoor Exchange. Pacific Coast Skateboards, providing longboard skateboards for Hong Kong commuters, finished in third place.

“These winners will work closely with me in early January to submit their business plans to national business plan competitions and forums around the country during the spring,” Newton says.

One of the judges of the competition, Jason Spievak, CEO at RingRevenue and former CFO of Callwave, praised Westmont’s entrepreneurship program and the students, saying he and his company have hired Westmont alumni and utilize the college’s student-interns.