Winner to be Selected at October 14 investment conference
The Bend Venture Conference (BVC) announced today that BendBroadband will sponsor the Concept Stage category winner at the annual investment conference on October 14 at the Tower Theatre. The award, which will be presented annually at BVC, is titled the BendBroadband Local Concept Award. Collectively, BendBroadband and Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO), which manages BVC, will award the winner $10K.
The Concept Stage competition is a new category for the 2011 Bend Venture Conference. The new level was added because the earliest of startups frequently could not compete as effectively with later stage startups with revenue traction.
“BendBroadband has invested millions of dollars into the local technology infrastructure to support businesses of all sizes – from small startups to the largest enterprise-class businesses with massive colocation and bandwidth needs,” commented Sean Handley, BendBroadband’s Director of Business Services. “With our multi-year sponsorship of the BendBroadband Local Concept Award, we’re proud to celebrate the innovative ideas being generated by Central Oregon’s next wave of entrepreneurs and future business owners.”
Selection of Concept Stage finalists has occurred over the last six weeks, starting when BVC received 24 applicants in the Concept Stage category in late August. At an “Upstart Day” in mid September, a group of experts on entrepreneurship provided feedback to each presenting Concept Stage company and selected the 12 most promising. On September 22, a capacity audience at Central Oregon PubTalk voted by ballot to choose the six finalists they considered most viable (see listed below).
“We expect the Concept Stage competition at this year’s Conference to be fast-paced and stimulating,” said Jim Coonan, EDCO Venture Catalyst Manager. “Each finalist has three minutes to concisely present their concept followed by an expert panel that will ask the entrepreneur challenging questions.”
At the conclusion of the six presentations, conference attendees will vote by cell phone for their favorite concept and the winner of the BendBroadband Local Concept Award will be announced in real time. The winner will receive $10K in cash and services be invited to participate in a to-be-announced business accelerator.
Finalists in the 2011 Bend Venture Conference Concept Stage are:
- AudioName (Sheetal Dube). AudioName seeks to overcome the difficulty of pronouncing foreign or tricky names by attaching an audio recording wherever an individual interacts online.
- Mobius eXchange (Dave Saylors). Developed by former emergency medical technicians, Mobius eXchange has developed a custom iPad app to quickly and conveniently record patient information in emergency response environments.
- The Physical Activity Pharmacy (Judy Shasek). Citing the health benefits of exercise, this Concept Stage company would make it easier for physicians to write prescriptions for physical activity and have both doctors and patients be more accountable for exercise.
- The Social Business (James Gentes). Specifically targeting small business, the Social Business would build an online service that enables these clients to optimize their social media investments.
- WARscooters.com (Jarred Baker). The winning outcome of OSU-Cascades’ Entrepreneurship class, WARscooters.com is selling scooters to boys 8-14 and plans to add a build-your-own capability and further market its niche site.
- Yeti Snow Traction (Matt Bassitt). Targeting studded tires that are increasingly unpopular with municipalities and difficult-to-install chains, Yeti Snow Traction has created spring-loaded traction devices (Yeti-Trax) for cars that can be installed in 8 to 10 seconds per tire.
About BendBroadband
BendBroadband is a family-owned, local company serving Central Oregon since 1955. A leader in the cable and broadband sectors, the company offers an extensive range of broadband, cable and telephone services for commercial and residential customers. Central Oregon facilities include more than a thousand miles of fiber and coax infrastructure along with metropolitan optical Ethernet, T-1/PRI and hosted PBX services serving the business community. BendBroadband offers multiple phone and high- speed Internet options with speeds up to 60 Mps. BendBroadband operates one of the fastest wireless broadband networks in the nation, which covers an expanded Central Oregon footprint along with outdoor Wi-Fi. The company was among the first to be 100% digital and offers Video on Demand, digital video recorders, HDTV (with more than 100 HD channels) and a choice of interactive program guides. BendBroadband focuses its corporate contributions and sponsorship efforts on youth, and by supporting an array of arts and entertainment in Central Oregon. In the community, BendBroadband provides extensive local sports, civic programming and local features created and produced by COTV, channel 11. See www.bendbroadband.net for more information.
About the Bend Venture Conference (www.bendvc.com)
Now in its eight year, the Bend Venture Conference (BVC) is the premier regional event connecting concept and early stage companies with investment opportunities. The annual event attracts more than 300 of the Pacific Northwest’s top investors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders and is held at the historic Tower Theatre in Bend, Oregon. The event encompasses pre-conference learning seminars, TechSpace Bend’s lively unConference, a pre-conference networking reception at Broken Top Club, the full day venture conference on October 14th, and offers an opportunity to explore Bend’s lively hotel, restaurant and downtown scene. BVC is managed by EDCO.
About EDCO (www.edcoinfo.com)
Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to diversifying the Central Oregon economy by attracting new investment and jobs. EDCO focuses on recruiting new companies, helping grow Central Oregon’s entrepreneurs, and by helping traded-sector firms already in Central Oregon expand. EDCO has been helping to diversify Central Oregon’s economy since1981.
