Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge Set for May 13, 2008 Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE), High Tech Rochester (HTR), Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the University of Rochester (UR) are pleased to announce the second-annual Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge.
The competition will take place from noon to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, at the Hyatt Regency, 125 East Main Street, downtown Rochester, N.Y. The event is open to the public; the cost to attend is $35.
The Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge is targeted toward entrepreneurs in four cities in Western New York and Ontario, Canada —
Rochester, Buffalo and Ithaca in Western New York, as well as the city of Waterloo, Ontario. The first-place winner will receive $100,000 in cash to help implement the winning business plan. Judges will include a select group of venture capitalists.
Several organizers and sponsors have returned for the second annual event. Special thanks go to event sponsors Mark S. Ain, CEO and chairman of payroll firm Kronos Inc. and a prominent alumnus of the University of Rochester William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration and the Finger Lakes Wired program.
"We're excited to be back for our second year. We had a tremendous response last year in our inaugural challenge, attracting several high-caliber business plans," said Duncan Moore, Vice Provost of Entrepreneurship at the University of Rochester. "We hope to build on last year's success and support more entrepreneurs in Western New York and Southern Ontario by providing them with one of the critical elements of success – access to start-up funding."
Participants in the Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge must first compete at the regional level. In Rochester, the 2008 Rochester Regional Business Plan Competition will take place on May 7. The deadline for registration is April 11.
Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge Keynote Speaker – Mark S. Ain
Mark S. Ain founded Kronos, a global human capital management software company, in 1977. Ain led Kronos from 1077-2005, to become one of the world's most successful software companies. Under Ain's leadership, Kronos sustained one of the longest records of growth and profitability in the software industry and earned the reputation as the market leader in workforce management. Today, as executive chairman of the Board of Directors, Ain remains actively engaged in Kronos operations. Ain also serves on the board of directors of several public, private and charitable organizations.
He holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from MIT and a master's degree in business administration from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester.
The SmartStart UNYTECH Venture Forum, a partner event, will immediately follow the Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge. For more information on the SmartStart UNYTECH Venture Forum, click here.