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>> Larry Martin, University of Hawaii at Manoa student: What we are doing here, is to develop
a tool in increasing the efficiency in students learning this skill.
>> Narrator Kelii Alapai: University of Hawaii at Manoa student Larry Martin, pitching his
business plan for SmarTummy, a startup company marketing a high-tech abdominal simulator
that will be used to train doctors, nurses and paramedics.
Though it may feel like it, this is not a presentation before a group of venture capitalists.
It's the finals of the UH Business Plan Competition by the Shidler College of Business's Pacific
Asian Center for Entrepreneurship.
>> Susan Yamada, Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship executive director: What
we are really trying to do is teach them how you begin to start a business, so when you
actually try to do it, chances are they'll succeed and not fail.
>> Narrator: The annual team competition for UH students started in 1999. The end goal
is to give budding entrepreneurs the necessary tools and skills to maneuver the extremely
tricky, business planning process.
>> Yamada: What it takes, how do you recognize appropriate markets, how large are the markets,
where does you product fit into it, what kind of pricing is it going to be, the financials.
The underlying factor is entrepreneurial thinking. How do you think outside the box and then
how do you begin to actually implement."
>> Narrator: Organizers say the semester-long program takes a hands-on learning approach
to something that is very difficult to teach in a standard classroom setting. It includes
two daylong business plan boot camps and each entry goes through several rounds of judging
by a variety of respected professionals.
>> Martin: Lawyers, investors, bankers, and really, it helps you refine your business
plan, your product and presentation from start to finish to where we made it today in finals
so it is a great learning experience.
>> Narrator: Out of forty entries, four teams advanced to the 2013 finals. The finalists
each gave a 10-minute long presentation before a panel of four judges, followed by a rigorous
question-and-answer period.
>> Judge Chenoa Farnsworth to competitor: How much customer testing have you done other
than knowing the industry but having to actually try to put this into practice with some customers?
>> Yamada: It's a dog-eat-dog competition. I mean, everybody is not a winner, right?
There's winners and losers and it mimics real life.
>> Farnsworth: It's a great test of what it would be like to really be in business because
you get the positive and negative feedback both and you really have to think on your
feet.
>> Narrator: You don't have to be a business major or graduate student to enter. Martin
is an engineering student at UH. His startup, SmarTummy, took first place winning 10-thousand
dollars. But more importantly, the fledgling company is now better prepared for the extremely
difficult process, of turning a business plan into a business reality.
>> Martin: It's a big accomplishment for our team, for our company, the prize money, the
networking. The amount of opportunities that you can take advantage of as a student at
UH Manoa, are endless.