IBMC 2017
THE FIRST AND LARGEST LEAN STARTUP COMPETITION IN THE WORLD
2011
45 Teams 6 Schools 2 Countries
2012
59 Teams 7 Schools 1 Country
2013
1,383 Teams 143 Schools 10 Countries $357,000 Awarded
2014
2,418 Teams 209 Schools 19 Countries $755,600 Awarded
2015
3,832 Teams 276 Schools 15 Countries $644,500 Awarded
2016
5,113 Teams 482 Schools 29 Countries $663,000 Awarded
2017
5,953 Teams 495 Schools 27 Countries $755,198 Awarded
IBMC Administrators If you have any questions regarding the competition, please contact one of the IBMC administrators.
Jeff Brown director
jeff.brown@byu.edu 801.367.3936
Brennan Steiner student director
steiner.brennan@gmail.com 435.232.9797
#IBMC2017 @businessmodelcompetition @intlbmc @internationalbmc @intbmc 2017 IBMC
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W
elcome to the International Business Model Competition! You are joining for one of the greatest years in the history of the competition. We are hosting the competition in a legendary location— the Computer History Museum in the heart of Silicon Valley—and joined by some of the leaders of the lean startup revolution, Ash Maurya, Dan Olsen, and David Bland. It is such an honor to have Ash, Dan, and David join us. It is an equal honor to have the Exponential Center serving as our education program partner, given that their mission “to inform, influence, and inspire the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders changing the world” aligns so tightly with our mission. Thank you to these partners and most importantly thank YOU for joining us. The competition has grown from a handful of teams competing on a small stage where Steve Blank, Alex Osterwalder, myself and the BYU team mentored them to over 5,000 teams from over 500 schools competing around the world. It is truly an inspiration. As teams improve, we should also improve our ability to clearly state our hypotheses about the business model (the customer need, solution, and other business model elements), to test these using rapid low cost experiments, and to communicate the results of these experiments). Let’s remember to reward the process, not just big promises. Let’s also remember an even more foundational principle. Innovation is about solving problems in the world around us. So whether the teams participating win or lose in the competition is less important than our ultimate goal … to change the world for the better. Thank you for being a part of the competition and please, no matter the outcome of the competition, go out and change the world.
Nathan Furr
Co-founder, International Business Model Competition
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
Contents 4 Schedule 6 Maps 8 Speakers 11 Prizes 12 Competing Teams 26 Judging 28 Success Stories 30 How to Win
2017 IBMC
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SCHEDULE
Thursday Schedule May 11, 2017 8:15-9:00 AM
Transportation
9:00-9:30 AM
Check-In & Networking
9:30-2:20 PM
IBMC Startup Conference
9:30-10:20 AM
Shuttles will be provided to transport attendees to the Computer History Museum. Be in lobby at 8:15 to begin loading. Shuttles will leave at 8:30. Attendees will check in and have the opportunity to network with one another.
Morning Keynote Attendees will be oriented about the conference and have the opportunity to listen to the conference’s morning keynote speaker, Marguerite Gong Hancock, the Executive Director of the Computer History Museum’s Exponential Center.
10:30-11:20 AM
Breakout Session 1 Attendees will choose between a number of breakout sessions.
11:30-12:20 PM
Breakout Session 2 Attendees will choose between a number of breakout sessions.
12:30-1:30 PM
Lunch Attendees will eat lunch and have the opportunity to network with one another.
1:30-2:20 PM
Breakout Session 3 Attendees will choose between a number of breakout sessions.
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2:20-2:40 PM
Break
2:40-3:10 PM
Competition Welcome & Orientation
3:20-6:20 PM
Quarterfinal Mentoring Sessions & Preparation
6:30-8:00 PM
Dinner & Evening Keynote
8:00-9:00 PM
Post-Dinner Networking & Transportation
COMPETITION BOOKLET
Attendees will be oriented on the competition and on the rest of the day and the next day’s activities. Teams will be assigned a space to work on their presentations. During the three hour block, mentors will visit each team to provide valuable feedback on their presentation. Attendees will eat dinner and hear from our evening’s keynote speaker, Ash Maurya, author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book Running Lean and creator of the Lean Canvas. Guests are invited to network before the shuttles arrive to transport guests back to the hotel. Shuttles will leave at 8:30.
SCHEDULE
Friday Schedule May 12, 2017 8:15-9:00 AM
Transportation
8:30-9:00 AM
Quarterfinal Round Judge Orientation
9:15-11:45 AM
Quarterfinal Round
12:00-1:00 PM
Lunch & Quarterfinal Results
1:00-3:00 PM
Semifinal Mentoring Sessions & Preparation
3:00-4:30 PM
Semifinal Round
5:00-6:00 PM
Dinner & Semifinal Results
6:30-8:00 PM
Final Event & Awards Ceremony
8:00-9:00 PM
Post-Finals Networking & Transportation
Shuttles will be provided to transport attendees to the Computer History Museum. Be in lobby at 8:15 to begin loading. Shuttles will leave at 8:30. Quarterfinal round judges receive orientation.
Teams will be divided into 4 rooms and present for 10 minutes to a panel of judges with up to 3 minutes of Q&A. Teams are encouraged to watch the presentations of the other teams in their room. Attendees will eat lunch and the results of the quarterfinal round will be announced. Mentors will be assigned to meet with the semifinalist teams to help them prepare for the semifinal round. Teams will be divided into 3 rooms and will present for 10 minutes to a panel of judges with up to 5 minutes of Q&A. Teams are encouraged to watch the presentations of the other teams in their room. Attendees will eat dinner and the results of the semifinal round will be announced. The finalists will compete for the title of “Global Champion� and the winner will take home the IBMC traveling trophy as well as the top cash prize. Teams will present for 10 minutes to our all-star judging panel. The Q&A for this round will be 10 minutes depending on how many finalists are selected. Attendees will have a chance to network with one another after the final event is over. We will provide shuttles to transport guests back to the hotel. Shuttles will leave at 8:30 and 9:00.
**This is a tentative schedule and subject to change** 2017 IBMC
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MAPS
Computer History Museum First Floor
COURTYARD
LOADING DOCK GALLERY
MAIN LOBBY FIRST FLOOR
GIFT SHOP
Revolution exhibit Non-event space
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
MAPS
Computer History Museum Second Floor
BALCONY
HAHN AUDITORIUM
DN
AUDITORIUM LOBBY
GREEN ROOM
BALCONY
BALCONY
CATERING PREP DN
GRAND LOBBY MOTHER’S ROOM UP
GRAND HALL ING TER CA REP P
LOVELACE room
DN
BALCONY
BOOLE room
SECOND FLOOR Non-event space
BALCONY
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SPEAKERS
Ash Maurya Keynote Speaker
Ash Maurya is the author of two bestselling books “Running Lean” and “Scaling Lean”, and is also the creator of the highly popular one-page business modeling tool “Lean Canvas”. Ash is praised for offering some of the best and most practical advice for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs all over the world. Driven by the search for better and faster ways for building successful products, Ash has developed a systematic methodology for raising the odds of success built upon Lean Startup, Customer Development, and Bootstrapping techniques. Ash is also a leading business blogger and his posts and advice have been featured in Inc. Magazine, Forbes, and Fortune. He regularly hosts sold out workshops around the world and serves as a mentor to several accelerators including TechStars, MaRS, Capital Factory, and guest lecturers at several universities including MIT, Harvard, and UT Austin. Ash serves on the advisory board of a number of startups, and has consulted to new and established companies. Ash lives in Austin, TX.
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
SPEAKERS
Marguerite Gong Hancock Keynote Speaker
Marguerite Gong Hancock is the founding executive director of the Computer History Museum’s Exponential Center, which captures the legacy—and advances the future—of entrepreneurship and innovation in Silicon Valley and around the world. The center explores the people, companies, and communities that are transforming the human experience through technology innovation, economic value creation and social impact. Marguerite leads the strategy and execution of the Exponential Center’s integrated initiatives, including collection and exhibits, research and insights, education, events, and thought leadership. Marguerite is an expert on innovation and entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley and high-tech regions around the world, with two decades of experience at Stanford University leading international and interdisciplinary research and education programs. At the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Asia Pacific Research Center, she co-founded and directed the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE) and China 2.0, led a team of international research scholars, mentored students, co-directed executive education programs, and convened thought leaders for conferences in Silicon Valley and China. Marguerite has taught university students, advised senior policymakers, and briefed business executives from more than 25 countries. She has advised and led entrepreneurship hackathons, including in a plane to London and on a train in Taiwan. She has been interviewed on Bloomberg and cited by The New York Times, Forbes, San Jose Mercury News, and others. Marguerite is co-editor of three books published at Stanford: The Silicon Valley Edge (2000); Making IT: The Rise of Asia in High Tech (2006); and Greater China’s Quest for Innovation (2008). Marguerite holds a BA from Brigham Young University and an MA from Harvard University.
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SPEAKERS
Scott R Petersen Breakout Session
Scott is the Executive Director of the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at BYU, a program which he ran as the Managing Director between 2010-2015. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Omadi, Inc., a venture backed SaaS mobile CRM platform for workforce management, serving the towing/transportation markets. He served as Founder and CEO of Omadi from May 2013-April 2016. While at BYU the Rollins Center was ranked in the top 5 of all university entrepreneurship programs each of those years. Scott is a long time entrepreneur having co-founded or partnered in building 7 companies (harvesting 4), including several current ventures. Additionally, he serves on a number of business and private foundation boards. Scott has also published two books on the early Christian era.
Mike Hendron Breakout Session
Mike is an associate teaching professor of entrepreneurship at Brigham Young University. He also currently serves as the director of BYU’s perennial top 10 undergraduate entrepreneurship program. Mike teaches at the MBA and undergraduate levels and researches in areas related to innovation, entrepreneurship, growth strategy, strategy execution, and strategic decision-making. His academic expertise is built upon a foundation of industry experience including work in organizations ranging from start-ups to global diversified firms to non-profits, at all levels of management and across functional areas. In addition to operating roles in firms, Mike has extensive strategy and management consulting experience, including running his own consulting practice. His business roots go back to working in a family retail business and his hobbies include software development and programming (25+ years of experience) and flying sailplanes.
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
PRIZES
Prizes 1st 2nd 3rd
$30,000 $20,000 $10,000
4th 5th 6th
$6,000 $5,000 $4,000
7th-
$2,000
40th
IBMC Champions Every year, the winner of the International Business Model Competition takes home the IBMC traveling trophy. This year, the trophy comes to the competition via the University of Iowa, home of last year’s winner SwineTech. The 2017 competition is a new year and a new champion will be crowned. Bring your best to the IBMC and you may take home more than just prize money.
2016
SwineTech University of Iowa
Mathew Rooda, Abraham Espinoza, David Hensley
2015
Kaitek Labs
Emilia Diaz, Cristobal Aller
2014
Veritas Medical
2013
Owlet Baby Monitors Brigham Young University
Kurt Workman, Jordan Monroe, Jacob Colvin, Tanor Hodges, Zach Bomsta, Adam Rogers
2012
XoomPark
Ken Frei
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
University of Utah
Brigham Young University
Nate Rhodes, Martin de la Presa, Mitch Barneck
2017 IBMC
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COMPETING TEAMS
Competing Teams
ABAL Therapeutics AgSpy Apex Axem Neurotechnology Bonzeeball Breathe Easy Mat Burbank’s Mobile Barber Shop Cleanopy Inc CMDX Biopsy COASS Collegiate Tutoring, LLC Curiato Inc. Edu Techno Fastibular General Biotechnologies GenesisWAY Genius Gulpzilla HelpUsGreen Hiki Foods
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
Instapath Kaleyedos Landmine Boys LIKS Medcare Miguri Corp. NATSIMA Nutraceuticals Okular Technologies Oliber Olride Kreasi Digital Orindi Ventures Prestige Gift Prndl Rubi ScanFactor SpurDeal TSOTARE Upright Kids Vacus Tech
COMPETING TEAMS
ABAL Therapeutics University of Iowa ABAL Therapeutics creates software therapies for children with autism. ABA therapy, the gold standard in interventional autism therapy, is made inaccessible to many families because of cost and time commitment. The average lifetime cost of care for autism is $3.2 million, a figure we cut by up to 75%. Demand for ABA therapy is so much larger than the supply that some ABA clinics report waitlists longer than a year. In Iowa, only ABAL Therapeutics seeks to reduce the burden of providing ABA therapy to children with autism by automating the repetitive and time consuming aspects of ABA therapy. With our product, therapy will no longer require upwards of forty hours of one-on-one therapy a week and upwards of $100K/year and will allow ABA clinics to increase their patient:therapist ratios beyond 1:1 or 2:1. Our goal is to provide every child with autism access to the best care available.
AgSpy University of Wisconsin River Falls Many farmers struggle with over application of pesticides on their fields,. The current technology’s accuracy rate is low and the process is very time consuming for the farmer. AgSpy is a precision agriculture company that uses image processing in order to identify problems within a crop field. It then returns this information to the farmer to use as a precision application of a pesticide.
Apex John Brown University Have you ever wanted to hike far-to-reach places like Machu Picchu in Peru or the Milford Track in New Zealand? Do you desire to experience more of the world you live in? Apex is a national fitness tour much like Tough Mudder or Color Run. We travel to cities all across the nation and hold group fitness classes led by expert trainers. We hold these classes in portable domes capable of creating stunning, virtual environments. Our workouts are designed to target the same muscle groups one would use on actual feats around the world. Apex is where your bucket list and workout goals collide.
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COMPETING TEAMS
Axem Neurotechnology Dalhousie University Axem Neurotechnology is a wearable technology company building a set of ‘smart headphones’ to improve athlete’s mental training. The mental aspects of athletics are widely thought to be a crucial component of elite performance. Yet while the quantification of the physical aspects of sports is exponentially increasing, at present there is still no evidence-based way to quantify the mental side of performance. By measuring brain activity and other nervous system biometrics, the Axem headset allows athletes to improve their visualization abilities and ability to perform better under pressure, through a combination of tracking and neurofeedback. Several professional and Olympic teams have agreed to prototype the Axem headset and collaborate on research; we are currently working on engineering and will begin testing this summer, with a paid beta with these early adopters planned for Q2 2018.
Bonzeeball University of Washington
B TM
Bonzeeball is a distinct and completely new outdoor sports game that is active, fast-paced, and most of all, highly entertaining. Played 1v1 or 2v2, with paddles or with just your hands, Bonzeeball is a sport that consists of many different proprietary components, including a table, a patent-pending goal design, and a ball, that are all designed around the main vision of being the next great sport in the world that is user-friendly, portable, and convenient for people to play in many different settings. Bonzeeball is much more than a transactional consumer product company; we are a consumer experience company. Our mission as the next up and coming sport is to be the platform that connects people to a special community that forges lifelong connections centered around the great sport of Bonzeeball.
Breathe Easy Mat Brigham Young University The Breathe Easy Mat provides cordless, strangle-free targeted oxygen delivery to infants on night-time home oxygen therapy. Typical night-time oxygen treatments involve a cannula (tube), which is taped to the baby’s face and provides a steady flow of oxygen. Some parents are waking up 4+ times every night to deal with issues like hoses getting tangled around the infant. When doctors offer an alternative, they send parents to hardware stores to build their own oxygen tents, which are inconsistent and use 10 times as much oxygen. The Breathe Easy Mat, a thin cordless pad, solves this problem by delivering oxygen directly to the baby through a low-cost proprietary smart valve network. It determines where the baby’s head is and releases oxygen from surrounding valves to form a cloud that travels with the baby, resulting in a 50% reduction of wasted oxygen and elimination of all tubes that could tangle.
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
COMPETING TEAMS
Burbank’s Mobile Barber Shop Quinnipiac University Burbank’s Mobile Barber Shop makes getting a haircut a more convenient experience by bringing the barber shop to its customers. Because we operate out of a 48’ expanding trailer we are able to bring a retro-looking classic barber shop to our customers letting them get a high-quality haircut without getting in their car. Needing a high-density population of customers, our first mobile shop will serve university students at four central Connecticut universities along with nearby business campuses and retirement communities. In the future, we plan to expand regionally and nationally through both natural growth and franchising around the country.
Cleanopy Inc University of Toronto The World Health Organization stated that two billion children live where outdoor air pollution exceeds the safe annual limit. Young children are especially vulnerable because their lungs and immune system are still developing. In addition, many commercially available devices are expensive and do not provide effective protection from air pollution. Cleanopy has developed a method for reducing the cost and improving the effectiveness of air purification technology. The technology is a portable device that can be added to cribs and strollers to offer continuous air monitoring and purification. They form a network providing citizens, researchers, and medical professionals with data on local levels of pollution. This allows medical professionals to identify the people at risk of developing respiratory conditions and improve treatment regimen for people with allergies, asthma, COPD and cystic fibrosis, who are more sensitive to effects of pollution. Cleanopy project devices are expected to dramatically improve healthcare outcomes.
CMDX Biopsy Tulane University CMDX Biopsy was founded by a group of Tulane engineers in 2014, aiming to create a medical device to improve the punch biopsy procedure, a common method of removing potentially cancerous skin samples. Since then, they have designed an integrated biopsy punch device, a single tool for removing skin samples. The provisionally patented device is an upgrade compared to current tools because it increases efficiency and reduces costs and biohazard waste of the more than 6.5 million punch biopsies performed per year in the United States, providing value to clinics, personnel, and patients.
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COMPETING TEAMS
COASS Gadjah Mada University COASS is the first platform in Indonesia that connects dental students (Co-assistants) and patients with the right case, right schedule, and help to get funding. The target demographic is dental students and middle to low-class society. COASS has several benefits that are simple to help get patients, affordable dental treatment, accelerate dental-assistants to become dentists, and increase people’s awareness about dental health through the Dental Health Education feature. COASS has partnered with several NGO’s, including Rumah Zakat, and has also partnered with hospitals, clinics and community development to get patients. So, with a very low price we can help many more people in Indonesia. Our mission is to save many lives through promoting dental health.
Collegiate Tutoring, LLC University of Mississippi Collegiate Tutoring, LLC hosts a successful online tutoring marketplace at the University of Mississippi and is preparing for expansion to additional college campus markets. In two years, we have delivered 1000+ tutoring sessions to 250+ Ole Miss students and also two Greek organizations. Our customers, who include students, their parents, and Greek Organizations, all face significant consequences from poor academic performance. Collegiate Tutoring’s solution provides academic relief with a focus on cultivating intimate customer relationships and making quality student tutors accessible.
Curiato Inc. University of Waterloo Founded by students at the University of Waterloo, Curiato is dedicated to providing smart and predictive healthcare platforms by leveraging Cloud, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence. Currently, the team is developing Ceylon Systems, a combination of a smart mattress and patient management interface that predicts and automates the prevention of pressure injuries, while simultaneously improving administration workflow, lowering treatment cost and improving the quality of life.”
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
COMPETING TEAMS
Edu Techno International Islamic University Malaysia Game addiction is one of the most prominent problems among teenagers especially in developing countries. This addiction results in massive time wastage and unproductive behavior. However, it is important to accept that in this time and age, video games are actually a large part of our life. Edu Techno provides a video game that eliminates time wasting and has become the pioneer in helping consumers interact more positively and productively with video games.
Fastibular University of SĂŁo Paulo Last year 8 million Brazilians enrolled in ENEM, an exam very similar to the SAT. Of a sample of 76 students, 68% reported that in timed tests that the pressure to finish on time negatively affected their score as much or even more than a limited understanding of the content. Currently, to solve this problem, students are paying high fees for private coaches or attempting to study on their own. Fastibular is a solution that combines low price and efficiency. We offer an online platform that, through diagnosis and training, generates personalized feedback, providing tools for students to better track and manage their exam time. In addition, we provide graphs with the time spent per question, per discipline and indexes of achievement. Students can access Fastibular through their device paying only a few dollars each month. Fastibular currently has an platform with a sample SAT test for students to practice.
General Biotechnologies Harvard University General Biotechnologies identifies and develops biological innovation. Our lead candidate Nivien - is a novel therapy for treatment-resistant cancers. We are raising capital to fund our ongoing preclinical trials for Investigational New Drug (IND) status in pancreatic cancer, which currently has an average survival of just 8.5 months. We will then pursue IND status in additional treatment-resistant indications and sell Nivien as a clinic-ready program to a biopharma company with the resources and expertise to get Nivien to patients.
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COMPETING TEAMS
GenesisWAY Northern Caribbean University GenesisWAY is a company that makes healthy living a reality by providing ways to enhance the quality of life for all. We began our mission by creating a healthier alternative to butter and an app geared towards preventing cardiovascular disease by effectively monitoring major risk factors, so appropriate action can be taken in a timely matter.
Genius San Diego State University Genius is a neurotechnology company that creates wearable sensors that allow people with severe physical disabilities to control computers using just their mind. There are twenty million Americans with severe physical disabilities in the United States. Less than 10% of them have access to affordable and effective assistive technology. Those who do suffer financial obstacles and cope with outdated and ineffective technology. This situation in the assistive technology market has compounded the poverty and lack of access to education afflicting individuals with disabilities. Genius has created a Brain-Computer Interface that allows disabled users to control bluetooth enabled devices using our proprietary algorithm. Our device can be delivered more cost effectively and provide improved results to millions of people.
Gulpzilla Yangon Institute of Economics Foodies in Myanmar struggle with finding information about what to eat, where to eat, how much it will cost and if any discounts are available. Gulpzilla is a platform that connects consumers looking for information about great food choices with the restaurants that are a perfect fit for them. We are Gulpzilla, an interactive food platform.
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
COMPETING TEAMS
Help Us Green Symbiosis Institute of Management Showering flowers is a religious ritual in India. Flowers are a symbol of devotion and reverence and it is believed that flowers should be discarded into water bodies to respect their sanctity. But nobody thinks of the aftermath? Sadly, these sacred flowers rot in rivers, killing fishes and creating havoc in the fragile ecosphere of the waterbody and cause enormous pollutions. The pesticides and chemical fertilizers used to grow flowers mixes with river water making it highly toxic. Help Us Green is a social enterprise that preserves the Ganges by flowercycling the waste from the places of worship and converting them into patented lifestyle products with the help of manual scavengers and rural women
Hiki Foods University of the Pacific In the year 2050, the Earth’s population will hit 9 billion people. Our daily consumption creates increased pollution and waste. Essentials for life - air, land, and water will become more toxic. So what do we need? We proved that athletes and people who care about a healthy lifestyle and their ecological impact need a natural source of protein. Building on this need, insects are our best bet. Hiki Foods is offering cricket flour as a highly-nutritious complement for daily meals. We have designed an efficient and responsible process for breeding crickets, which is a scalable opportunity for local micro businesses. Our mission is to build a network of local producers in Peru and to offer the best-quality insect-based products, as pioneers in South America. Hiki Foods is reinventing what a healthy lifestyle means, and redefining what a sustainable future for the planet looks like.
Instapath Tulane University Every year, 5 million biopsy procedures are performed to diagnose cancer in the United States. Of those 5 million patients, 1 million need repeat procedures due to inadequate biopsy quality. Repeat procedures can delay life-saving treatments for over 2 months. Instapath ensures biopsy quality, thereby reducing repeat biopsies by half. Current methods capture less than 1% of a total biopsy. Instapath ensures the quality of biopsies by providing an exact picture of a whole biopsy at subcellular resolution within seconds of removal. By reducing procedure time, Instapath doubles throughput for the hospitals.
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COMPETING TEAMS
Kaleyedos Johns Hopkins University Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a retinal disease that affects 20-70% of premature infants. If left untreated, it can cause visual impairment and blindness. Today, ROP accounts for up to 60% of childhood blindness; it is the leading cause of childhood blindness worldwide. Due to the scarcity of pediatric ophthalmologists, however, less than 30% of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) worldwide have the ability to perform the recommended screening for ROP. At Kaleyedos, we aim to reduce the global incidence of ROP-induced visual impairment by providing a telemedicine solution to ROP screening: the Kaleyedos Imaging Device (KID). The KID seamlessly integrates novel imaging hardware, a cloud-based telemedicine workflow, and an image processing suite to overcome the two main barriers to ROP screening: personnel availability and equipment cost.
Landmine Boys University of Waterloo Landmine Boys aims to build a sustainable business that focuses on the eradication of landmines. Our main goal was to ensure the safety of human operators and so we are tackling the demining tasks which place operators in direct contact with the landmines: excavation and neutralization. We are designing machines to perform these two tasks in order to significantly reduce direct interaction with the landmine.
LIKS Monterrey Institute of Technology Our mission is to empower and inspire children for the future. We help them become entrepreneurs of solutions to problems in their community and help them develop skills in teamwork, leadership, creativity, and innovation. LIKS is an online educational community that teaches parents, teachers, and entrepreneurs how to teach project based learning and STEM education.
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
COMPETING TEAMS
Medcare Waseda Business School MedCare is the replacement of brick and mortar clinics, providing hassle-free health for everyone: minimizing stress, unnecessary medical visits, and preventable lifestyle diseases. Medcare is redefining medical services and helping people stay healthy through data-driven preventative care and health monitoring. We are on a mission to improve healthcare by empowering patients and medical professionals to reduce preventable lifestyle diseases. Our services minimize the cases of preventable chronic diseases through remote, hassle-free healthcare access for patients and by making patient lifestyle data available in real-time to medical professionals. Founded in 2016, Medcare is a private company aiming to launch its beta product in May 2017. We are the winner of the Japan Business Model Competition (JBMC) 2017.
Miguri Corp. National University of San Marcos In emerging economies there is a large gap in basic education about technology because consumers in these markets cannot afford the high costs of implementation. However, the necessity of being educated with technological tools is increasing more and more in the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution. Miguri develops educative technology ourselves and has a wide community of schools as key partners to offer the most affordable technological courses. We began with robotics in Peru and it is our goal to implement virtual reality and 3D printing courses in the short term; and hopefully start our expansion to other emerging economies in the long term.
NATSIMA Nutraceuticals Northern Caribbean University NATSIMA Nutraceuticals focuses on the pain that individuals feel in relation to the simple act of breathing. This company is new and is aimed at using plants, for the treatment of sinusitis and, to a greater extent, the attacks of asthma on asthmatic patients. In addition, NATSIMA is aimed at treating cold and flu symptoms and general respiratory problems that are caused by allergens and pathogens that are present within our environment. Our aim is to be more effective than the current sinus medications that are currently on the market.
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COMPETING TEAMS
Okular Technologies Brigham Young University Okular Technologies is a SaaS company that provides shopper analytics for large retailers by analyzing video footage from a store’s existing security cameras. Our service is needed because sales at brick-and-mortar stores continue to slide due to increasing gains from online competitors. One critical advantage that online retailers hold is easy access to shopper analytics (e.g. Google Analytics) that help managers make informed sales decisions. Physical retailers, however, have no easy access to these analytics and are in dire need for a solution. Okular levels the playing field by using existing security cameras in brick-and-mortar stores to provide insight-rich shopper analytics. Using this technology, retail managers can improve sales and reduce costs by seeing critical metrics such as impressions, conversion rates, check-out que times, and much more. Several major retailers are interested in Okular’s services, and we are looking to finish current store testing soon.
Oliber Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Oliber is an orthosis for people with stump hands, arthritis or osteoarthritis, providing users autonomy during daily activities. There are several diseases or causes that lead to partial or total atrophy of the hands, including, hand in cocoon (EB), arthritis, osteoarthritis, burns or amputations of the hands. Individuals suffering from these symptoms are affected in performing daily activities such as eating, writing, brushing teeth or holding a phone. Oliber provides autonomy during daily activities with technology using magnets and metal plates that enable the user to attach to any object that the user wishes to use. Several top advantages to using Oliber include ease of use, comfort during use and customization of color.
Olride Kreasi Digital Brawijaya University The vision of Olride is to become people’s ride perfect match. Olride is a platform that connects workshops and riders by utilizing a digital application to help riders to maintain their vehicles. As a nation with high mobilization, condition and performance of our vehicles is incredibly important. Olride would like to educate riders that their vehicles are partners that could potentially save their lives in the event of an accident. Olride helps vehicle owners love their vehicles and treat them like they’re supposed to.
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
COMPETING TEAMS
Orindi Ventures Grand Valley State University We have created a passive mask that allows you to breathe warm air and reduce energy expenditure in the coldest of environments. Our mask easily directs one’s breath through our proprietary and antibacterial composite which captures the heat and humidity when you breathe out and puts it back into your breath when you breathe back in. This mask is able to reduce the symptoms of the asthmatic cough for individuals in cold environments. The technology that we have developed and implemented is patent pending. We are currently focusing on the cold storage market as a worker wearing our mask can perform 10% more efficiently and has reduced fatigue while working in a -20 environment. We have created 26 mask design iterations and run through 5 different silicone molds to perfect our product. We are excited to pursue the commercialization of the Orindi Mask.
Prestige Gift CamEd Business School Prestige is a gift consulting business created to fulfill the needs consumers have for prestigious gifts and romantic experiences for the emerging middle class and high-net worth couples and corporations in Cambodia. We provide: premium customized gift boxes, romantic meal preparation, experience packages for couples and customized gift sets for large corporations.
Prndl Michigan State University Prndl is a software that simplifies parking. It has two core functions: First, it allows anyone to rent their parking spots out whenever they would otherwise go unused. Additionally, Prndl lets anyone find and reserve parking in advance. Prndl reduces the stress of parking, while offering users an opportunity to make additional income.
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COMPETING TEAMS
Rubi Brigham Young University Rubi is the next step in wearable technology. Our engineers have created a thin, nano-metric sensor that is worn over a pregnant woman’s belly that is capable of passively tracking kick count, heart rate, and fetal position. To put it simply, Rubi is the world’s first comprehensive pregnancy tracker. It is worn like a maternity band, and the sensors are sleekly hidden behind cozy, neutral fabric so that mom can wear her Rubi at any time of the day. Our product is designed to report activity, but as our technology improves, it will hep doctors around the world bring down the nearly 3 million stillbirths happening annually. The best part is, as soon as you are done with your Rubi, you get to send it back to us. We will then refurbish it and give the band to woman in a developing country where high risk pregnancy is the worst.
ScanFactor Brigham Young University ScanFactor began in November of 2016 and is a business-to-business software company designed to solve recruiting pains. Currently, millions of dollars are being wasted each year at university career fairs because of the wildly inefficient way that information is shared at these events. We use QR code technology that allows students and recruiters to share information with a simple scan. Instantly, recruiters receive the student’s picture, name, email, major, GPA, resume, LinkedIn profile, graduation date, and more in a digital dashboard. Students have a similar dashboard that displays the recruiters’ information that they met with during the fair. Because these interactions are digital, we deliver data that - for the first time ever - gives universities insight into how their career fairs are performing.
SpurDeal University of Waterloo SpurDeal is a mobile marketplace that instantly connects local restaurants with consumers in real-time. SpurDeal’s model benefits both the restaurant and the customer. Restaurants get complete control and flexibility about what deal they post, how many deals they post and when they post, including off-peak hours, all in less than five minutes. Customers get geo-targeted deals that they need to quickly buy and redeem, otherwise the deal voucher expires. This gives customers a chance to try great, new restaurants at discounted prices and provides restaurants with the ability to monetize its resources during off-peak hours.
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
COMPETING TEAMS
TSOTARE Northern Caribbean University TSOTARE Agricultural Innovators develop alternative methods and technology to substitute for the current unsustainable methods of production and assists in the preservation of the environment in Jamaica and the entire world. We specialize in improving the quality of life for all individuals that are willing to change from their mindset and practices for a better way forward for humanity overall.
Upright Kids University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Sitting for long periods of time increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, back and neck pain, and other orthopedic problems. Standing desks have become very popular for adults, however, there’s still no widespread solution for children, especially in the K-8 market because of the high cost to implement across schools and communities. Our standing desk is made of a durable and cost effective corrugated cardboard that can be easily set up on top of the student’s desk and folded to be stored away. You can customize the height for each child, and it is affordable enough to be implemented into entire schools or to be purchased by parents.
Vacus Tech Maharashtra Institute of Technology - Pune “GPS is like a sponge, it’s full of holes.” This statement from one of our customers has led our team on a journey to revolutionize indoor GPS. Many current GPS offerings in the market fail to perform to expectations when users are indoors. Individuals working in healthcare, transportation and industrial manufacturing have experienced this pain the strongest and are our target customer segment. Using sub-meter accuracy, Vacus Tech is currently working to make indoor GPS no longer a pain. We have filed patents, have several full time employees and are revenue positive.
2017 IBMC
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JUDGING
2017 Judging Criteria Each round of the International Business Model Competition is judged using the following questions:
Hypothesis • Did the team use a canvas to identify and track hypotheses? • Did the team clearly state their hypotheses? • Did the team identify the most crucial hypotheses to test first (the ones that could kill their business)?
Test • Did the team design low cost, rapid, but reliable tests of these hypotheses? • Did the team conduct the tests in a reliable manner? Number of tests - should be adjusted for industry, product type (web vs physical product), and business type (B2B vs B2C) Quality of tests - interviews are high quality, surveys & focus groups are much lower quality (you don’t know which questions to ask) unless interviews have been conducted first • If appropriate, has the team developed a prototype or minimum viable product (MVP)? Does the team understand the hypotheses they are testing with a prototype or MVP? Is the prototype or MVP appropriate to answer those hypotheses? (We want to reward the testing of hypotheses using prototypes verses the building of products using untested hypotheses.)
Result • Did the team clearly state their insights and learning, how those validated or invalidated a hypothesis, and if that informed any pivots (changes)? • If changes were made, was the pivot the team made supported by evidence or did they fail to pivot when the evidence clearly stated it? • Does the team have significant evidence that the solution is validated (i.e., letters of intent, purchase contracts, sales, partners, etc.)?
Other • Is the team solving a significant problem (defined in terms of money or impact)?
Note Because web-based businesses are easier to test, these companies can often pivot faster. Judges are asked to not penalize physical product companies or health-related businesses because they have not pivoted as much or made as many iterations as web-based businesses. 26
COMPETITION BOOKLET
JUDGING
2017 Final Judges Seth Beal Seth is SVP, Incubation & Strategic Partnerships for Walmart US eCommerce, which includes his role as Principal for Store No 8. Since joining Walmart in 2013, Seth has served in a number of roles with a deep focus on the digital shopping experience including SVP, Global Marketplace and Digital Store Operations (DSO) and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer for Global eCommerce. Prior to Walmart, Seth was President and CEO of Thrift Books LLC, the nation’s leading online seller of used books. Seth started his career at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Seth is a diehard Seattle sports fan, which means you can find him cheering on his teams in both good times and bad. He loves skiing, traveling and is an avid reader. He attended Brigham Young University and the J. Reuben Clark Law School where he graduated summa cum laude.
David Bland David is the Founder & CEO of PRECOIL, an innovation consulting agency in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is an early adopter of Lean Startup, Design Thinking and Agile. He advises corporate innovation labs and Silicon Valley accelerators on how to validate business ideas rapidly in the market. Some of David’s more notable endeavors include: - Pioneering GE FastWorks with Eric Ries - Advising emerging product teams at Adobe - Mentoring Toyota on Connected Car services Prior to PRECOIL, David was a Principal at both Neo and BigVisible, where he pioneered Lean Startup services and innovation consulting. Before his transition into consulting, David spent most of his career at early stage startups in the Washington DC Metro Area.
Dan Olsen Dan Olsen is a Lean Startup and product management consultant, speaker, and author. At Olsen Solutions, he works with CEOs and product leaders to build great products and strong product teams, often as interim VP of Product. His clients include Facebook, Box, UserTesting, and One Medical Group. Dan is the author of the bestseller The Lean Product Playbook. Prior to consulting, Dan worked at Intuit, where he led the Quicken product team. He also led product management at Friendster. Dan was also cofounder and CEO of TechCrunch award winner YourVersion, a personalized news startup. Dan earned engineering degrees from Northwestern and Virginia Tech and an MBA from Stanford. Dan is also founder of the Lean Product & Lean UX Silicon Valley Meetup, the largest product-focused meetup in the San Francisco Bay Area with over 5,500 members.
2017 IBMC
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SUCCESS STORIES
SwineTech 2016 Champion
Whistic 2016 Finalist
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
SwineTech creates solutions to reduce the amount of piglets that die on farrowing facilities. SwineTech’s mission is to help farmers increase production in order to play their part in helping feed the world. SwineTech’s first product, Echo, reduces the incidence of piglet mortality due to crushing by the mother sow by analyzing the crates temperature and piglets’ squeals in a particular crate. Echo detects when a piglet is being laid on and then communicates to a belt-like structure on the sow which alerts the sow to stand up. Since the 2016 IBMC SwineTech has added 5 more employees, raised $1.3 million, and are running betas with some of the World’s largest pork producers. They have even had 5 companies tell them that if they provide a detailed year long set of data that validates the technology then they will make an offer to purchase the company. When asked for advice to give to IBMC participants, SwineTech founders said, “Ask the judges what everyone else did that they thought was better than you. This makes it easier for the judges to give you quality advice on how to improve your pitch. Finally, Be open minded and truly make those who are advising you feel valued.”
Whistic is a cloud-based platform that uses a unique approach to address the challenges of third-party risk management. Their diligence platform provides workflow solutions that automate the vendor risk management process and saves IT personnel hours each week communicating with vendors and evaluating assessment results. In addition, Whistic’s crowd- sourced algorithm provides vendor risk scoring based on the insights of thousands of industry professionals. Coupled with machine learning, the Whistic platform and risk score improve over time to give organizations increasingly valuable information and guidance. Some key milestones they have achieved since last year’s competition are that they launched their product, signed their first 20 customers, and have reached over $115k in revenue. When asked for advice, they said “IBMC helped me learn that validation is not just about product. It’s about every aspect of your business - pricing, business model, team, costs, partners, ect. Don’t be afraid to step away from your computer and get out of the building. You’ll learn a lot more and move a lot faster if your connection with people and learning as fast as you can.”
SUCCESS STORIES
ExVivo Labs 2016 Semi-Finalist
Borealis Wind 2016 Semi-Finalist
ExVivo Labs is developing next generation medical diagnostic tools. Their non-invasive technologies make testing procedures safe, simple and certain. Their first product line will be a series of skin patches that allow for at-home allergy testing without the need for any allergic reaction. They continue to use quick iteration cycles to validate or reject hypotheses they have about their business, and to constantly speak with the people who will be affected by our technology. Since IBMC, ExVivo Labs has participated in a business accelerator program, completed their seed round of financing, and have grown their team to seven full time employees. ExVivo Labs is heavily focused on product development and better understanding their go-to-market strategy. Their next steps will be to conduct clinical studies, then pursue both regulatory approval and reimbursement coverage for initial sales. When asked for advice, ExVivo Labs founder said, “I really challenge entrepreneurs to make sure they are truly addressing a problem for their target customer rather than coming up with a cool idea and trying to find a market for it.”
Wind turbine blade icing is a problem that affects 65% of wind turbines worldwide, because the best wind resources are in cold climates. Icing results in prolonged turbine downtime and potential damage to the turbine which leads to revenue loss. Borealis Wind has designed a retrofit for wind turbines, that will heat the blades, shedding the ice, reclaiming the lost revenue and allow for a safe, controlled de-icing process. Since competing in the IBMC last year, Borealis Wind installed the first test system of their wind turbine de-icing system in the fall of 2016 and is preparing to install test systems with some of the largest wind developers in North America in the coming months. Borealis Wind has raised $150,000 in funding from competitions, grants, and public funding. Their advice for the 2017 IBMC participants is “don’t take all the advice you get - at the end of the day you know what you’re doing better than anyone. Every problem has a solution - don’t give up!”
2017 IBMC
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HOW TO WIN
What Winning Teams Do The purpose of the International Business Model Competition is to reward the process student entrepreneurs follow to eliminate uncertainty in their businesses. We encourage smart entrepreneurs that identify and test key business hypotheses, seek input from potential customers, and make necessary changes based on what is learned. Remember, this is not a business plan or venture pitch competition!
Tell us your story. If you watch any past winner present, you will see that they start by connecting to the audience through a compelling, but truthful story about their business. In your story, describe the pain you uncovered and how you plan to solve it.
Use a Canvas. Start with a blank canvas and step-by-step show your hypotheses , how you tested them, and the results. Demonstrate visually which hypotheses were validated and which were not. Don’t throw all of your information on the canvas at once, walk the judges through your validation in digestible portions.
Describe the validation. Each hypothesis you make has to be accompanied with a test or an activity that aims to prove or disprove your hypotheses. Zoom in close on all of your tests and explain the hard work you did. We want you to justify your decision-making and the course of your business with real data from credible sources.
Highlight the lessons learned. Each test has to lead to the lessons learned and future plan of action. Show what each test taught you, what was validated, what wasn’t, and what hypotheses and tests you made next.
Explain your pivots. Most of you had to pivot or change a portion of your business in response to customer feedback. We want you to justify your pivots with concrete data. Just saying that you made a pivot is not enough. Realizing that your hypothesis is inaccurate is not a weakness, but evidence that you learned something. In conclusion, judges want to see multiple rounds of hypotheses and tests. One or two tests is not enough to show that you thoroughly researched your business idea. It is not possible to walk through the entire canvas in 10 minutes, so focus on a the hypotheses and tests that are crucial to your business.
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COMPETITION BOOKLET
Around the World 2016-2017 IBMC Qualifier Competitions
UNITED STATES
INTERNATIONAL
Brigham Young University Harvard University Michigan State University Quinnipiac University San Diego State University Tulane University University of Iowa University of Mississippi University of Wisconsin-Extension
Alta Experiential Learning (Peru) Brawijaya University (ASEAN) Dalhousie University (Canada) Ideation Brasil IIT Kharagpur (India) Jamaica National BMC Jump Chile Mekong Challenge (Southeast Asia) Monterrey Institute of Technology (Mexico) Waseda University (Japan)
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