MILT THOMAS

Finals of the inaugural RCBiznovation Business Plan Competition were held this morning (March 21) at the Indian River State College Richardson Center in Vero Beach. Presented by the Research Coast Principium Foundation, the competition was created to showcase entrepreneurs of innovative start-up companies from the Research Coast counties (Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee). Out of 34 entrants, ten semi-finalists were chosen and five finalists presented their companies today, each with a ten minute description of their businesses followed by questions from a panel of judges.

Winner of the $25,000 first prize was TruMobility and runner-up with a $15,000 award was Azzly.Steven Barnett, co-founder and CEO of TruMobility, gave his company’s presentation. TruMobility offers a unique private cellular network that integrates the voice, text and data cellular and corporate phone systems, all with one phone number and voicemail system.

Coletta Dorado, president and CEO of Azzly, presented her product, which is a fully integrated, web based patient healthcare management system for independent physicians and other provider practices.

The other three finalists were Ensida Energy, which develops and installs alternative vehicle fuel systems; Secure Pharma Chain, offering a system that can identify counterfeit drugs from authentic products on a molecular level; and Triton Submarines, a line of luxury, yacht-based two and three person manned submersibles.

Four panelists were tasked with deciding the winners. Jason Rottenberg is a managing director of Arsenal Venture Partners, which works with early-stage technology companies. Dale M. Gregory is executive vice president of Cherrystone Management Consultants, Inc., providing strategic business development services to small and middle market businesses in the telecommunications and technology industry sectors. Robert Fleming is co-founder of Inlet Partners, an investment and consulting firm and Matthew E. Avril is a CPA and recently retired as president of global hotel operations for Starwood Hotels.

The Research Coast Principium Foundation is a group of area professionals including John E. Moore III and Kevin Barry, partners at Rossway Moore Swan Attorneys At Law. According to Moore, “Principium is defined as founding principal and our founding principal when we put the foundation together was to do what we can to create, grow, nurture and expand the entrepreneurial atmosphere.”

In this case, late last year they created a business plan competition with the objective of creating companies and jobs on the Research Coast. They invited entrepreneurs and companies looking for financial and support help with developing innovative products. In addition to the cash prizes, they offered free legal, accounting and mentoring assistance.

Keynote speaker for the program was Kevin Burgoyne, executive director of Florida Venture Forum, the state’s premier organization. In his address he pointed out that Florida, by 2016, will be the third largest state, surpassing New York. Yet, from a venture capital standpoint it lags well behind other states. “In 2012, about 3700 venture capital deals were done in the U.S. totaling $265 billion. In Florida, 34 deals were done totaling $203 million.”
But he added that plenty of cash is sitting on the sidelines and investors are looking for opportunities, so the future is bright.

Moore and Barry then presented this year’s awards to TruMobility and Azzly.