After a competitive weekend in Nebraska, Chad Sorenson and Jaume Villanueva returned to Madison with championship accolades, $10,000 and increased hopes for business prosperity.
The duo, UW-Madison Master of Business Administration students in the Weinert Applied Ventures in Entrepreneurship Program, competed March 1-2 in the International Business Plan Competition, a two-day 13-team event held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
They presented a way to sell Sorenson's invention, TankMate, a product which allows farmers to monitor the amount of liquid in their anhydrous ammonia tanks and also calculates the quantity of fertilizer used per acre.
Sorenson, who holds undergraduate and graduate mechanical engineering degrees from UW-Madison and will graduate in May with an MBA in entrepreneurship, found inspiration for TankMate with the gripes of a family member.
\I have a cousin that farms down in central Iowa,"" Sorenson said. ""He just kind of told me about the problem that existed right now and so I just started working on a product to solve the problem.""
Villanueva, who has earned a Master of Science in economics from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, assisted Sorenson in delivering the presentation and developing the business plan, thought TankMate would be a successful product, adding that this weekend's victory did not come as much of a shock.
""Was I surprised [by the victory]? No, to tell you the truth. I think we have a very tight plan,"" he said.
Sorenson expressed similar sentiments.
""I wasn't surprised that we won because I think it's a great product, and we were in our target market. In Lincoln, Neb., you only have to drive five miles before you're in corn fields,"" he said.
This is the second WAVE team to take first place in a major entrepreneurship competition this year. On Feb. 23, a team of five UW-Madison students from the WAVE program took first place at the Venture Capital Investment Competition in Austin, Texas.
Villanueva, who said he approached Sorenson about developing a business plan at the beginning of this school year, called their pairing ""natural.""
Brian Pope, another MBA student, also traveled to Lincoln to advise the presentation.
With their victory in Nebraska, the team qualified to compete against 30 other teams May 1, in the Moot Corp, which Villanueva called ""the Super Bowl of these competitions,"" for a chance to win the $100,000 grand prize.
Villanueva also said the team will travel to Oregon April 13 for a similar competition and a chance to win $25,000.
But Sorenson said money is not his motivator.
""The cash, for me, is really secondary. What it's doing is adding credibility to my company, credibility to the idea. It's going to make it much easier for me to attract investment capitol,"" Sorenson said. ""We're doing it for publicity and we're doing it because it's good for UW. And we're having a good time; it's a lot of fun. It's been a great time down in Lincoln over the weekend.\
