UW business competition a good startup in itself

Cintra Pollack walked off the stage, proud of her team and relieved that she had withstood the barrage of questions.

"I don’t think we blew it," said Pollack, a 27-year-old MBA student at the University of Washington and president of Soren Systems. "I think we have a good story to tell, but whether they liked that story I don’t know."

As one of four finalists in the UW’s eighth annual business plan competition, Pollack had already proved that her early-stage solar energy startup was among the cream of the crop in an entrepreneurial competition that drew 76 entries from six universities.

But even though Soren Systems made it to the final round on Tuesday in the UW’s Husky Union Building, Pollack was not given a free pass as she told a panel of judges how the company would help more than 7,000 grocery stores and big box retailers turn their roofs into low-cost solar energy power plants.

By JOHN COOK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

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