Business plan contest kicks off Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference

The conference http://govsbizplancontest.com/ is designed to give fledgling entrepreneurs the strategies and tools they need to be successful, says Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council http://www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com/ , which organizes the business plan contest.

“The recession has highlighted the renewed interest in entrepreneurial ventures,” Still says. “Historically, a number of companies in America sprang out of hard times. McDonald’s and Home Depot were launched during recessions, and this downturn is no different. We have seen renewed interest across a range of sectors, and this conference is about trying to tap into that.”

A series of workshops at the two-day conference will help entrepreneurs refine their dream. The seventh annual conference has a sales and marketing bent to it to help entrepreneurs get up and running, Still says.

John Rondy

Full Story: http://wistechnology.com/articles/6164/

***

Statewide business plan contest ‘winners’ often emerge later

Ben Hobbins didn’t win the statewide Governor’s Business Plan Contest http://govsbizplancontest.com/ in 2007, the year IronClad Soft Bait Brands competed with about 280 other entries. But like the patient fisherman he is, Hobbins refined his plan and kept casting his line in the water.

In the June edition of Popular Science, readers can see Hobbins – dressed in full angler garb, teeth clinched around one of his own lures – pictured among the magazine’s ”Top 10 Inventions for 2009.”

Tom Still

Full Story: http://wistechnology.com/articles/6166/