Gigabit Challenge Finalist Competes in Rice Business Plan Competition

The day that Think Big Partners found out that the team from Green Earth Aerogel Technologies would not be able to make The Gigabit Challenge Finale was a sad one.


After all, the startup had done everything they could to fly from Spain (where the team is from) to Kansas City in order to make the finals on January 18, 2012.  Unfortunately, the timing was wrong and travel arrangements were too challenging.  After weeks and weeks of trying, Green Earth Aerogels was unable to compete in the Gigabit Challenge Finale. 


But every cloud has a silver lining.  The Gigabit Challenge seemed to open the doors to other business plan competitions throughout the United States for Green Earth Aerogel Technologies. One of those opportunities is the Rice Business Plan Competition this week in Houston, Texas. 


Green Earth Aerogel Technologies went up against 400 other startup companies to compete in the initial round of the Rice Business Plan Competition and has made the top 42.  Each team in the competition will have 15 minutes to present a business plan (much like The Gigabit Challenge) with the chance to win more than $460,000 and the opportunity to ring the closing bell at NASDAQ OMX this fall. 


Competitors seem to come from all over the globe: Bangladesh, India, Germany, Denmark, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Phoenix, Houston and of course, Spain (where Green Earth Aerogel Technologies is from).


According to Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University, the business plan competition is a huge opportunity for the top 42 teams.  


"The success rate is indicative of the quality of team the competition draws," he said in a recent press release.  “It is also representative of what we are finding to be an increased interest in innovation and entrepreneurship in the U.S. The current economy certainly affects this as well as the willingness by the millennial generation to take risks to start their own companies. These young entrepreneurs are vital to the U.S. maintaining its technology innovation leadership and its position in the world economy.”


Best of luck to Green Earth Aerogel Technologies and all companies participating in the Rice Business Plan competition! 


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