The Gigabit Challenge Announces Initial Advisory Board Members and Judges

The Gigabit Challenge, a global business plan competition looking for entrepreneurial ideas to disrupt on the Google Fiber network, has announced the initial members of its Advisory Board and Judging Panel. The Advisory Board members will provide their extensive knowledge, expertise, and seasoned experience advising The Gigabit Challenge on how to run the best business plan competition possible. 

The initial Advisory Board members for The Gigabit Challenge are: 

• Erik Brynjolfsson, Professor of Management, MIT & Director, MIT Center for Digital Business
• Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
• Robert Gunderson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Gunderson Dettmer
• Harry Kellogg, Vice Chairman, Silicon Valley Bank 
• Philip Korn, Relationship Manager and Managing Director, First Republic Bank 
• Dan'l Lewin, Corporate Vice President of Strategic and Emerging Business Development, Microsoft
• Robert Marcusse, President & Chief Executive Officer, Kansas City Area Development Council
• Keith Molzer, President & Chief Executive Officer, Balance Innovations 
• Rex Northern, Executive Director, Cleantech Open
• Mark Radcliffe, Partner, DLA Piper 
• Mario Rosati, Managing Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati
• Angela Tower, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers

For more information on the Advisory Board members, please visit http://www.gigabitchallenge.com/about/advisory-board.

Through a graduated process, the judges will evaluate the executive summaries, business plans and investor presentations submitted by contestants and will select the winner of The Gigabit Challenge Grand Prize valued at $100,000. The judges will use a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application called iStart to review, evaluate and vote on the materials submitted by the contestants. The iStart application is provided by the Kauffman Foundation, a Gigabit Challenge partner.

The initial Judging Panel members for The Gigabit Challenge are:

• Jennifer Bailey, Partner, Hovey Williams LLP
• Jeff Barco, Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner, Barco Partners LLC
• Richard Brenner, President & Chief Executive Officer, The Brenner Group 
• Erik Brynjolfsson, Professor of Management, MIT & Director, MIT Center for Digital Business
• Michael Burke, Vice President, King Hershey PC & Co-Chairman of the Bi-State Innovation Committee 
• Steve Fennel, Director of Communications Outreach, KU Medical Center 
• Victor Friedberg, Executive Director, Launch.org
• Michael Gale, Chief Executive Officer, Gramercy Private Equity
• Stuart Gannes, CEO, XVD Technology Holdings & Director of Partnership Projects, O'Reilly Media
• Michael Gelphman, Founder, Kansas City Information Technology Professionals 
• Jonathan Gleason, Director of Business Development, Gunderson Dettmer
• Matt Heinrich, Vice President for Facilities and Technology, Rockhurst University
• David Isenberg, Founder, isen.com LLC
• Philip Korn, Relationship Manager and Managing Director, First Republic Bank
• Greg Kratofil, Shareholder, Polsinelli Shughart
• Thad Langford, Executive in Residence, Openair Equity Partners & President/Chief Executive, Zave Networks (acquired by Google)
• Casey McGlynn, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• Eric Melin, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Philanthropist.org 
• Bryan Richard, Founder, iCode
• David Silverman, Partner, Crosslink Capital
• Adeline Tang, Director of Business Development, SingTel Idea Factory 
• Angela Tower, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Bud Vick, Owner, Cochran Head Vick & Company
• Radd Way, Executive Vice President, Weitz Construction Company & Advisory Board Member, FiberKC
• Jase Wilson, Principal, Luminopolis & Member, Bi-State Innovation Committee

For more information on the Judging Panel members, please visit http://www.gigabitchallenge.com/about/judges. 

"We are extremely honored to have such accomplished people involved as advisors and judges for The Gigabit Challenge," said Tyler Prochnow, co-founder of Think Big Partners, host of The Gigabit Challenge. "The participation of these high-quality professionals will assure that The Gigabit Challenge will be a great success. We look forward to adding more people to these groups over the coming weeks."

The Gigabit Challenge is actively seeking additional partners. If you are interested in discussing this opportunity, or have questions regarding entering the competition, please visit www.gigabitchallenge.com or contact Think Big Partners at 816-842.5244.

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EDC Cornerstone Awards Luncheon Recognizes Kansas City Companies and Inspires Business Leaders

Yesterday’s Economic Development Corporation Cornerstone Awards luncheon not only highlighted the leading Kansas City companies and their outstanding projects, but also allowed Kansas City business leaders to celebrate the city’s economic growth, stability, and innovation.

The event kicked off at noon on Thursday with Mike Chesser and Clyde McQueen, past and present Chairmen of the Board of the EDC followed by a word for Mayor Mark Funkhouser and Jeff Kaczmarek, President and CEO of the EDC.  Afterwards, Kansas City businesses who have contributed outstanding efforts to Kansas City economic growth were recognized, which included the presentation of the James C. Denney Spirit Award to Lee Derrough who “embodies the spirit of the award’s namesake and has left a lasting impression on the business community of Kansas City.”

Finally, the Cornerstone Awards presented keynote speaker Jeremy Gutsche, the host of TrendHunter TV and author of best-selling book, “Exploiting Chaos: 150 Ways to Spark Innovation During Times of Change.”  The overall theme for the luncheon centered around “KC: RU Up 2d8?”, as Gutsche discussed how becoming a leader in expansion and development requires us to look beyond typical thinking to see the real trends in the marketplace.

 

Gutsche is a remarkable business man; at age 28, he was one of Captial One’s youngest Business Directors and innovation leads.  With a relentless focus on innovation, he led his team to grow a $1 billion portfolio of market leading products.  His interesting views and cutting-edge approach made an impact on the Kansas City business leaders who attended the EDC Cornerstone Awards Luncheon and may have even inspired more people to Think Big when it comes to innovation, market trends, and the definition of success.

A big thank you to the EDC and sponsors for putting on such a successful event! 

Written by Allison Way.  Allison Way is a writer and videographer for Think Big Partners and bizperc, two of Kansas City's newest entrepreneurial resources.  To read more of Allison's articles, visit the Entrepreneurship Examiner.