Think Big Partners Announces Hackovate Travel Scholarship

As many entrepreneurs know, applying for an innovation competition takes a lot of time.  But it takes even more time (and money!) to fly to a different city to participate in a live innovation or startup competition.  Here at Think Big Partners, we understand that dilemma.  

But in order to ensure that every entrepreneur who has a health-related innovation, idea or startup is able to travel into Kansas City for the Hackovate Health Finale on February 26, 2013, a surprise sponsor has opened the Hackovate Travel Scholarship. 

The Hackovate Travel Scholarship will cover up to 100% of travel costs to Kansas City for the Hackovate Finale on February 26, 2013. What’s the catch? The sooner you complete your Hackovate submission, the greater chance you’ll have of receiving the Travel Scholarship!

The Hackovate Travel Scholarship
The Hackovate Travel Scholarship will cover up to 100% of travel costs for one member of your team for the Finale event on February 26, 2013. The Hackovate Travel Scholarship will be awarded to a number of Hackovate Finalists on a first come, first serve basis.
How can you get the travel scholarship?

• The only way to apply for the Hackovate Travel Scholarship is by completing your iStart application. Once you complete your application, you must send an email to info@hackovate.com stating your interest in the scholarship to receive the Hackovate Travel Scholarship application. This scholarship is optional to apply for.
• Fill out the application and send an electronic copy to info@hackovate.com.
• The scholarship will be awarded on a first come, first serve basis. Therefore, if you submit your completed application into our iStart program early, you have a greater chance of winning the travel scholarship.
• The Hackovate Travel Scholarship will also be evaluated based merit of the need for travel costs paid for.

In other words, complete your Hackovate submission early and you’ll have a greater chance of getting your travel expenses to Kansas City paid in full!

Learn more! @Hackovate 

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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