Reflections on the 2010 Alabama Launchapd Finale

Well, another season of the Alabama Launchpad business plan competition is in the books, and we are poised to distribute another $175,000 in seed capital to three more early-stage startups in Alabama.

The events started on Tax Day, April 15th, with a welcome dinner at the Jackson Conference Center for the finalist companies, university officials, sponsors and other special guests.  The venue and atmosphere were terrific, and it was very satisfying to see the competing entrepreneurs mingle and interact with each other.  Our speaker, Brian Pollack (co-founder and former CEO of OpenBiosystems), provided excellent guidance and suggestions to the entrepreneurs as they move forward with their businesses.

The final presentations took place the next day at UAH, and I want to publicly thank everyone at UAH for making it a terrific venue and event – especially the outstanding A/V crew.  All the presenters did an excellent job, and the judges asked tough, challenging questions.  From my perspective, this appears to be the most commited group of finalists we have ever had, and the judges truly had a difficult time picking the winning companies.

Looking back at the whole season, I believe it was our best yet.  I say this every year, but it’s true!  Forty-five companies entered the competition in the fall of 2009, and the quality of the proposals – the whole field – was the best we’ve seen in the four years of the program.  No question about it.  We also improved several of our processes.  For instance, we added more judges during Phases II and III to mitigate variations in scoring.  Instead of three judges per plan, we had five, and the extra reviews provided more feedback to the competing companies.  And, our sponsors and partners pledged more in-kind services to the finalists and winners this year than ever before.

So all-in-all, Year Four was a great success.  This now brings the four-year total to $700,000 of seed capital awarded to 12 Alabama startups.  Many past winners (and non-winners) are achieving great success, and the interest level and excitement around Alabama Launchpad is greater than ever.

So in closing, I want to say “thank you” to everyone that helped make this year possible.  Thanks to our board of directors, our sponsors, our judges, our mentors, the competing companies and everyone else who helped along the way.  Alabama Launchpad has grown up quite a bit these last four years.  It’s a true statewide effort to support and promote high-growth entrepreneurship in Alabama.

The fifth season will kick off in August 2010, and we can’t wait to get started!