Shake Smart Founders Kevin Gelfand and Martin Reiman

Every year, the EMC recruits talented graduate San Diego State University entrepreneurial student teams to participate in competitions around the country.

For 2012, SDSU's first permanent student run business on campus was selected as the second runner-up at the 2012 Stu Clark Investment Competition! The two founders Kevin Gelfand and Martin Reiman, undergraduate business students, joined with MBA student Ryan Ross to compete in this premier graduate level business competition at the University of Manitoba. The team achieved national recognition for Shake Smart's lean business model that has achieved strong inaugural sales.

In preparing SDSU students to successfully start and run a company, teams representing SDSU have competed and won the top prize at several competitions (see below). Students can gain experience essential to the success of any start-up and many resources of the competitions that include, but are not limited to:

• Ability to pitch your plan to real business professionals, including venture capitalists, marketing experts, lawyers, bankers, industry-specific experts, entrepreneurs, investors.
• Get your start-up prepared to raise outside capital through valuable question and answer sessions with real business professionals
• Receive valuable feed-back from business professionals specifically for your start-up company
• Showcase your start-up business for exposure during tradeshow and networking events
• Raise money for your start-up through the competitions themselves via prizes won

SDSU students Brad Chisum, left, and Nick Rhea, grand prize winners at the Global Moot Corp. Competition

San Diego Business Journal, 5/28/2007

Every fall semester, the EMC will choose the teams that will represent SDSU in the following spring semester business plan competitions. Teams that compete in the SDSU campus-wide competition, Lavin VentureStart, an SDSU campus only business ideation and plan competition open to all students from all colleges at San Diego State University can be selected to represent SDSU in the business plan competitions, including SDSU's Venture Challenge.

For MBA students in or near their last semester, competing in the business plan competitions not only assist in the success of his or her start-up, it can also fulfill the Culminating Experience course, BA 795. For more information about representing SDSU in the business plan competitions across the country, email Bernhard Schroeder.