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 Mark Hochwalt won first prize in the High Opportunity category for his SoilSentry additive. |
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By Glen Sparks
Sheri Thompson, Lori Coulter’s mom, needed a new swimsuit to take to Florida. But finding a new swimsuit is never easy. In fact, Coulter says, the typical woman goes to eight stores and tries on 25 suits before she finds one that sorta, kinda fits.
“The one that she does find is probably not one that she is totally happy about,” Coulter says. “My mom said, ‘If I could just find a swimsuit that fits.’ I started thinking. I always said to people that I would start my own business if I could only come up with a great idea.”
Coulter, 29, began researching the women’s swimsuit industry. While she was at it, she also decided to enter the Olin Cup.
Her competition included Mark Hochwalt, 51. After 26 years at Monsanto and Solutia, Hochwalt accepted an early retirement package. Like Coulter, he wanted to start his own business and wanted to win the Olin Cup.
Washington University sponsors the Olin Cup (Commerce is a media sponsor) through the Olin School of Business and the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Budding entrepreneurs vie for seed money, and workshops help competitors learn more about the business world by introducing them to important people in the investment community.
The Olin Cup competition was founded at Washington University in 1987 and has resulted in 60 start-up companies. Every team in the Olin Cup competition must include at least one current or former Washington University student.
Teams submit a business plan, make oral presentations to a panel of judges, and then stand up to some tough grilling. Usually, about 40 to 60 teams compete.
“Being a part of this competition is hugely valuable to the team members, even if they do not win,” says Ken Harrington, managing director of the Skandalaris Center at the University. “They are able to learn so much through the workshops and from the feedback that they receive. They find out what they are doing that is good and where their business plan might be weak. They get invaluable exposure for their businesses.”
St. Louis does not enjoy the start-up reputation of places like Seattle, San Francisco or Austin, Texas. Harrington hopes the Olin Cup can change that. “We want to aid the start-up community in St. Louis by reducing the cost and time, both in terms of money and social risk, of starting a new business,” he says. “This is not a typical business plan competition. Olin actually makes an investment in the winning firm ($50,000 in seed money to the first-place winner in the High Opportunity category; and $20,000 to the winner of the Boot Strap competition for smaller businesses). This ensures a high sense of realism.”
The Cup kick-off is usually in March and awards are handed out in December. Teams get eliminated along the way. For her part, Coulter attended just about every Olin Cup workshop. She spoke to the judges and she continued to research the swimsuit industry through the spring, summer and fall of 2003.
“The Olin School of Business is a world-class institution, and I knew that being a part of the Cup competition would help me in my business,” says Coulter, a 1999 MBA graduate from Washington University. “The people you speak to are some of the leading people in the investment community. I think I put together a solid business plan.”
| Lori Coulter has a patent pending on her multi-step plan, TrueMeasure, to design custom swimsuits. |
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Coulter has a patent pending on her multi-step plan, TrueMeasure, to design custom swimsuits. First, the customer takes a TrueProfile, a series of lifestyle questions. Then, they use TrueTailor, a virtual dressing room and digital measurement system. TrueRecomendations simplifies the task of selecting a flattering style. Customers also can pick from a variety of design options.
Coulter hopes to take her first swimsuit TrueOrders later this year. Within five years, she wants to open 75 to 100 TrueMeasure design stations in high-end department stores from coast to coast. Once a customer places the order, it should take about three weeks to get the swimsuit. That time should decrease as orders pick up. Prices figure to be 35 to 50 percent higher than off-the-rack suits.
“The focus groups that I held tell me that women are more than willing to pay the extra money if it saves them the time and the aggravation,” Coulter says. “There is absolutely a market for this.”
Coulter made it to the semi-finals, but in the end the judges were unsure she could find a company interested in making a low-volume number of swimsuits. Not deterred, she is now talking with manufacturers in New York and California.
“I think this is going to work, in part, because we are helping to empower women,” Coulter says. “I think the one thing that the judges really liked is that we obviously did a lot of research and that we were addressing a customer need.”
Hochwalt’s project—which ultimately won the Olin Cup—also addresses a customer need. The judges awarded his Innovium Company team, which included Washington University student Kevin McDevitt, first prize in the High Opportunity category. Innovium targets the problem of soil erosion and water conservation in hot, dry places like the desert southwest. Hochwalt has developed an additive, SoilSentry, to improve water absorption in the soil.
Hochwalt says SoilSentry will help farmers grow more crops and use less water and fertilizer—a savings that he estimates will equal three times the $25-per-acre cost of using SoilSentry each growing season.
The Innovium team spent about a half-day every week tightening their 40-page business plan and preparing for the Olin Cup judges. Hochwalt attended several of the seminars, including ones that centered on putting together a business plan and the legal aspects of forming a business. The Innovium team went through one small round of judging and then a much more complicated second round.
“We were always trying to make the plan clearer and tuning it up,” Hochwalt says. “The business plan is really your road map. It tells you how you are going to get there. One of the Q&A sessions during the Olin Cup lasted 30 minutes and the judges ask you some very specific questions. You have got to know what you are talking about.”
After Innovium was awarded the Cup, Hochwalt was featured in several local newspaper articles. The articles generated great publicity and made the company more attractive to would-be investors. Hochwalt, who managed several small companies for Monsanto and Solutia, says that he likes being an entrepreneur.
“I like the idea of putting a plan into action,” he says. “I like starting from scratch and turning it into something of value.” |
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