Palo Alto Software Announces Winners of the LivePlan $10,000 Boost Business Plan Competition
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Winning business plans are selected from nearly 200 eligible entries for a chance to win $10,000
Eugene, Oregon September 10, 2012
Palo Alto Software, developer of the number-one selling business planning software tools – Business Plan Pro, Sales and Marketing Plan Pro, and its new cloud-based business planning and tracking tool, LivePlan – is proud to announce the winners of the first “LivePlan $10,000 Boost” nationwide business plan competition.
Ten semi-finalists were chosen from nearly 200 eligible entries (alphabetically):
CreateIT (IN)
Enas Jerk Mania (OH)
Kinnany (MA)
Lollimobile (CA)
Maternova (RI)
Medical Informatics Corp (TX)
Noisette Bakery (OR)
Roots Coffeehouse (TX)
TransNet Universal (KY)
Urban Growler Brewing (MN)
From those ten semi-finalists, five finalists were chosen (alphabetically):
CreateIT – Jonathan Meade, CEO. Software solutions for the healthcare industry that improve the flow of communications between hospitals, outside physicians and patients.
Kinnany – Donielle Buie, CEO. Safe, reliable, door-to-door transportation services for busy families.
Lollimobile – Namanh Hoang, CEO. An online retail store that specializes in mobile accessories for women.
Maternova – Meg Wirth, CEO. The first global marketplace, innovation incubator, and collaboration platform dedicated to improving maternal and newborn health.
Urban Growler – Deb Loch, CEO. A startup packaging microbrewery located in the Arts District of Northeast Minneapolis with an emphasis on targeting female consumers.
These five finalists were evaluated by a distinguished group of expert judges including Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Evangelist for Apple, co-founder of Alltop.com and author of New York Times best seller, Enchantment; Diane Fraiman, principal at Voyager Capital and former Silicon Valley technology executive; Tim Berry, founder and president of Palo Alto Software; John Jantsch, best-selling author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine; and Kristen Koh-Goldstein, president and co-founder of Newco Solutions.
Plans were judged on a variety of criteria including quality of content, business viability, financial projections and market potential.
The winning business plans:
First Place – Maternova
Second Place – Urban Growler
Third Place – Lollimobile
Honorable Mentions – Kinnany and CreateIT
Palo Alto Software CEO Sabrina Parsons stated, “We’re thrilled with the tremendously high quality business plans we received. Entrants came from a wide range of industries, including healthcare, retail, information technology and consumer and business services.”
Parsons added, “Our sincere hope is that everyone who entered is able to launch their venture. That’s really what this competition is all about – empowering entrepreneurs to live their dreams. The process of selecting finalists was not an easy task. Our expert judges felt that the five finalists exemplified solid planning principles, experienced management teams, attractive markets, well-written narratives and thorough financials.”
As the winner, Maternova will receive $10,000 furnished by Palo Alto Software, Inc. All finalists will receive in-kind prizes handpicked to help boost small businesses. In-kind prizes were provided by the following generous sponsors: LegalZoom, D&B Credibility Corp., Duct Tape Marketing, Shopify, MasterPlans, and PRWeb, a service of Vocus. Winners were announced via webinar on September 10, 2012.
About Maternova
Maternova is a wholly owned, women-run start-up company that has built the first global marketplace, innovation incubator, and collaboration platform dedicated to improving maternal and newborn health. Maternova distributes life saving technologies that help make clinical interventions possible for women and newborns worldwide. Visit http://www.maternova.net to learn more.
About Palo Alto Software, Inc.
Palo Alto Software, Inc. develops and markets tools, products and content for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The company’s flagship product, LivePlan, provides cloud-based business planning and small business management. Other top selling products include, Business Plan Pro – which is the best-selling business-planning software in the U.S. retail market, according to NPD Intelect – Sales and Marketing Pro and Email Center Pro. Palo Alto Software offers a powerhouse line of products to small and medium businesses around the globe. The company’s combined product line, along with Bplans.com, the highest trafficked business planning website, offer know-how solutions that have made Palo Alto Software the market leader in its category for over fifteen years. Palo Alto Software was founded in 1988 and is a privately-owned corporation based in Eugene, Oregon.
