Orem, UT -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/14/2012 -- The first ever GrowAmerica competition took place this month, and on Monday the final round concluded. The competition was organized in an attempt to grow the economy in America, but this competition was focused specifically on Utah. Competitors submitted business plans in the first round, and those who advanced prepared a three-minute presentation in order to convince the judges that their plans would work. The competition included three categories: Idea, Start-Up, and Growth.
At the final round on Monday, three competitors from each category presented to judges: Jeremy Andrus (CEO of Skullcandy), Amy Rees Anderson (CEO of Mediconnect Global), and Fraser Bullock (Managing Director of Sorenson Capital). After their three-minute presentations, the judges asked them questions to understand their plans for growth, their solutions to potential problems, and their passion for their business. Various business ideas were presented, with a variety of names, including Geek in a Day (designed to help high-level employees understand how to communicate with IT guys), XoomPark (an online parking reservation company), Happy Monkey Hummus (a company that makes unique flavors of hummus from organic ingredients), and Complete Speech (a company that makes custom-fit retainers to help people with speech defects).
The audience participated in the voting, and in the end, the grand prize of $100,000 was awarded to Complete Speech. Dan Smith, who represented Complete Speech, said that prior to the competition he told his coworker: “win or lose, for me personally, I learned more about this company than I had known prior. I had to do so much research” to come up with answers to the questions he thought the judges might ask. He said that his and all the other contestants’ companies are better because of the GrowAmerica competition. Sorenson Capital’s Fraser Bullock stated: “I’m so excited to hear about all of these ideas and these entrepreneurs who have come up with things you’d never think of yourself.” That concept is the very focus of GrowAmerica—helping aspiring entrepreneurs change the economy for the better through innovation and hard work.
RPM Revenue Drivers, LLC was deeply involved with the organizational aspects of the competition, and donated their resources to help it run smoothly. Josh Jeppson, Project Consultant at RPM, stated: “RPM is not only intimately involved with the growth and development of Grow America, Inc. as a national brand and entrepreneurial advocate, but it has donated two months worth of free business development services to companies that show the best chance of success in the competition.” RPM performed all the project management work for the competition and was present during each phase of the competition. The competition will be repeated twice this year, and Alan Hall, founder of GrowAmerica, announced his plans to expand the competition and hold similar ones in each state. The competition gave away a total of $250,000 on Monday, and will give an additional $250,000 during each upcoming competition. The next competition starts on July 23. To find out more, visit http://www.growam.com/.
About RPM Revenue Drivers, LLC
RPM is an outsourced business development consulting firm that helps drive revenue for its clients. This is done through strategic identification of market opportunities and best practices, coupled with tactical execution to turn those opportunities into new or expanded revenue streams.