Release Date: Monday, May 5, 2003

TERRY MBAs TOP WORLD'S BEST COLLEGIATE BUSINESS PLANS TO WIN $100,000 GRAND PRIZE AT GLOBAL MOOT CORP COMPETITION IN TEXAS

ATHENS, Ga. — A unique product, a rock-solid plan and a well-rehearsed sales pitch helped a team of MBAs from the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business take home the grand prize and $100,000 in financing from the 20th annual Global MOOT Corp competition held this weekend at the University of Texas in Austin.

KidSmart's plan for manufacturing and marketing the KidSmart Vocal Smoke Detector, a patented combination smoke detector-digital voice recorder, helped the Terry entrepreneurs beat 29 other teams from some of the world's top business schools.

Matthew Ferris, Bruce Black, Kerry Moher and Doug Ghertner are all graduating from the Terry College's 11-month MBA program on May 9 and all intend to be working for KidSmart full-time within the next two years, a goal that seems all the more attainable in light of their recent successes.

In the "Final Five" round on May 3, the KidSmart team beat new venture ideas from the University of Texas, Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, the University of Oregon, and the University of Western Ontario. Among the other business schools competing were teams from Oxford University, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago and the London Business School.

Ferris said the team was rested and ready on the last day of MOOT Corp and specifically asked to be the last team to present in the final round. "We were optimistic going into the finals," he said, "then we just stepped up and knocked the cover off of it."

Ferris, who is the president of KidSmart Corp., was a vice president of business development with GE Capital Corp. before entering the Terry MBA program. He said the team hopes to have the smoke detectors on retail store shelves by the end of the year.

Gary Cadenhead, director of the MOOT Corp program at the University of Texas at Austin, was impressed by KidSmart's performance and optimistic about their chances as a start-up company. "The KidSmart team clearly has a business idea that meets a burning need," said Cadenhead. "They have a creative product and a strong management team. I see them doing very well in the marketplace."

MOOT Corp started at the University of Texas in 1984 and has become the world's oldest and largest intercollegiate business plan competition. Teams compete with each other to convince venture capitalist judges to fund their ventures. They are judged on the quality of their business ideas, the strength of the management team, and the clarity and persuasiveness of their written plans and oral presentations. BusinessWeek magazine once dubbed MOOT Corp "the Super Bowl of world business plan competitions."

KidSmart arrived at MOOT Corp on a roll after coming in as the runner-up in the Carrot Capital Business Plan Competition April 26 in Manhattan, where they arranged for $1 million in financing from the venture capital firm and contest sponsor, Carrot Capital.

"We're feeling a lot less pressure about the financing part of the plan," said Ferris. "Now we'll be able to focus more on the business operations plans, which is what we enjoy anyway."

KidSmart's product was invented to solve a problem only recently recognized by fire safety experts and researchers. Children experience deeper R.E.M. sleep patterns than adults and often are not awakened by the piercing alarms of conventional smoke detectors. They are awakened consistently by the sound of a parent's voice calling their name, however. The KidSmart Vocal Smoke Detectors, each with a non-removable, 10-year lithium battery, allow parents to record a set of escape instructions customized to a child's home.

Brent Routman, one of the inventors of the KidSmart VSD, is a Minnesota patent attorney who used to work as an administrator in UGA's School of Law. Looking for a way to build a management team for his company quickly and economically, he contacted a former UGA acquaintance, Charles Hofer, who is the Terry College's Regents Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship and faculty advisor for UGA's business plan teams.

Another team from the University of Georgia also did well at the MOOT Corp competition. The International Cash Connections team, helmed by Terry MBAs Frank Marley, Luis Imery and Chris Griggs, won the prize for "Best Written Plan" in the semifinals of the competition. ICC also won the $1,000 CenterPoint Ventures Challenge on Saturday for its presentation of its plans for the CasaLink international cash remittance card, a financial transfer service aimed at immigrant Hispanic communities.

Charles Hofer said he was very pleased by the performance of both teams. "We are obviously extremely pleased with KidSmart's win," said Hofer. "Finishing first in the world with so many excellent competitors is a truly significant accomplishment."

In 1998, Terry College MBAs not only won first place at MOOT CORP, they also had three other teams in the competition, a performance which lead contest organizers to change the rules limiting universities to no more than two invitations. In 2002, a Terry College team called Aqua Vitae Enterprises finished second overall.

Georgia nearly made history again this year, according to Hofer. If the judging panel in the first round had been more receptive to ICC's business concept, Hofer is certain they would have made it to the last round as well, which would have made UGA the first college ever to have both entries make the Final Five.

"More important is the fact that both teams are poised to actually start their ventures after they graduate this coming week," he said.

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