Seth Gunsauls, second from left, and Aaron Kerson, third from left, won first place and $5,000 in the Donald W. Reynolds Lieutenant Governor's Cup, and another $5,000 with a third place finish in the Governor's Cup. Courtesy Photo-Sierra Nevada College
By Kyle Magin Bonanza Staff Writer April 30, 2008 PrintEmail Sierra Nevada College senior Aaron Kerson and junior Seth Gunsauls came back from Las Vegas last week $10,000 ahead.
The two didn’t spend their time with high rollers on the casino floor, however. No, they earned their payout at the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Awards in nearby Henderson, Nev., where the pair pitched a business plan and competed with college students from across Nevada.
Kerson and Gunsauls’ green-friendly business plan, KG Biosolutions, won first place in the Lieutenant Governor’s Cup, netting them $5,000, and scored another $5,000 by taking third place in the Governor’s Cup.
Both contests judged students on their business plans, with the Lt. Governor’s award going to an environmentally-friendly winner and the Governor’s trophy going to the best overall business plan, which was won by students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“It was a really great experience and we got to network with some people who were interested in the plan,” Kerson said.
The two were a little disappointed, they admit, for not winning the governor’s cup, which SNC has taken home in each of the previous two years.
“To be honest, yeah we were a little disappointed, but there was a lot of good competition there and they can only give out one trophy,” Gunsauls said. Instead of winning $20,000, as the pair would have received had they won both awards, they flew home with half of that but with a wealth of experiences and connections.
“A lot of people were interested in our company,” Gunsauls said.
The idea behind KG Biosolutions revolves around a line of generators which can use a restaurant’s waste vegetable oil and convert it into electricity, saving a typical business around $200 per month.
Kerson and Gunsauls worked for the better part of a year refining the business, from pitching their idea to classmates to courting investors for the project, which they hope to make a reality in 2009.
“I think our pitch worked really well and we sold the project well to people,” Kerson said. “Where we need to work is giving more investor-oriented information in our business plan, we have to make it more reader friendly.”
There is interest in the project, Kerson and Gunsauls said, and they said they met some potential investors during their week at the Las Vegas-based competition to give them confidence KG Biosolutions will work.
“We’ve done a lot of networking locally and have met some investment companies that like to keep their investments local, where they live,” Kerson said. He said the two had the opportunity to do a radio interview in Las Vegas and take tips for their project from teams from the other colleges.
Gunsauls said the two plan to reinvest their winnings into the company, paying for set-up costs with the business and getting it off the ground.
They plan to have financing for the company done in 2009, hire employees and hopefully start selling the generators by the end of the year.
And, despite the loss, both say they got a lot out of the competition.
“Everyone there was very approachable and very friendly,” Kerson said. “We got some really useful feedback and definitely learned a lot from the trip.”
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