The 2018 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition has named a winner for its student track: Brown University senior Michelle Peterson of TextUp.
Peterson was chosen from among five other finalists, bringing home $15,000 in cash, a $30,000 bonus cash award and professional services valued at $41,650. Additionally, her win automatically makes her a finalist in Cox Communications' Get Started Rhode Island pitch contest on Oct. 4, where the top prize is $50,000.
TextUp helps social workers manage information flows and other documents via its software, which is already on sale.
"I and my cofounder, Eric [Bai], are both floored by and immeasurably grateful for the support from the RI business community," Peterson said in an email to Rhode Island Inno. "The $45,000 cash prize, coworking space and legal, accounting and consulting services that this win provides us are going to make an incredible difference for the growth of our company."
Peterson added that the company was created in 2015 and developed when she and Bai were students, requiring a balance of full-time course loads, part-time jobs and sophisticated business development. Now, they have decided to pursue TextUp full-time when they both graduate in June.
"The resources from our RI Business Plan Competition win are going to evolve TextUp from a startup run from our living rooms into a real, budding small business," she added. "Thanks to everyone who organized, judged and donated to the competition, we can confidently begin our full-time work on TextUp, knowing we have a community of seasoned business leaders supporting and advising us."
The event's winners were announced May 17 at the Rhode Island Nursing Education Center in Providence, with Steve Schwartz's Your Heaven Audio taking home the entrepreneur track and Vishnu Dantu's Predictive Optics winning the MedTech/life sciences award.
Schwartz brought home $15,000 in cash and $41,650 in professional services, with Dantu also taking $15,000 in cash and $52,400 in professional services.
"The judges were impressed by the breadth and capabilities of this year's winners and finalists, all of whom are developing robust solutions to critical business issues," said partner at Hinckley Allen and RIBizPlan co-chair Peggy Farrell in a statement. "We not only wish them luck, but also look forward to working with them."
The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition was founded in 2000 in order to "create and foster growth companies in Rhode Island that will increase local employment," its website states. "It's all about helping emerging entrepreneurs achieve their dreams."
The leading business plan competition of its kind in the Northeast, it is led by a host of sponsors, of which there were 58 this year, and it typically engages with early-stage or new companies.
Disclosure: Cox Communications is a founding partner of Rhode Island Inno.
