Penn State Altoona students win big in Business Plan Competition

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 - 683 hits

ALTOONA – Penn State Altoona is pleased to announce the winners of the Pechter Business Plan Competition, held Friday, April 27, 2012, during the Gown Meets Town event at the Devorris Downtown Center in Altoona.

The first-place winner of $5,000 was Dan Cobler with The EZ Helmet. The second-place prize of $2,500 was awarded to Ethan Matthews, Bruce Learn, and Dillon Miller with Good ol’ Boys Garage.

Awards are made possible through the philanthropy of Shirley A. Pechter, of Altoona, who created an endowed enhancement fund to support Penn State Altoona’s Entrepreneurship Program and honor the memory of her late husband Fred, a 1933 University graduate and loyal alumnus until his passing in 1994.

The competition consisted of a four-phase process for students to take ideas from concept through a feasibility study/market analysis to a full business plan, and finally onto creation of a new venture. The students submitted detailed descriptions of their business concepts, potential market, and likely competitors. Local business leaders judged and ranked the feasibility of the proposed businesses, read the business overviews, and judged the presentations.