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Recent Press Releases (U.S. and international) for magazine issues and staff changes may be found below. Please note that for many issues there exists only a highlights sheet, while for others there may also be a full press release. The cover of FSB's current issue is pictured at right. Please contact the appropriate communications staff member with any questions.
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FORTUNE SMALL BUSINESS ANNOUNCES FINALISTS IN FIFTH ANNUAL BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION New York, August 27, 2007 — FORTUNE SMALL BUSINESS today announced the finalists that will compete in the fifth annual FSB Student Showdown, FORTUNE Small Business's national business plan competition. This year's competition will pit student entrepreneurs against seasoned business owners for the first time. The winners will be revealed in the November issue of FORTUNE Small Business magazine. The finalists are: Student teams:
Experienced entrepreneurs:
Fifty-five teams competed in this year's contest. About half came from student teams; the rest came from entrepreneurs who are already doing business. "Many of the plans we received this year were from companies that make low-tech products that improve on a current product on the market," said Elaine Pofeldt, FORTUNE Small Business senior editor and Student Showdown organizer. "We will see how they stack up against each other in the final round of our contest." Entering teams submitted their business plans to FSB in June. The magazine's staff then chose 10 semifinalists based on the strength of each management team (30% of score), the viability of each business plan (30%), the thoroughness of each plan (20%) and the newsworthiness of each business concept (20%). The FSB staff then submitted the semifinalists' plans to ten judges, who evaluated the plans on the strength of the management teams (40%) and on the viability (40%) and thoroughness (20%) of the plans. In the final round of the contest on September 7 in New York City, each team will have to answer two challenging, surprise questions on its plan from an opposing team. The judges will evaluate each team based on the credibility (40% of score), clarity (30%) and presence (30%) of the entrepreneur who represents the team in the final round. The judges will then choose the first, second and third place winners based on the teams' scores in the previous rounds, the overall quality of the plans and the teams' ability to execute them. This year's judges are Philip Bronner, a partner at Novak Biddle Venture Partners; Maria Coyne, executive vice president of KeyBank's Key4Women program; Jennifer Fonstad, a managing director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson; Lois Geller, co-founder of the direct marketing firm Mason & Geller; Michael Greeley, managing general partner at IDG Ventures; Verne Harnish, CEO of Gazelles, Inc.; Kay Koplovitz, principal of Koplovitz and Co.; Kylie Sachs, a principal of Ascend Venture Group; Steve Watkins, CEO of Entrex, and Ann Winblad, co-founding partner of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Go to FSB.com to view a photo gallery of the six finalists featuring their schools, team members and brief descriptions of their business ideas. # # # About FORTUNE Small Business Contacts: Brett LeVecchio |