Media Credit: Tina Hogue Tommy Deavenport with Square 1 Bank engages in a question-and-answer session following a presentation by four MBA students at the McCombs Business School. The presentation was a part of the Texas Moot Corp competition finals during which students vied for a chance to present their prototypes at the global competition with the ultimate goal of receiving funding to produce them.

Barry Kahn and Andrew Mills, doctoral students at UT, of the business team "qcue, llc," won the Texas Moot Corp Competition on Wednesday for their plan to integrate NASDAQ-like capabilities into e-commerce platforms.

The graduate student competition simulates the process of raising venture capital, said Ann Whitt, Moot Corp marketing communications manager. Four teams competed in the final round of the competition at the McCombs School of Business for a chance to advance to the Moot Corp global competition in May.

"Students create real-world companies, fine tune a business plan and practice making pitches to investors," she said.

About 50 percent of students who go through the program launch their company, she said. The business school hosted 11 teams, and four advanced to the final round, she said.

MBA students Steven Mailman and Barbara Oppenheimer started the business plan competition at the University in 1984 as a program that would compare to the law school "moot court" trials.

Moot Corp is now recognized as the world's most prestigious competition of its kind. In 1993, BusinessWeek called it "the Super Bowl of world business-plan competitions." Last year, 36 teams from every continent except Antarctica competed in the global competition hosted at the business school, Whitt said.

At Wednesday's competition, teams presented their business plans to a panel of judges composed of two venture capitalists, a banker and a public offering investor.

"The main benefit for students is the unbiased feedback from the judging panel," Whitt said. "They make their decisions as if they're going to invest money in the companies. Students also hope that people who hear their pitch will invest in their business and help them start it."

Many Moot Corp participants join the program after taking a course on new venture creation, taught by Robert Adams Jr., Whitt said.

"Rob knows exactly what you need to be doing if you want to start a company," said Kevin Reichle, MBA student and competitor.

Reichle and his teammates plan to seek funding for their product and build a prototype.

"Moot Corp has given us access to a lot of local business leaders and really good feedback that has helped us refine our business plan," Reichle said. "I would absolutely recommend Moot Corp and Rob Adams' course to other graduate students."

The program has grown more successful each year as more business students return to graduate school to start a business, Whitt said.

The 24 sponsors that support Moot Corp include the UT IC Squared Institute, the NASDAQ Educational Foundation and Bank of America.

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