Semifinalists Picked in Boomer Entrepreneurs Contest

Silicon Valley Boomer Business Plan Competition draws innovative ventures in areas such as healthcare, technology and apparel.

Santa Clara, CA (PRWEB) May 25, 2007 -- The Silicon Valley Boomer Business Plan Competition has narrowed the field to 21 semifinalists for 2007.

The annual competition draws entrepreneurs, early-stage companies and university students who are developing products and services aimed at consumers age 40 and up. The contestants' ventures target a range of industries poised for significant change and growth as the population ages, including medicine, technology, fashion, travel, romance and financial services.

The 2007 Silicon Valley Boomer Business Plan Competition attracted more than 60 business plans, from around the United States and eight other countries, including Egypt, Germany, India, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Semifinalists were selected after all the plans were reviewed by top Silicon Valley venture capitalists and boomer market experts.

The competition is co-produced by Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business and Mary Furlong & Associates. For more information, please visit www.boomerventuresummit.com/competition.

Ten of this year's 21 semifinalists are developing health-related products or services. Among these plans are therapies for urinary incontinence, non-invasive procedures to correct near-vision loss, cell-based transplants for severely disabled stroke patients, a non-invasive tool for colorectal cancer screening, and a device that enables remote monitoring of cardiac patients during rehabilitation. Many of the contestants in this category are associated with top-tier universities, including Brown, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The other 11 semifinalists are in the "general" category and are developing everything from medication reminder software and software that eases the management and settlement of estates to therapeutic footwear for people with joint problems, a website that helps couples repair and revitalize their relationships, and oat-based pasta and other "functional food" for people with diabetes and other health problems.

"Many of the answers for innovation in aging will come from entrepreneurs," says Charles F. Baird, Jr., founder and managing partner of North Castle Partners, a Connecticut-based private equity firm that invests in consumer-driven product and service businesses benefiting from healthy living and aging trends. The Silicon Valley Boomer Business Plan Competition "is an extraordinary environment to find and meet entrepreneurs with great business ideas that serve the enormous boomer and senior markets."

On June 1, four finalists will be chosen in each of two categories - health and general. A panel of judges will review the finalist plans and choose two $10,000 grand prize winners at the 2007 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit, which takes place on June 19 at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. For more information about the summit, please visit www.boomerventuresummit.com.

Finalists from previous Silicon Valley Boomer Business Plan Competitions have found the experience very helpful in launching their ventures. "Winning the Boomer Business Plan Competition provided us with unique exposure to investors, pharma partners and perhaps most important of all, potential customers," explains Onne Ganel, CEO of MicroMRI, Inc., winner of the 2004 competition. "This gave us more credibility with our investors than any expert opinion we could have gathered."

This year's panel of finalist judges includes Charles (Chip) F. Baird, Jr., Managing Partner, North Castle Partners; Bill Elkus, Managing Director, Clearstone Venture Partners; James P. Firman, Ed. D., President and CEO, National Council on Aging (NCOA); Jody Holtzman, Director of Knowledge Management, AARP; James L. Koch, Executive Director of the Center for Science, Technology & Society and Professor of Management, Santa Clara University; Aileen Lee, Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Emilio Pardo, Chief Brand Officer, AARP; Bijan Salehizadeh, MD, Partner, Highland Capital Partners; Jon Staenberg, Partner, Rustic Canyon Partners; Robert Stein, President & CEO, American Society on Aging; Brad Vale, Ph.D., VP, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation; Vance Vanier, MD, Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures.

Sponsors of the 2007 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit include AARP; North Castle Partners; Posit Science Corporation; Decision Street; Hewlett-Packard; MetLife Mature Market Institute; Morrison & Foerster; Sun Microsystems; The Entrust Group; Petplan; and LifeBio.

In-kind contributors include BMW; Four Seasons Silicon Valley; Les Concierges, Inc.; and Southwest Airlines. Marketing partners include SmartSilvers Alliance; Mary Furlong & Associates; The American Society on Aging and its Business Forum on Aging; EBIG; Patti Wilson, Career Company; CXOnetworking; and the San Francisco Chapter of the American Marketing Association.

About the co-producers

Founded in 1926, the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University was one of the first business schools in the country to receive national accreditation. Its undergraduate business program was recently acknowledged among the best across the U.S., and its MBA and Executive MBA programs are ranked 12th and 21st, respectively, in the nation among graduate business programs. More than 80 percent of its 1,100 MBA students are working professionals in Silicon Valley. More information is available at www.scu.edu/business.

Founded in 2003, Mary Furlong & Associates (MFA) is a proven team of business innovators, comprised of talent from marketing, editorial, business, online content and community. Mary Furlong, Ed.D., the firm's founder and CEO, has guided the offline and online 40+ market strategies of leading corporations and nonprofit organizations for more than 20 years. Furlong is Dean's Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and previously founded SeniorNet and ThirdAge Media. Her latest book, "Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace," was published in February 2007. More information is available at www.maryfurlong.com.

Press Contact:

John Doxey

Mary Furlong & Associates

Ph: 415.290.2050

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