Pace Pitch Contest

Harold Levy is a Managing Director at Palm Ventures where he concentrates on investments in education, regulated industries and allied fields. Mr. Levy has extensive management and acquisition experience in education and finance. He was formerly the New York City Schools Chancellor, Executive Vice President of Kaplan, Inc., Director of Global Compliance of Citigroup, Head of Litigation of Salomon Brothers and Managing Director of Plainfield Asset Management. He holds a J.D. and B.S. from Cornell and an MA (PPE) from Oxford. Mr. Levy is a member of the Board of the Cambium Learning Group (NASD:ABCD). He is also on the board of the Roosevelt Institute and of Pace University, a member of the Council of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee of Teachers College, Columbia University. He was recently appointed by Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan to the Committee on Measures of Student Success.

Judging panel included Dr. Fred Aslan, Vice President, Venrock Associates; Majora Carter, Founder and Executive Director, Sustainable South Bronx; Stephen Hindy, Co-Founder and President, The Brooklyn Brewery; Thomas Mulligan, Vice President, JPMorgan Chase Bank; David S. Rose, Chairman, New York Angels; M. Bernard Siegel, CPA and Certified Professional Coach; and Lori S. Smith, Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP.

81% of Malians under the age of five are anemic and approximately 50% of deaths can be attributed to malnutrition. In 2009, almost 73 million pounds of potential milled rice— enough to feed 580,000 people for a year—was lost due to the lack of proper storage and processing facilities. Malo Traders LLC’s social mission is to combat extreme poverty and malnutrition by increasing the income of smallholder farmers and providing fortified rice to consumers at an affordable price. We purchase rice paddy from smallholder farmers in Mali at a fair price. We then store the paddy using an environmentally friendly hermetic storage system before processing and fortifying the rice with micronutrients. The finished product is and sold to urban consumers and humanitarian relief agencies. We are initially targeting a market of $173 million with a penetration rate of 6.5% in Year 1. We forecast that we will reach a market share of 15% by Year 5. We are targeting two groups of customers. The first is the urban consumer looking for affordable, nutritious rice and the second is the humanitarian relief agency that administers school feeding programs, food-for-work programs, and intervenes in areas of distress. By establishing a socially responsible brand and adhering to the highest quality standards, Malo Traders has a unique advantage. Another clear distinction is our ability to produce fortified rice in a manner that is affordable and culturally adapted. Finally, the combination of our management team, superior technology, and commitment to making the well being of farmers and consumers an integral part of our business model sets the bar high for potential competitors to surpass. We expect to breakeven from an operational standpoint in Year 1 with a gross margin of 16.53% and from a dollar invested standpoint in the first quarter of Year 4. We forecast a cumulative net income of $5.86 million in Year 5 driven by a solid increase in sales and a net profit margin of 11%. This represents a return on equity on 46% for our shareholders. Based on our Social Impact Analysis, at the end of Year 3, the net purpose value of our intervention is $27 million and $144 million at the end of Year 10. In Year 1, we expect to generate approximately $1.5 million in extra revenue for farmers who sell us their paddy and $11.5 million in savings for customers who purchase our fortified rice. We expect to work with at least 1,467 farmers in Year 1 and produce enough milled rice to meet the daily needs of 250,000 people. By Year 5, we expect to work with at least 3,500 farmers and impact at least 600,000 consumers. The total initial investment required is just over $4 million. Our financing strategy is the following: a) $1 million in equity from patient capital investors with a seven year exit plan and a valuation of $3.3 million b) $1 million in grants from foundations, governments, and international organizations involved in poverty alleviation, rural development, food security, and malnutrition, and c) a matching loan of $2.5 million at current interest rates secured by the initial investment and guaranteed by assets, land, and buildings. Finally, we will need a working capital loan of $10 million at a 15% interest rate that will be guaranteed by fixed purchased agreements and inventory. However, our immediate objective is to raise $50,000 in order to conduct a holistic proof of concept study in the fall of 2011 prior to building our facility.

In America today, there are a large number of underprivileged youth that cannot attend college due to financial constraints. By not going to college, they perpetuate the poverty cycle and settle for jobs that offer limited prospects. We have the opportunity to change the lives of these underprivileged youth by giving them access to an alternative source of education funding. Our proposal is to create an innovative web portal that will connect student borrowers with individual lenders (peer-to-peer lending). The peer-to-peer lending industry has seen significant growth in the past few years, but still lacks a company solely focused on education lending, which we think is crucial to breaking the poverty cycle and changing people's lives. Little Big Loan is a transaction-based business model driven by one key revenue source: a small fee for every loan that gets funded through our website. Our website will display a database of borrowers' requests for loans – these requests will be standardized and sort- able by various characteristics. Any potential lender can then logon to their personal account and scan through the loan offers or search for specific characteristics in the borrowers requests. We are hopeful that this search-ability concept will draw in lenders who will build personal connections to borrowers with certain characteristics - these personal connections will build a user base of repeat lenders and separate us from the colder alternatives in the world of lending.

The management team behind Reslutions’ has substantial experience in various housing professional capacities, and this experience has opened their eyes to a number of problems encountered by housing and student affairs professionals across the country. Today, housing departments license and subscribe to multiple services in order to undertake the various tasks associated with their department and other student affairs roles. This is costly, confusing and not intuitive for users, and causes extreme infoglut as the respective stakeholders need to process information coming at them from multiple sources. The Reslutions’ team has also identified substantial opportunities in the underserved areas or roommate matching and threat assessment on campus. Reslutions has developed a platform that digitizes and streamlines all of the processes associated with a collegiate housing department. We work with housing and residential life departments’ to identify opportunities for process improvement. Based on our client assessment, we then develop and deploy customizable web-based applications that are guaranteed to satisfy the needs and wants or our clients. Some of these solutions include things like guest management, mail room management, room transfer requests, various reporting processes, and programming for the residence halls. Furthermore, Reslutions is currently developing a breakthrough Facebook application that will set the standard for compatibility-based roommate matching in the future. The team is also developing a threat assessment tool that is based on the framework developed by NaBITA. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) forecasts college enrollment of 19.5 to 20.3 million in 2015, representing a two to three million student increase from the estimated 17.5 million in 2006. Today, there are approximately 2.1 million college students that live on campus, and these residents end up paying about $13.3 billion annually to live on-campus. While the focus is on student affairs and housing at colleges, some of the technologies are relevant and applicable to the following areas: Residential and commercial buildings, and elementary, middle, and high schools. Reslutions uses a subscription business model, and the terms are semesters or trimesters depending on how the client operates. Furthermore, pricing is dependent upon the number of solutions the school needs, and the number of users at the school. Reslutions will market itself by demoing and exhibiting at industry conferences put on my organizations such as the Association of Collegiate and University Housing Officers International (Acuho-i). The sales strategy also incorporates a Business Development Partner Network where seasoned housing professionals will be compensated with a commission for bring Reslutions new business. Strategic partnerships with organizations such as SunGard, EducationDynamics, and Blackboard are also in the works. Reslutions has already gained traction at Pace University by implementing its service in August 2010, and they have recently become an approved vendor at Pace University. They have several conversations going on with other institutions outside of Pace, and are looking forward to sitting down and meeting with some of these decision makers at other schools. They have successfully tracked over 25,000 guests, tracked over 4,000 packages, reduced costs by about $5,000, reduced the carbon foot print, and have visibly increased the level of security at Pace University. Reslutions has $8,000-$15,000 coming down the pipeline in the next nine months, and they are projecting roughly $7.8 million in revenue over the course of the first three years of doing business. They are in the process of raising about $30,000 in seed-financing, and look to raise $250,000 in the first year.

The Lean Canteen will be the only mobile food cart in NYC committed to providing an alternative way of eating lunch outside the office that supports a healthy and active lifestyle. By providing nutritional meals for a low cost, The Lean Canteen (TLC) will strive to become one of the most respected, eco-friendly and health-conscious mobile food units in the City. Since eating out is expensive with a limited number of healthy alternatives, it will be The Lean Canteen’s mission to provide its customers the largest selection of nutritious meals, snacks and drinks for a low cost. TLC will operate in the Financial District from a ten foot long enclosed mobile food trailer designed as an emergency canteen. With the nation facing an obesity epidemic and a growing number of people trying to live and eat better, a unique sales market has been created that promotes healthy meals for a discounted price. TLC can provide this service by being the first establishment ever that will cook to order Lean Cuisine Market Creations (Steamed Entrees), Casual Cuisine (Paninis, flatbreads and pizzas) and Spa Cuisine (Classic favorites) frozen entrees. The Lean Canteen will not only be known for its convenience and large variety, but also for its advertised low price of $6.50 for a nutritious and satisfying meal consisting of a frozen entrée and low calorie side. The frozen entrée industry is already an established multi-billion dollar market with brand name recognition relating to nutrition, quality, consistency and taste. While fast food restaurants also use frozen products, healthy frozen entrées are only inconveniently located in the local grocer’s freezer and not cooked-to-order anywhere. The Lean Canteen will do exactly what every fast food chain does, but instead of deep-frying or grilling its frozen products, TLC will use microwave steam and grilling technology to cook its food. This way of cooking is not only healthier, but it also locks in nutrients and flavor while evenly cooking every ingredient. With recent microwave innovations, Lean Cuisine has been able to formulate award winning frozen dinners that are convenient, great tasting and pre-portioned. TLC will make these same entrees more convenient and satisfying by combining them with frozen vegetables, healthy snacks and other low calorie products. All meals will be approximately 500 calories and TLC will also offer fresh fruit, breakfast items, meal replacement bars, nutritional beverages and gourmet coffee and teas. Not only will all nutritional information with precise amounts be clearly posted and available, but also for the first time, consumers will be able to have lunch out and know their exact dietary intake. Jared Domingos will be the principal owner and operator of The Lean Canteen, bringing with him both experience and knowledge in the mobile food industry, as well as in customer service and independent business operations. Jared has the capabilities and training to successfully administer TLC and will use his extensive knowledge of various mobile food units to produce high growth and profitability in a radically new food service company. The Lean Canteen will use social media to interact and connect with customers while also being able to offer coupons, solicit feedback and raise awareness for its innovative service. TLC will strive to become the most health-oriented, environmentally- conscious mobile food unit with an additional emphasis on integrity, cleanliness and convenience. TLC will look to the future by having multiple canteen locations, using solar panels and energy efficient generators to power the microwaves and by giving a portion of its profits to local charities such as the New York City Food Bank. Dedication to health, integrity, variety, cleanliness and customer satisfaction will set The Lean Canteen apart from any other food vendor.

Stanley Litow is the President of the IBM International Foundation and IBM's Vice President for Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs. He heads global corporate citizenship efforts at IBM, which contributes nearly $150 million across 170 countries. Under his leadership, IBM has developed new innovative technologies to help non literate children and adults learn to read, helped people with disabilities access the internet, created a humanitarian grid to power research on Cancer and AIDS and developed technology to increase economic growth and small business development. Before joining IBM, Stanley served as the Deputy Chancellor of Schools for New York City, the nation's largest school system. Prior to his service with the City's public schools, he founded and ran Interface, the non profit "think tank" and served as an aide to both the Mayor and Governor of New York. Stanley's articles and essays have appeared in numerous books and publications including the Yale Law Review, Annual Survey of American Law, Brookings Papers, the American Academy of Sciences, the Journal for the Center for National Policy, the New York Times and Newsday. Stanley is the recipient of the Council on Foundation's prestigious Scrivner Award for creative philanthropy and awards from the Anne Frank Center, Martin Luther King Commission, Manhattanville College, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Coro Foundation, Helen Keller Services to the Blind, New Visions for Public Schools and the Women's City Club. He has served as an adjunct faculty at New School University, the City University of New York, and Long Island University. He helped create and chairs the Global Leadership Network and serves on the board of Harvard Business School's Initiative on Social Enterprise, Independent Sector, Citizen's Budget Commission, and the After School Corporation.

Salman Khan is the Founder, Executive Director, and Faculty of the Khan Academy. He started the Khan Academy as a way to tutor his cousins remotely--while he was a hedge fund analyst in Boston, and they were students in New Orleans. He started posting videos on YouTube, and more and more people kept watching. It was clear there was a huge unmet need, so Sal left his hedge fund job and started Khan Academy with the mission of providing a free world- class education to anyone, anywhere. Kahn holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was the president of his class. He also attended MIT, where he received three degrees: a Masters in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, a BS in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and a BS in Mathematics.

Bruce Bachenheimer is a Clinical Professor of Management, the Director of Entrepreneurship@Lubin, and a Faculty Fellow of the Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Pace University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, primarily in the areas of entrepreneurship, management, and strategy. He created the Pace Pitch Contest in 2004 and organizes it annually. Mr. Bachenheimer is a member of the Global Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, a Board member and past Chair of the New York City Chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum, and on the Board of Directors & Advisors of LeadAmerica. He has served as a consultant to the New York City Department of Small Business Services, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and a variety of new ventures. He has been widely quoted in a variety of publications, interviewed on radio and television, and has spoken on entrepreneurship at numerous conferences. His earlier career includes having served as a VP of iQ Venture Partners, an AVP of Westpac Banking Corp. and an International Banking Officer for the Bank of Tokyo. As the International Product Manager for MSI, an SBA certified 8(a) firm, he was responsible for the initial commercialization of a high-technology forensic science system. In that position, he conducted business in over twenty countries. He was also the founder of Annapolis Maritime Corp. and the Co-founder of StockCentral Australia. Other activities include having sailed his 36' boat from New England, through the Caribbean, to South America and back. Bruce also participated in the Sydney to Hobart race in 2000. Mr. Bachenheimer holds a BBA, summa cum laude, from Pace University. He spent a semester at Tsukuba National University in Japan as an undergraduate and continued to study Japanese at NYU after graduating. He later received the McKinsey & Company Leadership Scholarship to pursue an MBA degree, which he earned from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Neil S. Braun is the Dean of Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in New York since July 2010. He has previously been President of the NBC Television Network, Chairman and CEO of Viacom Entertainment, an internet and environmental entrepreneur, a film producer and corporate attorney.Braun serves on the board of directors of IMAX Corporation and national anti-hunger organization Share Our Strength. He has taught an MBA course in economic models of media and entertainment at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.

A major problem in our world is the prohibitively large geographic distances separating people, resources, and opportunities. Friends may be too distant from each other, companies may have a hard time finding efficient employees and customers in different countries, and students in developing countries may not be able to access educational resources available in better-off countries. According to UNESCO, the overall literacy rate of Africa is under 60%, and primary school enrollment was 50% as of 2001(Find the rate for world... Not Africa). Also, unemployment is becoming a serious issue all over the world. WingNow is a revolutionary social website that innovates social networks. People can establish online identities and interact virtually, bringing people together across geographic limitations. This website will have several major uses: creating social networks on new levels, helping employees and businesses work virtually, and making education readily and freely accessible for everyone. WingNow’s social networking function goes beyond traditional websites like Facebook and myspace. Users are allowed to connect through text, voice, and video chatting. WingNow allows people to have fun with karaoke, sports, and other activities. By making an average webcam into a motion-sensing device will make activities easier and more realistic. Users can also go shopping and watch streaming content such as shows, movies, and concerts with friends. Another important feature of WingNow supports businesses and organizations by supplying virtual business space and office tools. It will utilize innovated concept of cloud computing and web 2.0 technology. This function will connect customers to businesses, businesses to employees, and businesses to businesses. Businesses can operate with less cost, more efficiency, and they can sell their products and services. Even small, local businesses can become global by connecting with WingNow. Businesses can keep up keep up with current technology and business innovation. In addition to bringing businesses and organizations together, WingNow can bridge the gap between educational organizations and people, bringing schools online and utilizing free or low- cost educational material. WingNow service is compatible with low-spec devices, so the material can be accessed by anyone with a computer or mobile device. Mobile or internet coverage in developing and developed countries can connect and bring educational services to anyone. Just like the adage of giving a man a fish versus teaching him to fish, we will give people the opportunity to grow. On October 23rd, 2009, the WingNow.com domain was selected to match with the business idea and is working towards a grand opening mid-2010. WingNow requires an initial investment of $50,000. The breakeven point will be a year from the release of the website. The services will operate through fees from profit-based businesses and not from individuals or non-profit organizations. This will make sure that the most possible clients have access, especially the people with less than $2000 annual income. WingNow removes the distance limitation and individual circumstance that prevents people from benefiting from the resources of the world. The privilege of birth and location no longer becomes a determinant to social, business, or educational success. WingNow is the answer.

The Premise: There are 300 million consumers living in India’s cities, purchasing over $200 million worth of goods and services, every day, from urban street vendors. Everything from fresh vegetables to haircuts to laundry services to cups of chai are bought from about 15 million street vendors through a half billion daily transactions. The informal market is vital to the urban Indian economy, but however central it is, the market can be made so much more efficient. Transaction and information costs run high, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers and vendors to connect. The challenges faced by vendors in making more than $2 per day, and ultimately escaping urban poverty, are becoming more and more trying. The VALA Proposition: VALA capitalizes on the unprecedented rise in the use of mobile phones by developing a platform to make the informal market easier to use and easier to trust. Through a simple SMS, a consumer can request any deliverable good or service. VALA identifies the best available vendor to meet this request and sends the vendor to the consumer to complete the transaction. The consumer then rates the vendor based on speed, quality, and price, allowing VALA to continually refine its database of vendors and better serve future consumers. The VALA Impact: By making it easier for consumers to get what they want and more efficient and profitable for vendors to sell their products and services, we aim to increase the incomes of vendors that use VALA from $2 to $4 per day. Within three years, VALA plans to serve nearly 900,000 low-income vendors. The Profit Model: VALA has three powerful potential sources of revenue: 1. Premium SMS charges to vendors Vendors are charged a minimal fee for each sale transacted above a certain threshold, ensuring immediate revenues for VALA, while increasing vendors’ earning potential. Vala will bring in revenues on approximately 20 million transactions within three years. 2. Highly-targeted SMS advertising With strong knowledge of the buying and selling behaviors of millions of consumers and vendors, VALA will be able to sell highly targeted advertising space with each SMS. Vala plans to send 7.5 billion profit-generating messages within three years. 3. Data aggregation: As VALA scales, we will amass an extraordinary wealth of information on informal market players and transactions; information that is incredibly valuable to corporations, policy makers, NGOs and academics across India.

TuneButton is a start-up organization whose vision is to prevent the deterioration of music education, by creating the finest music education software for students learning to play music. TuneButton will accelerate learning and bridge what is taught in the classroom with what is learned through practice outside of the classroom. TuneButton will teach theory, ear-training, sight reading, improvisation, instrument maintenance, composition, music appreciation, and notation. TuneButton develops the whole person and expands cognitive development. Music is considered a fundamental component of human culture and behavior. We want to preserve and strengthen music education. The Market: TuneButton can be used by all musicians. In the U.S. there are over 250,000 private music instructors, over 100,000 elementary and secondary schools in which about 50% of students study music, and over 4,000 colleges with over 14MM students attending, many of whom are engaged in music. The Product: TuneButton teaches music from the most basic level to highly advanced levels. In order to establish and maintain recurring revenue streams, TuneButton will be a Software as a Service (SaaS). This enables us to leverage economies of scale. An SaaS model eliminates version obsolescence and opportunities for piracy. TuneButton is unique. It offers video-music lessons taught by real teachers. With TuneButton’s Étude Module, the student can play along with. This reinforces concepts learned from video-music lessons. Video-music lessons start at a basic level and advance in difficulty as students demonstrate understanding. TuneButton is able to assess a student’s performance. Notes played incorrectly will be highlighted for review. A more advanced module features recordings of real-instrument parts which must be ‘unlocked. Real-instrument recordings are found in the Maestro Module. Real-instrument recordings obtained through contracts with music teachers will be mutually beneficial; it will be the base of our Media Box and will provide exposure for music instructors. Marketing and Sales: TuneButton will leverage search and social media to increase Internet presence. We will achieve sales through cold calls, product test-sites, live product demos, and mass emailing. Competition: MakeMusic’s Finale and SmartMusic, and Apple’s GarageBand do not offer interrelated learning through instructional video-music lessons and simulations with software instruments or real instrument recordings at fundamental and advanced levels. We differentiate by offering a cohesive learning package. Milestones: 6 Month - Product Release Version Beta; 9 Months - Launch rolling 3 month tests with 4 to 6 test sites; 1 Year - Product Release Version 1.0, Make first sale. Financials: We expect sales to generate revenues of $576,000 in Year 2, over $1MM in Year 3, and over $5MM in Year 5. The Future: We envision TuneButton growing toward a social networking platform from which musical instruments, hardware, and private instruction are sold. We will implement a proprietary advertising revenue model, and create the world’s largest music education social networking phenomenon.

Challenge: Over 500 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lack the electricity services that would enable them to live healthier and more productive lives. For many, the weak link is last-mile distribution. In Tanzania, 80% of the population lives within five kilometers of a transmission line but only 10% has access to electricity due to the high cost of transmission and distribution infrastructure. This results in a heavy reliance on polluting, expensive, and unsafe energy alternatives (fossil-fuels and disposable AA batteries). Solution: EGG-energy uses a strategy of direct sales to the customer. We take power from a grid connection or off-grid power station and package it into portable, rechargeable, and affordable batteries. Each battery is rented to a customer in exchange for a subscription fee. Customers can exchange their depleted battery for a fully charged one at any time, by paying a small fee at a nearby EGG-energy charging depot. Each fully charged battery is sufficient to power lights and radio in a typical household for three nights. Batteries are owned and maintained by EGG-energy. At the end of their useful life they are recycled via existing recycling services. Value Proposition: EGG-energy offers customers a source of energy that is safer, cleaner, more convenient, and more than 30% cheaper than currently available alternatives. Connecting to the grid is prohibitively expensive, so consumers currently use kerosene, dry cell batteries and car batteries to light their homes and power small electric appliances. These options, although significantly cheaper than a grid connection, are still expensive (10% of yearly income), inconvenient, polluting and hazardous. Additionally, EGG-energy builds a storage and distribution platform for renewable, intermittent energy production, prevents 131,000 tons of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere, and our electricity distribution service will improve work and study productivity while providing local employment. Target Market: 500 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. We target three separate segments: rural households, small businesses and low income urban homes. Due to large market opportunity, our extensive network of contacts and the country’s favorable regulatory and business environment, we are launching in Tanzania, where these segments represent over 35 million potential customers.

Problem: Today, 1 in 6 people around the world lack access to safe drinking water. Four million people die each year from preventable water-related diseases, and 90% of those deaths are children under five. Community Water Solutions’ (CWS) initial target market is northern Ghana where 50% of the nearly 2 million residents lack access to improved sources of drinking water. Furthermore, in urban areas where residents do have access to “improved” water sources, as many as 83% may drink contaminated water due to source contamination and/or unhygienic handling. The lack of access to safe drinking water continues to be a public health challenge for the region where approximately 20% of children under five are suffering from diarrheal disease, and the child mortality rate is 150 deaths per 1000 live births. Solution: Water management techniques used in high-income nations are neither economically nor technically feasible in much of northern Ghana. As a result there is a significant opportunity for implementation and scale-up of low-cost water treatment and safe storage solutions. To address this challenge, CWS implements sustainable, scalable water treatment businesses owned and operated by the communities we serve. The CWS model is based on three primary components: We offer community scale water treatment at the source (when needed; only required for rural areas where “improved” water sources are not available). We use low-cost chlorination and safe storage solutions to make sure that the water stays safe and clean while users transport it and store it in their homes. We have an innovative revenue-driven business model that generates enough capital to sustain the local water businesses, ensuring that CWS communities have continuous access to clean water. Currently, CWS provides the only sustainable source of safe, clean drinking water available today in the rural communities we serve. In addition, we are able to serve our individual customers at a price per liter of clean water that is three times lower than our closest competitor. Impact: To date, the CWS team has implemented three locally managed water treatment centers, reaching over 2,500 individuals and providing 600 children with a clean, reliable source of drinking water in their homes. In addition, we are currently expanding our work to urban areas where our research has shown there is significant drinking water contamination, despite access to “improved” water sources. To meet this need, we are adapting our community mobilization, chlorination, and safe storage model to urban settings. We believe that by leveraging existing water sources we can efficiently bring safe water to underserved urban communities.

Approximately 40,000 of the 240,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the U.S. are expected to die from the tragic disease. The annual cost of treatment in the U.S. is $30 -$40 billion, but research has shown that survival rates are much higher and treatment costs are much lower when breast cancer is diagnosed and treated at an early stage. However, the painful truth is that only about half of women are screened for breast cancer at the recommended intervals, making it vital that innovative screening tools are developed that will increase screening rates. Tears for Life is a medical diagnostic equipment company that is developing a tear test kit that will screen women for breast cancer using proteins found in tears. The kit is a non- invasive, convenient, and objective screening tool that allows for early detection and treatment of breast cancer, saving lives and significantly reducing health care costs. Health care providers will use the kit to obtain a tear sample from a woman during an office visit, and will receive results immediately, with no need to draw blood or send the test to a lab. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has a patent pending on the method of using tears to detect cancer as well as on the protein patterns discovered. We have an exclusive license from UAMS granting use of the technology. Tears for Life will guide the kit through various value-creating milestones all the way through FDA clearance. The kit will initially be marketed in the U.S. for use in a doctor’s office. We will then introduce a home-based kit, expand internationally, and target R&D towards using tears to detect other types of cancers, such as ovarian, where it has already shown promising results. The total annual market size for the kit is $15 billion in the U.S. and $30 billion worldwide. Additionally, it will help reduce breast cancer costs by up to $18 billion per year, or about 45%, in the U.S. alone. Acquisition is our preferred exit strategy. Tears for Life will entertain offers to sell the technology or enter into a licensing agreement with larger market participants. This provides investors many opportunities to exit.

Seva Call is a new local search engine that goes beyond just providing phone numbers or reviews of local companies. It is a search engine where consumers can submit details about the service (such as dentist, plumber, accountant, etc.) they are looking for and then directly get connected to companies who can help them. Seva Call uses our own technology to immediately inform local companies, one by one of a potential consumer in the area. Seva Call provides key information to each company including what the consumer wants done, when they would like service, and where they are located. It does this while still maintaining the privacy of the consumer. The company can then choose to talk to the consumer and Seva Call will directly bridge the call. If the company chooses not to talk to the consumer, Seva Call will continue to forward the consumers request to other local companies until the consumer has been connected to a suitable company. Companies only pay if they actually talk to a consumer. The Seva Call system is designed for companies to pick their ideal service job, whether it’s high-valued, big, small, easy or difficult. Our customers include both the consumers that use Seva Call to find local companies to fulfill their various needs as well as the companies that pay for the high quality service requests from consumers in their local areas. The universe of advertising vehicles is enormous and growing daily with virtually no barriers to entry. As more traditional means of advertising such as newspapers and yellow page books continue to lose attraction and larger mediums such as television and radio are unable to economically target local markets, the need for a locally focused search engine continues to grow. There are numerous advertising sites that offer pieces of the Seva Call model, but none that successfully mimic Seva Call’s model completely. Major search engines such as, Google, Yahoo, MSN and others excel at nationwide and worldwide advertising. However, their pricing structures, inability to directly connect companies to consumers immediately, and inability to focus locally make them a less than optimal choice for many smaller businesses and advertisers. No one likes to pay based on a click, who evens know why someone clicked to come to your site. Also locally focused advertisers require cumbersome contracts with no guarantees of business or even contact from consumers. Seva Call’s marketing strategy is multi-faceted. Seva Call will attract consumers through paid placement advertisements with larger search engines. To enlist service providers with Seva Call we emphasize our ability to bring quality customers, the lack of any service commitment, and the ability to track and justify advertising costs (through our proprietary control panel) through mailings, phone calls, and on-site presentations. We have an outstanding showing of support for the Seva Call model from local service providers and potential consumers. We have also begun to enroll service providers in the system that will begin paying once their respective service categories are activated in Seva Call.

Raw Athletics is a sports products company that develops manufactures and markets sports products based on all-natural ingredients. Raw Athletics' first and currently only product is Vapor Fresh, a sports equipment cleaning and deodorizing spray based on all- natural active ingredients. Vapor Fresh is currently being used by various collegiate and professional football, hockey and lacrosse programs, with the vast majority being repeat customers. One customer is a very large, very well known sports supply distributor in Michigan – also a repeat customer. In the future, Raw Athletics hopes to have an entire line of sports products that are used frequently among sports organizations and consumers alike. Raw Athletics has proven over the past year that Vapor Fresh is a profitable product, and has decided to start the process of scaling up production effective immediately in order to meet market demand. The process of scaling up is a very time-consuming and capital- intensive process, which mainly involves identifying new business partners, including formulation laboratories and contract manufacturers. Raw Athletics has already begun the process of re-formulating Vapor Fresh in preparation of larger scale production, which should take about two months. Once that project is complete in mid-January, Raw Athletics will be in position to begin selling Vapor Fresh to many more sports distributors – distributors Raw Athletics have not been able to pursue due to lack of manufacturing capacity. At the same time, Raw Athletics also plans to begin bringing Vapor Fresh to the consumer market by pitching it to large retail chains such as Sports Authority, Dicks Sporting Goods, Target and Wal-mart. In order to evolve as a company, Raw Athletics needs an infusion of capital for a number of necessary projects. First, Raw Athletics would like to begin with product line extension by bringing a second product to market – a laundry detergent specifically for sports jerseys, athletic undergarments and workout apparel. This type of laundry is typical for athletic equipment managers every day, yet no laundry detergent has focused on this aspect of the market. Raw Athletics already has the business and customer network to quickly and successfully bring a sports laundry detergent to market. Secondly, Raw Athletics need capital to facilitate bringing Vapor Fresh to large scale production once re- formulation is complete. Minimum runs for manufacturing are anywhere from 200 to 500 units, which would be a large initial investment if sales have not been made prior to manufacturing. Finally, Raw Athletics would like to be synonymous with sports and athletics, similar to Nike, Under Armour and Adidas, just in a different industry. In order for this to occur, a complete renovation of the Raw Athletics and Vapor Fresh websites, as well as all marketing materials, would be necessary.

NewlyWish is a New York City-based online wedding registry service that unites independent brick-and-mortar stores and service providers with local engaged couples and gift givers, providing affiliated merchants with a technological, marketing, and sales platform to access the large and growing gift registry market, and engaged couples a convenient, unique, and personalized wedding registry experience. NewlyWish was born out of the founders’ own registry experience, which began with a search for local stores whose items they truly wanted to include in their registry. When this search proved fruitless they ultimately registered with Bloomingdale’s and Crate and Barrel, only to return the majority of their gifts. And theirs is not an uncommon story. The wedding registry market is dominated by about a dozen national department and specialty stores that provide convenience and selection, but whose offerings are traditional and often unremarkable. At $19 billion, the wedding registry market is large, perennial, and growing. Annually in the U.S., there are 2 million weddings, and Generation Y-ers are projected to increase the number of Americans reaching marrying age by 20% over the next ten years. NewlyWish will target the more than 100,000 New York Metro area couples who get married each year and connect them with local merchants who can fulfill their desire for choice with gift items reflecting their personal styles. Using our service to source affiliated merchants and our purpose-built web-based registry application, couples will be able to create registries that include the full range of traditional wedding gifts (e.g. cookware, cutlery and linens), plus a host of non-traditional items (e.g. artwork and camping equipment), and ‘experience’ gifts (e.g. cooking classes and fitness packages), all in one place. NewlyWish will also offer a range of complementary services such as personalized wedding homepages (recent surveys indicate that more than 50% of all couples now create an online homepage to house event-related information, including links to their registry), social communities, and mobile applications to ensure an interactive and multi-channel registry experience. We have begun to build our base of engaged couples via coordinated marketing activities that include digital marketing via social network sites and strategic partnerships with local wedding industry professionals, who are key sources of information for overwhelmed couples planning their big day. As we approach launch, we will utilize SEO and a range of PR activities, with a message of personalization, convenience, and support for the local economy. Our primary source of revenue will be a commission fee from merchants on all sales made through NewlyWish. We require a further $100,000 to launch and support ongoing operations, and project breaking-even within the first two years. Our projections are based upon market data indicating that couples receive approximately 150 wedding gifts at an average price point of $100. Using a more conservative estimate of 75 gifts at an $85 price point, we project generating annualized revenues of approximately $2 million by year three.

Mobilestead provides solutions that enable hotels to integrate mobile guest services into their existing infrastructure to enhance the guest experience. Guests access the hotel branded service from their existing smartphone (Apple iPhone or RIM Blackberry). The mobile device presents a suite of applications which extend the hotel experience beyond the hotel walls. The user friendly and intuitive applications revolutionize the availability of information and increase the utility of the hotel experience. This improves guest satisfaction, lowers operating costs, and increases revenues. Founded February 2009 in New York City, Mobilestead has built a prototype and is looking to raise the first round of financing by the end Q1 2010.

Iqbal Z. Quadir is the founder and director of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT. In the 1990s, Quadir founded GrameenPhone, which provides effective telephone access throughout Bangladesh. Quadir is an accomplished entrepreneur who writes about the critical roles of entrepreneurship and innovations in improving the economic and political conditions in low- income countries. Quadir is often credited as having been the earliest observer of the potential for mobile phones to transform low-income countries. His work has been recognized by leaders and organizations worldwide as a new and successful approach to sustainable poverty alleviation. For four years, Quadir taught at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, focusing on the impact of technologies in the politics and economics of developing countries. In 2005, he moved to MIT. His particular research interest is in the democratizing effects of technologies in developing countries with some of his initial thoughts published in the Summer/Fall 2002 issue of The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs. Quadir's vision of a large-scale, commercial project that could serve all urban areas and 68,000 villages in Bangladesh led him to organize a global consortium including Telenor AS, the primary telephone company in Norway and an affiliate of micro-credit pioneer Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. He attracted these investors by complementing his vision with a practical distribution scheme whereby small entrepreneurs, backed by loans from Grameen Bank, could retail telephone services to their surrounding communities. With the support of these investors, GrameenPhone, established in late 1996, started building a new cellular network and providing services to the public soon thereafter. To date, it has built the largest cellular network in the country with investments of nearly $2 billion and a subscriber base of nearly 20 million. Its rural program is already available in more than 60,000 villages, providing telephone access to more than 100 million people, while helping to create 250,000 micro-entrepreneurs in these villages. Earlier in his career, Quadir served as a vice president of Atrium Capital Corp., an associate of Security Pacific Merchant Bank, both in New York, and a consultant to the World Bank in Washington DC. He received an MBA and an MA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a BS with honors from Swarthmore College.

Bruce Bachenheimer is a Clinical Professor of Management, the Director of Entrepreneurship@Lubin, and a Faculty Fellow of the Wilson Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Pace University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, primarily in the areas of entrepreneurship, management, and strategy. He created the Pace Pitch Contest in 2004 and organizes it annually. Mr. Bachenheimer is a member of the Global Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum, a Board member and past Chair of the New York City Chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum, and on the Board of Directors & Advisors of LeadAmerica. He has served as a consultant to the New York City Department of Small Business Services, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and a variety of new ventures. He has been widely quoted in a variety of publications, interviewed on radio and television, and has spoken on entrepreneurship at numerous conferences. His earlier career includes having served as a VP of iQ Venture Partners, an AVP of Westpac Banking Corp. and an International Banking Officer for the Bank of Tokyo. As the International Product Manager for MSI, an SBA certified 8(a) firm, he was responsible for the initial commercialization of a high-technology forensic science system. In that position, he conducted business in over twenty countries. He was also the founder of Annapolis Maritime Corp. and the Co-founder of StockCentral Australia. Other activities include having sailed his 36' boat from New England, through the Caribbean, to South America and back. Bruce also participated in the Sydney to Hobart race in 2000. Mr. Bachenheimer holds a BBA, summa cum laude, from Pace University. He spent a semester at Tsukuba National University in Japan as an undergraduate and continued to study Japanese at NYU after graduating. He later received the McKinsey & Company Leadership Scholarship to pursue an MBA degree, which he earned from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

The Pace Pitch Contest is based on the Elevator Pitch concept, popular in the venture capital community. It is an extremely concise presentation of an entrepreneur's idea, business model, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, and financial plan, which is delivered to potential investors. The premise is that it could be made in a few minutes, should the entrepreneur spot a potential investor on an elevator and have the opportunity to pitch their idea during the brief ride. At this year's Pace Pitch Contest, five finalists in the New Business Concept category and five finalists in the Social Venture category will each have exactly three minutes to pitch their new venture idea to a distinguished panel of judges and an enthusiastic audience. In addition to broad participation at Pace, we have been pleased to welcome student competitors from a number of other universities, including Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. http://www.pace.edu/pitch

Gurbaksh Chahal, born in India, immigrated to the US at the age of 4. He started his first venture, ClickAgents, at the age of 16 and sold it two years later to ValueClick for $40 million. In 2004, he formed Blue Lithium, another Internet advertising network, which was recognized as a top innovator in the online advertising space and was acquired by Yahoo in 2007, when he was just 25 years old, for $300 million. In his memoir The Dream, to be released December 9th, Gurbaksh chronicles his journey on the road to achieving his dreams. He will also star on the new prime-time network show "Secret Millionaire" on Fox, which will premiere on December 3rd, the night before the Pace Pitch Contest. Gurbaksh is considered to be one of the youngest and most successful entrepreneurs of our time.

The Pace Pitch Contest is based on the Elevator Pitch concept, popular in the venture capital community. It is an extremely concise presentation of an entrepreneur's idea, business model, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, and financial plan, which is delivered to potential investors. The premise is that it could be made in a few minutes, should the entrepreneur spot a potential investor on an elevator and have the opportunity to pitch their idea during the brief ride. At this year's Pace Pitch Contest, five finalists in the New Business Concept category and five finalists in the Social Venture category will each have exactly three minutes to pitch their new venture idea to a distinguished panel of judges and an enthusiastic audience. In addition to broad participation at Pace, we have been pleased to welcome student competitors from a number of other universities, including Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. http://www.pace.edu/pitch

Steve Hindy is Chairman and President of The Brooklyn Brewery. A former journalist, he became interested in home-brewing while serving as a Beirut-based Middle East Correspondent for The Associated Press. He is Chair of the Brewers Association Board of Directors, a director of Brooklyn's Prospect Park Alliance and the Brooklyn Tourism Board. Hindy was Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Ellen, principal of Intermediate School 89 in Manhattan. They have two children. With Tom Potter, Hindy co-authored BEER SCHOOL: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery, foreword by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, published by John Wiley & Sons. Steve obtained his Master of Arts in Teaching from Cornell University.

The Pace Pitch Contest is based on the Elevator Pitch concept, popular in the venture capital community. It is an extremely concise presentation of an entrepreneur's idea, business model, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, and financial plan, which is delivered to potential investors. The premise is that it could be made in a few minutes, should the entrepreneur spot a potential investor on an elevator and have the opportunity to pitch their idea during the brief ride. At this year's Pace Pitch Contest, five finalists in the New Business Concept category and five finalists in the Social Venture category will each have exactly three minutes to pitch their new venture idea to a distinguished panel of judges and an enthusiastic audience. In addition to broad participation at Pace, we have been pleased to welcome student competitors from a number of other universities, including Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. http://www.pace.edu/pitch