Walton College Team First Runner-Up in Superbowl of Business Plan Competitions

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The business plan for a simple breast cancer screening test has helped business students in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas take a top place in a business plan competition for the fourth time this spring.  

The Tears for Life team was first runner up in the “superbowl” of business plan competitions, Global Moot CorpCompetition, held at the University of Texas McComb School of Business in Austin, Texas, on May 6-9. The team took home $5,000.

The student’s company, Tears for Life LLC, is a medical diagnostic-equipment company that is licensing technology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Its screening test uses proteins found in tears to detect breast cancer.

Walton College team members include three students pursuing managerial Master of Business Administration degrees, Jared Greer, Bessie Williams and Chris Elizer, and an honors undergraduate student, Jordan Greer. Carol Reeves, Walton College associate professor of management and holder of the Cecil and Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship, mentored the team through all of its wins.

“This is a phenomenal win for the Walton College, especially in competing against schools from around the world,” said Walton College Dean Dan Worrell. “Where others see turmoil in the current national economy, these young students see opportunity.”

The team already garnered wins at the University of Cincinnati Spirit of Enterprise M.B.A. Business Plan Competition (first place and $10,000); Tulane University Business Plan Competition (first place and $20,000); and 2009 Donald W. Reynolds Arkansas Governor’s Cup (first place graduate and $20,000, and $5,000 innovation award). The team received an automatic bid to the Moot Corp after winning the Cincinnati competition.

“It is amazing that the Tears for Life team beat 38 other teams from 11 countries,” said Reeves. “The team that came in first, Novophage Therapeutics, had a Ph.D. student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a Ph.D. student from Boston University, and MBA and M.D. students from Harvard. The MIT Ph.D. student had invented the technology and owns the patent. This was formidable competition, but our team certainly held their own.”

Novophage Therapeutics provides a novel approach to combat antibiotics-resistant infections by combining engineered bacteriophages with antibiotics.

The four Moot Corp finalists included two teams from the University of Louisville. The Moot Corp Competition was the first business plan competition when it began in 1984. Today, it is one of the largest new venture competitions in the world.

The Tears of Life screening test was invented by V. Suzanne Klimberg, M.D., and Larry Suva, Ph.D., both of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Klimberg is director of the UAMS Breast Cancer Program, while Suva is director of the Center for Orthopaedic Research.

The Tears for Life students received technical help from Klimberg and Suva, while Mike Douglas, director of UAMS BioVentures, advised the team on the business aspects of the plan.

“This technology has enormous potential,” said Douglas, whose BioVentures program helps UAMS scientists get patents and commercialize their discoveries. “We’re very excited about the Tears for Life product, and we’re delighted with the opportunity to partner with the Fayetteville campus. The students and faculty have done an outstanding job.”

The Tears for Life team also won the Lightning Round and $1,500 at the University of Louisville in February and made it to the finals at Wake Forest in March.

“This has been a tremendous learning experience,” Jared Greer said. “Walton College and Dr. Reeves have done such a great job creating an opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship that we felt very well prepared to compete with the universities from across the world.”