Mobile Sign Language wins elevator pitch competition at SPARK East

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

Entrepreneurs came, they pitched and they went away with a better idea of how to win support and even funding for their fledgling businesses at the Ann Arbor SPARK elevator pitch competition last week.

Six entrepreneurs from six local start-ups gave their best pitch on why their business idea will be the next big thing. Jason Gilbert of Mobile Sign Language Systems landed the prize, $50,000 worth of Ann Arbor SPARK services, for his pitch for creating sign language software for smart phones.

"Jason did a great job with the presentation," says Paul McCreadie, a principal of Arboretum Ventures (an Ann Arbor-based venture capital firm) who served as one of the judges. "He did a great job of conveying the frustration in the deaf community."

McCreadie's smart phone application translates spoken English into a video of sign language in real time. It's designed for deaf people who struggle to communicate with those who don't know sign language. The short-term goal is to create test program for the market. The long-term goal is to be acquired.

"We have a small version of what our product will be," Gilbert says.

Other start-ups giving pitches included a firm that creates an in-rack air conditioner for data centers (Aeradigm), a point-of-sale system for independent coffee houses (Own), an ethanol formula for diesel fuel (Eco-Fueling) and a test that will help parents know the best time to conceive in order to achieve the preferred gender of their next child (Urobiologics).

Many of the businesses have hopes of big dollar acquisition in a few years and one, Eco-Fueling, is a spin-off of an Australian company looking to break into the North American market. Some of the entrepreneurs stumbled during their pitch delivery while others commanded the room with the confidence of their product.

"The reason it took us so long (to choose the winner) is because we had five good proposals," says David Mielke, dean of the Eastern Michigan University School of Business.

Source: Paul McCreadie, a principal of Arboretum Ventures, David Mielke, dean of the Eastern Michigan University School of Business and Jason Gilbert of Mobile Sign Language Systems
Writer: Jon Zemke

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