An overview of the results and proof points of the Project Vesto Seed Capital Competition by NIREC and the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development

1. Vesto Proof Points 1 of 5 Wednesday, April 10, 2013
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Proof Points
OVERVIEW
Project Vesto is a $100,000 seed capital competition by Nevadans for Nevadans. The premise of the
competition resembles the popular TV show Shark Tank combined with Kickstarter, the online funding
platform. By submitting a one-page business model canvas, entrants are given the chance for a five
minute pitch to a panel of experienced investors. The final winner of the $100,000 competition is
determined by online popular vote.
ENTRIES
By the December 31st
, 2012 deadline, 232 complete BMC submissions for Project Vesto were received;
greater than the sum of all other business plan competitions
within the State of Nevada. 1
Based upon the requirements
that all entrants have a cofounder, Vesto has likely engaged
more than 500 of Nevada’s entrepreneurs. Additionally, this
competition reached an entirely new demographic with an
average age of 43.5 years old with a range of 20 to 75 years
old from all around the state.
1
In 2012 the Governor’s Cup had 68 teams, Sontag has 24, the SNBPC (UNLV) had 30, and it appears as though SNC
had 3 (though I am not 100% on that). In all that is 125 teams. I have not been able to find the totals for TMCC or
the NV High School competition, but even CalTech Flow only had 83 teams through all 12 western states last year.
Aggregating all of the numbers I have, we are still only at 208 (and that includes all of CalTech.
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Submissions

2. Vesto Proof Points 2 of 5 Wednesday, April 10, 2013
PITCHING
128 teams in Reno and 104 teams in Las Vegas were scheduled to pitch in front of 3-5 of our 39 judges
over the course of four days on two weeks: February 8th
and 9th
in Reno and February 15th
and 16th
in Las
Vegas. 189 teams showed up to pitch with 15 No-Call No-Shows and 28 requesting to withdraw prior to
their pitch day.
The 39 judges participating in Project Vesto were as follows:
Allison Wren Doug Erwin Jim Holmes Rich Rubsamen
Andrew Hardin Dusty Wunderlich John Moran Richard Ethington
Andy White Felix Danciu John Sherriff Rob Nielsen
Angela Douglas Ian McNeil Josh Stech Sid Johnston
Bob Hart Jade Anderson Justin McVay Stu Feigin
Bob Richardson James Koenig Kevin Tappan Tilio Lagatta
Bryan Clark Jason Mendenhall Lisa Boughner Toby Mathis
Cheri Hill Jay Maharjan Mark Brennan Walt Borland
Chris Howard Jeff Pickett Mark Helow Xavier Cross
Dave Wertzberger Jeffrey Marks Michael Schnabel
INDUSTRIES
A preliminary evaluation of the industries of BMC’s submitted suggest the following:
14%
12%
11%
9%
8%
6%
4%
4%
4%
4%
3%
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%
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1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
0%0%0% 0% 0%
Rough Industry Breakdown
Food / Beverage / Agriculture
Arts / Entertainment
Mobile / Social / Web / SoftTech
Health & Fitness / Medical
CleanTech / Environmental
Home / Maintenance / Consumer Goods
Safety & Security / Defense
Education
Construction / Engineering / Real Estate
Transportation
Sports / Recreation
Traditional Marketing / MM Production
Clothing / Accessories
Finance / Trade / Crowdfunding
Luxury / Pet / Jewelry
Non-Profit?
Career Services / Startup Services
Print / Publishing
Hard Tech / Comm / IT
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Mining
Resource Management / Waste
3D Printing / Maker Movement
Consulting
Senior Care

3. FINALISTS
Based upon the judges scoring, 12 finalists were announced in packed houses (160+ at Reno City Hall
and 70+ at the InNEVation Center) via a live-streaming presentation in Reno and Las Vegas on March
14th
, 2013:
 Arsilica, Inc
 Fitronix, Incorporated
 High Powered Mobile
Welding and Repair
 Hotlap.co
 Jadon Foods
 ListSanity
 Loogla
 Marie Gibson Management
& Consulting LLC
 NTI Products
 Reno Public Market
 Sport-Social
 Trust Your Journey LLC
NEXT STEPS
Moving forward the plan is to launch online voting at the www.ves.to website where teams have
created strategic marketing plans and one blog post each for vote-conversion including text, images and
videos. The pre-launch site is staged at www.ves.to/finalists/
MEDIA PLACEMENTS:
 KOLO: http://www.kolotv.com/news/headlines/Businesses-Compete-for-100K-in-Local-Online-
Competition-181589891.html
 KUNR Beyond the Headlines: http://www.kunr.org/news/beyond-the-headlines-project-vesto--
almost-somewhere
 Downtown Vegas Podcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfBzzbF03YQ
 Vegasstartups.com: http://www.vegasstartups.com/2012/11/26/100k-nevada-business-
competition-project-vesto/
 VegasTech.com: http://vegastech.com/project-vesto-100k-business-competition/
 Associated Press – November / December Push (Hundreds of locations including):
o http://carsonnow.org/story/11/24/2012/program-aims-jumpstart-nevada-upstarts
o http://www.8newsnow.com/story/20174834/program-aims-to-jumpstart-nevada-
upstarts?clienttype=printable
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4. o http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/nov/24/nv-jumpstarting-upstarts/
o http://www.lvrj.com/news/nevada-startup-competition-to-award-100-000-to-fledgling-
business-180741041.html
o http://www.rgj.com/viewart/20121124/NEWS/311240041/Program-aims-jumpstart-
Nevada-upstarts
o http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/Program-aims-to-jumpstart-Nevada-
upstarts-4063468.php
o http://elkodaily.com/business/entrepreneurs-vie-for-nevada-k-upstart-
prize/article_ae85e76a-5c4d-11e2-89cf-001a4bcf887a.html
o http://www.lvrj.com/news/nevada-startup-competition-to-award-100-000-to-fledgling-
business-180741041.html
o http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2013-01-11/entrepreneurs-vie-for-nevada-100k-
upstart-prize
 Las Vegas Sun: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/dec/12/joe-downtown-state-program-
offers-100k/
 Vegas Inc: http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2013/jan/15/contest-attract-tech-companies-
nevada-enters-next-/
 KRNV News 4: http://www.mynews4.com/news/local/story/One-Nevada-business-idea-to-
receive-100-000/TdmWy_R6TkS268jOONO_yQ.cspx
 Vegas Startups: http://www.vegasstartups.com/2013/01/16/232-nevada-companies-and-500-
nevada-entrepreneurs-set-to-compete-for-100k-in-project-vesto
 Reno Gazette Journal: http://blogs.rgj.com/renorebirth/2012/12/22/big-idea-gatherings-give-
reno-a-vibrant-edge/
 Vegasinc: http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/dec/03/deadline-extended-state-business-
competition/
 Most recent:
o 3/15: Reno Gazette Journal, “12 Startups Remain in $100,000 Project Vesto Contest”
o 3/15: Las Vegas Sun, “Statewide Business Startup Contest Finalists Named”
o 3/18: RGJ.com, “7 startups from Reno, 5 from Vegas left to vie for $100K”
o 3/20: Las Vegas Startups.com, “Project Vesto Finalists”
WEB AND SOCIAL STATS
As of the 1st
of February, 2013:
 9,500 all-time unique visitors to the www.ves.to website
 915 Facebook Likes (daily reach of 2,000 – 5,000 people)
 482 @ProjectVesto Twitter followers
 380 email addresses signed up to receive updates about Project Vesto and the entrepreneurial
community

5. Vesto Proof Points 5 of 5 Wednesday, April 10, 2013
PARTICIPANT SURVEY
In surveying Project Vesto participants prior to the Finalist Announcement on March 14th
, 2013, of 74
surveys returned (~40% of pitching teams):
 78% had not “participated in other Startup or Entrepreneurship competitions before” Project
Vesto
 89% of participants say their overall experience with Project Vesto was positive (not indifferent
or negative) and 54% of respondents classify their overall experience with Project Vesto as
“Awesome - Love it (Best).” One respondent classified his experience as slightly negative out of
two categories of negative.
 86% said they would “Participate in Project Vesto again regardless of the outcome”
 92% said they are, “interested in connecting with other entrepreneurs in Project Vesto and the
community” and 93% said they are “interested in connecting with other Project Vesto entrants
with similar/complimentary ideas.”
 More detailed summary statistics are below:
o The following scale was used for these answers:
 5 - Awesome - Love it (Best)
 4 - Pretty Good
 3 - Okay (Indifferent)
 2 - Not Great
 1 - Needs some Love (Worst)
 N/A – IDK
Design (curb appeal) of the Project Vesto Website (www.ves.to) 4.08
Ease of use of the www.ves.to website? 4.05
Quality of information available on the www.ves.to website? 3.91
The usefulness of the Business Model Canvas? 3.99
Resources, videos, and tips provided via www.ves.to and Vesto emails? 4.16
The quality of communication from NIREC & Project Vesto? 4.20
The quality of engagement & content on Facebook & Twitter? 3.88
Our overall responsiveness? 4.43
The pitch facilities? 4.28
The food, snacks and drinks available to participants? 3.96
The professionalism of Vesto staff & volunteers? 4.58
Usefulness of the Orientation session? 4.30
The format of the pitches (5-min + 5-min Q&A)? 3.84
The quality of the judges' questions? 4.26
Your Overall Experience with Project Vesto so far? 4.42