Newspaper wins $25,000 as SU's top entrepreneur

CNY Business Journal (1996+), May 10, 2002 by Dickinson, Casey J

SYRACUSE-Hermes, Inc., publisher of a weekly newspaper covering Syracuse University's fraternity and sorority life, printed up the best business plan at the School of Managgement's annual competition. The paper's founders, seniors Emily Kulkus and Justin Silverman, received the $25,000 first-prize award at the Syracuse University Entrepreneurial Competition. Robert Schmidt, founder of Trident Productions, a promotional-products company, received $15,000 for his second-place finish.

Silverman is from Massachusetts and Kulkus is from the Albany area. Both had planned to seek employment closer to home after their Mothers' Day graduation from Syracuse University, but now both are staying to work on their business. The two former Daily Orange staffers began their weekly newspaper last year.

"We would have both been looking for jobs elsewhere," says Kulkus, managing editor of Hermes.

The multi-stage competition solicits business ideas from students and culminates in an afternoon of venture-capital-style presentations before a panel of volunteer judges. The judges may or may not award one of the entrants the $25,000 prize. Last year, none of the entrants progressed beyond the first stage, says Gary Lim, managing director of the Entreprepeurship and Emerging Enterprises Program at Syracuse University's School of Management. The award is made possible by a million-dollar endowment provided by university trustee and entrepreneur, Henry Panasci Jr., founder of the Fay's Drugs chain, later purchased by Eckerd.

The competitors have 11 minutes to present, followed by a questionand-answer session with the judges. This year's panel included Jesse Fink of Marshall Street Management, Philip Gross of PrimeWire, William Pomeroy of CABLExpress, and Henry Newman of Solstice Capital Partners.

In the first stage of the competition, students submit four-page outlines briefly describing their potential businesses. The judges review the outlines and decide which teams should be invited to submit 35-page business plans.

Kulkus and Silverman participated in the competition last year, but the two were able to fine-tune their plan this year. Before the competition, Lim offers 11 sessions designed to give students an education in business plans and models.

Hermes will be using the prize as seed capital to seek additional capital. The winners also receive free professional help from the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, LLP and accountants Ernst & Young, LLP.