GROVE CITY, Pa. – The spring 2009 semester was a rewarding one for the Department of Entrepreneurship Department at Grove City College. Two business plan teams have competed in various competitions and one team received multiple prizes.

Seniors Chris Andrew of Bow, N.H., Greg Kroleski of San Diego, Calif., Stephan Mack of Eighty Four, Pa., and Erick Mickelsen of Cary, N.C., competed in Carnegie Mellon University’s Carnegie Tepper Venture Challenge on April 6. Both teams were among the six finalists selected from 25 teams that submitted plans for a chance to present their plans before a panel of judges. Each team had 10 minutes to present and 10 minutes to answer questions from the judges.

While Mack and Mickelsen’s web design and social networking medium, OneSketch, was not selected as a winner, Andrew and Kroleski’s plan – VenomReady – took the top spot. In the three years since the competition was opened to non-Carnegie Mellon teams, this was the first time a non-CMU team won. Andrew and Kroleski received the first-place prize of $10,000 for their plan.

VenomReady is “a transportable kit that fits in the palm of your hand, and it’s a universal treatment for venomous encounters from snakes, spiders and other reptiles,” Andrew said.

VenomReady is a needle-less injection system designed to destroy venom proteins after a bite, rather than flushing the venom out of a person’s system, like current treatments are designed to do. Additionally, while current treatments cost thousands of dollars, VenomReady will cost about $50. And unlike other treatments, which must be administered at a hospital and often result in tissue loss, serum sickness or even amputation because of the time it takes to receive treatment, VenomReady can be administered immediately to avoid these pitfalls.

While the product is still being developed, initial testing has shown a success rate of 96.8 percent.

Andrew and Kroleski first presented VenomReady at the Nascent 500 Business plan Challenge at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Ind., on March 28. They were one of 12 teams selected to present their plan there. The young entrepreneurs had 500 seconds to present their business plan while riding in a limousine around a racetrack, and then had 500 seconds to answer questions on their plan. Unfortunately, Andrew and Kroleski did not advance to the next round at Indianapolis.

On, April 18-19, however, Andrew and Kroleski again presented their plan, this time at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colo. They were among 16 finalists from schools such as Syracuse University, Miami University and the Air Force Academy. In the first round, they faced the second-place team from the Nascent 500. This time, they beat that team and moved into the final five. They competed again the following day and placed third overall, winning $1,500.

Tom Dillenburg, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship education at Grove City College, has worked with Andrew and Kroleski extensively throughout their career at the College, helping them perfect their plans and their presentation skills.

“They were excellent examples of the quality of their training and the high standards of the Entrepreneurship Program at Grove City College,” he said, adding that a number of the judges at the competition – representing venture capital investment groups – expressed interest in potentially backing the VenomReady product. These judges will be in contact with the team.

Both teams submitted their plans to Grove City College’s sixth annual Business Plan Competition, set for 1 to 7 p.m. May 2 in Sticht Lecture Hall of the Hall of Arts and Letters as part of the 2008 Parents’ Weekend festivities.

For more information on VenomReady or OneSketch, visit www.venomready.com or www.onesketch.com.