ATS to Judge Business Plan Competition That is Sweeping America's College Campuses

Cash prizes of $100,000 plus funding for the winning business plan from a New York venture capital firm. Forbes magazine to award one lucky participant the coveted "Forbes Future Capitalist" award.

NEW YORK, NY. January 2, 2002 - The Internet bubble may have burst, but that doesn't mean the fizz has gone out of entrepreneurship, particularly on America's college campuses. Carrot Capital LLC, a New York venture capital firm that invests in seed and early-stage companies, is sponsoring what is expected to be the biggest business plan competition of its kind, the Carrot Capital Business Plan Challenge (the "Challenge").

"We're very excited to have 64 of America's top colleges and universities actively participating in the Challenge, including virtually all the top business schools," says David Geliebter, managing partner of Carrot Capital, adding "The Challenge provides a distinctive national platform on which top students can compete directly with one another to determine the best of the best."  

"The Challenge levels the playing field. Not only are we competing head-to-head with most of the top schools in the country, we're being judged in the same way venture capitalists evaluate real-world deals. That's why Purdue University is so thrilled to be participating," declares Dan Carney, Challenge campus coordinator for Purdue's Krannert Graduate School of Management.  

The Challenge is open to all teams where at least one member is a student currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program at a US college or university, or who has graduated within the 2000-2001 school year. "Many of tomorrow's business success stories are springing from the minds of today's college students. That's why we're very proud to be a sponsor of the Challenge," states Randall Miller, Executive Vice President of TD Waterhouse.  

Got a great idea for a business? Log-on to www.UpToTheChallenge.com and register to participate in the Challenge, which runs from October 1 through March, 2002. Winners will share $100,000 in cash prizes, plus bragging rights to having snagged one of the most prestigious awards presented to budding entrepreneurs. The first- prize winner, in addition to a $50,000 cash award, will receive an offer from Carrot Capital, on its standard terms, for funding of the company described in the business plan. Forbes magazine, a Challenge corporate sponsor, will award the prestigious "Forbes Future Capitalist" award to the person who best exemplifies those qualities found in superlative business leaders.  

"Innovation and entrepreneurship is the lifeblood a capitalistic society. I take great pride in fact that I achieved my own entrepreneurial dream and it is an honor to help others realize that same dream," says Randall B. Guthrie, CEO and Founder of Advanced Technologies & Services, Inc. and a Challenge judge. 

"The Carrot Capital Business Plan Challenge is a great way to foster entrepreneurship, and as such, Parson Group is thrilled to participate," exclaims Dan Weinfurter, CEO of Inc. Magazine's # 1 ranked fastest growing private company for 2000 and a Challenge judge.  

24 finalist teams will be invited to New York on March 30, 2002, to compete in the Challenge money round. Judging the competition are professionals from the top ranks of corporate America and the financial community, including a number of CEOs and CFOs of Inc.500 and Forbes 500 companies plus many Entrepreneur of the Year award recipients: Lillian Vernon (AMEX: LVC), one of America's most accomplished and well-known leaders in the catalog industry, Marcel Gani, CFO of Juniper Networks (NASDAQ:JNPR), Jean-Francois Heitz, Deputy CFO of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Joel Appeal, President of Orange Glo, who, together with his father has built a direct marketing company that's ranked the number 4 Inc. 500 fastest company Udayan Gupta, Senior Writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of the best seller, Done Deals, and Josh Coates, named one of the top 10 Entrepreneurs by Red Herring, just to name a few.