The Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest is back for its 20th year of helping entrepreneurs prepare to launch their business. A total of 150 entries have been narrowed down to 13 finalists who will all present their businesses to a panel of judges on May 31.
Finalists from southeastern Wisconsin include:
- Germantown-based Chocolate Rescue for Dogs: Arek Schmocker runs this business with the help of co-founder Amadeus Benitez, who created a dog treat that encapsulates the toxins found in chocolate if a dog were to accidentally eat some.
- Milwaukee-based Energy Tech Innovations: Founder Bryan Johnson is helping the company develop a low-cost, water-based gas treatment method that will convert biogas into renewable natural gas, a greenhouse gas neutral fuel.
- Oconomowoc-based Soul Mobility: Founder Troy Tesmer aims to provide solutions to the physically challenged through the startup’s user-inspired designs and innovations.
- West Allis-based WORKSHIFT: Founder Bekki Yang is helping connect local health care workers with businesses and organizations seeking on-demand health care workers to perform necessary COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, among other medical/clinical services.
Finalists submitted a 15-minute video pitch deck for review by a panel of about 70 judges and their scores on those video pitches will be a part of the final scoring. Each plan describes the core product or service, defines the customer base, estimates the size of the market, identifies competition, describes the management team, and provides key financial data.
Winners in the categories of advanced manufacturing, business services, information technology, life and sciences plans will be named at the 2023 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Conference on June 1.
Sponsors for the contest are contributing cash, office space, legal assistance, accounting, information technology consulting, marketing and more. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. is a major sponsor of the event.
