Student entrepreneur wins first prize at Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest
June 08, 2015
UW-Whitewater senior Derric Francis, right, presents his Hunt Butler business plan alongside other contestants in the CEO Business Plan Competition on the UW-Whitewater campus on Wednesday, April 8, 2015. ©UW-Whitewater/Craig Schreiner
In his free time during a study abroad experience in Sweden, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student Derric Francis wanted to go hunting.
"I was looking for a place to go, but couldn't find a resource to point me in the right direction — something that connected hunters with landowners," Francis said. "I thought, we should have an entire service built around this."
Using a concept known as collaborative consumption — leveraging technology as a way to share information to connect people with goods and services — Francis created Hunt Butler.
The website is a marketplace for hunters to find lands to be leased for short periods of time from landowners across Wisconsin. Hunt Butler also collects information and ratings from both parties.
"With a rich hunting heritage, Wisconsin is a perfect place to start this business," Francis said. "Eventually, I'd like to expand the service nationally and to Europe."
He is racking up award after award for his idea, including second place in a business hackathon competition in Sweden and third place in the CEO National Elevator Pitch Competition in Orlando, Florida.
On June 3, he won first place in the 12th annual Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest in Madison.
About 240 people across the state submitted proposals; only 13 made it to the finals, where they delivered pitches on their business ideas. Each plan described the product or service, defined the customer base, estimated the size of the market, identified competition, described the management team and provided key financial data.
Judges awarded a grand-prize winner and first-place winners in four categories: life sciences, advanced manufacturing, business services (which Francis won) and information technology. More than $150,000 in cash, office space, legal assistance, accounting, marketing and more were awarded.
Francis, an accounting and finance major from Rio, Wisconsin, said the competition was extremely thrilling.
"It's validation you're going in the right direction, that other people believe your idea can work, too," he said.
Warhawk entrepreneurs have compiled an impressive record at the competition.
Last year, alumnus Henry Schwartz won first prize for his crowd-funded brewery idea, which was recently highlighted in The New York Times. In 2013, entrepreneurship major Mitchell Fiene won second prize for his quadcopter idea, now known as DMZ Marketing. Alumni Joe Scanlin and Ryan Rist, founders of Scanalytics, were finalists in the 2012 event.
"No other university can match UW-Whitewater's success in the competition," said Dave Gee, lecturer of management and Launch Pad co-adviser. "Our students are competing against people with Ph.D.'s and M.D.'s, and people with decades of business experience."
Francis credits his Gee and his other UW-Whitewater mentors, fellow students and hands-on opportunities with helping him succeed.
He gained invaluable experience in Launch Pad — the business startup program for students — and the student-run Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization.
"UW-Whitewater is a powerful ecosystem that gave me access to top-notch individuals who know what they are doing," he said.
"When you're working with students in Launch Pad, it takes the classroom to an incredible place," Gee said. "Students are not just doing an internship, they are coming up with an idea. We help with the research and set them up for local and national competitions."
Launch Pad is currently accepting applications for the 2015 fall program. Students can learn more and apply at uwwlaunchpad.org.