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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIVE ENTREPRENEURIAL TEAMS ONE STEP CLOSER TO

WINNING $25,000 IN SEED CAPITAL FOR THEIR INNOVATIVE IDEAS

Third Annual Minnesota Cup Competition to honor the state's top

breakthrough business ideas

Winner to be announced at Sept. 6 McNamara Alumni Center Reception

(Minneapolis) Aug. 23, 2007 - Five entrepreneurial teams were named finalists today in the 3rd Annual Minnesota Cup, a statewide contest that seeks out and supports Minnesota's newest and most innovative business ideas. Finalists, including a team creating tools to fight obesity and a duo delivering made to order meals to corporate offices, will be honored and compete in the final round of competition at the McNamara Alumni Center Thursday, Sept. 6 at 5:00 p.m.

"We received more than 500 entries from across the state and are thrilled with the five finalists remaining in the competition," said Minnesota Cup co-chair Scott Litman. "As well as embodying the Minnesota entrepreneurial spirit, each of our finalists has developed a top notch business idea. We're honored to support the work of these truly incredible businessmen and women and now look forward to honoring them at our awards ceremony."

Contest organizers, University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks, Geek Squad founder Robert Stephens, Wells Fargo regional president Debra Paterson along with the review board will join the five finalists at the awards reception. During this last contest round, finalists will make a 15-minute oral presentation to the judges. Three contest winners and one student winner will be named and awarded their prizes.

The winner of the competition will receive $25,000 in seed capital and advice from leaders in finance, accounting, legal and management support services. The winner also will receive the Minnesota Cup, presented by David and Carolyn Cleveland and sponsored by the University of Minnesota. Second and third place winners will receive $5,000 and $2,500 respectively.

Student entrepreneurs also submitted their business plans for judging. One student winner will receive a $5,000 prize.

Minnesota Cup Finalists

Reshare
Adam Southam and Kevin Kruse, of Reshare, founded the leading Distribution Relationship Management (DRM) software and strategy company with the only patented channel management solution that enables manufacturers and brand owners to sell online directly to end users without circumventing valuable channel partners. Reshare offers software and strategies that resolve channel conflict, guarantee complete brand control and enhance relationships between all channel partners and end users, translating into increased revenue, market share and profitability.

It'sFresh! Food Freshness Solutions
Greg Pavett, Carrie Lura, Nancy Shea and Craig Copping work to deliver comprehensive solutions focused on food freshness designed to increase consumer satisfaction, taste and quality, through simple, easy-to-use solutions. Technologies include a device used to maintain food temperatures throughout the cold food distribution chain and a tool designed to indicate food freshness levels from within the food's packaging.

Muve
Based on a groundbreaking research study on obesity from The Mayo Clinic, John Montague and Dr. James Levine of Muve, Inc. are prepared to commercialize products and services to cure the global obesity epidemic. Those products include a mobile, wearable device used to track body movement and convert the data to calories and energy burned, a software application used to synchronize body movement data with a computer and an online network focused on wellness and weight loss.

Persata
Like Wikipedia, Persata is a free-flowing community of users who build "Crowds" around specific topics and collect quantitative information, as opposed to writing articles or blogs, in order to build a mini, topic-specific database on the fly. Each topical database rolls up to form the Internet's first public data mining engine that utilizes not just social networking, but rather, "Social Intelligence." Creators Michael Noble and David Padgett hope Persata will become a "living, breathing census" and change the current methods of both searching the Internet for information as well as gathering and disseminating research data for third party firms.

Snap Pea
Michelle Gobrecht and Carie Mathison created Snap Pea pick-up sites, which provide same-day delivery of a made from scratch, customized and freshly assembled meal to corporate office complexes. The Snap Pea store and the Snap Pea custom pick-up sites are unique concepts that meet consumers' more sophisticated tastes and ongoing demands for convenience, while optimizing fixed expenses and the ability to lock out competition.

Minnesota Cup Student Finalists

Alumni Advisor
The Alumni Advisor is an advertising-supported publication distributed to graduating students at partnering universities. It provides practical information on the big decisions students face immediately after graduation, such as getting a job, buying a home, securing insurance and managing credit. Nick Beste and Kevin Carlow led a team of students to launch the business as part of an entrepreneurship class at the Carlson School of Management and are now rolling it out to an additional nine schools across the country. Beste is a junior at the U of M's Carlson School and Carlow graduated this May with a degree in Entrepreneurship and Marketing from the Carlson School.

HelpMeTy.com
HelpMeTy.com is a technical services company that caters to the average American household and small business, specializing in using everyday language to explain the complicated concepts behind computers and other technical devices. It offers on-site, drop-off and remote computer software or hardware support at competitive prices. Repairing computers since he was twelve, Tyler will graduate in December from the University of St. Thomas with a degree in Entrepreneurship.

uTead.com
uTead, derived from universal Tool for education advancement, is an online service that will facilitate the graduate school application process on a global scale. Launching this September, uTead provides a network connecting prospective students with applications and related resources. Erik Eliason and Naiomi Bisram, both seniors in the Entrepreneurship program at the U of M Carlson School co-founded the site.

About the Review Board

One of the contest's core objectives is to connect entrants with leaders in Minnesota's business and investor community. To that end, a board of notable regional investors, entrepreneurs and "C-level" executives has been assembled to judge contest submissions. This year's judges include:

• Joseph Alexander, Senior Partner, Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, LLP
  
• Dave Cleveland, Co-founder, Riverside Bank
  
• Leslie Frecon, CEO, LFE Capital
  
• Morris Goodwin, President and COO, The Hogan Company
  
• Skip Gage, Chairman and CEO, Gage Marketing
  
• Michael Gorman, Managing Director, Split Rock Partners
  
• Sima Griffith, Founder, Aethlon Capital
  
• Fred Haberman, Founder and CEO, Haberman & Associates
  
• Joel Lebewitz, Partner, Lurie Besikof Lapidus and Company
  
• Brad Lehman, Managing General Partner, Portage Equity Investments II, LP
  
• Joy Lindsay, President and Co-Founder StarTec Investments, LLC
  
• Scott Litman (Co-chair), Managing Director, SDWA Ventures, LLC
  
• Dan Mallin (Co-chair), Managing Director, SDWA Ventures, LLC
  
• Mike Moore, Director William C. Norris Institute
  
• Jay Novak, Editor, Twin Cities Business
  
• Debra Paterson, President, Metro Minnesota Region, Wells Fargo
  
• Sam Richter, President, James J. Hill Reference Library
  
• Thom Sandberg, Founder, The Kenyon Consortium
  
• John Stavig, Carlson School of Management, Director, Entrepreneurial Studies
  
• Dale Wahlstrom, Chair, The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota
  
• Jessica Zeaske, Associate Director, Venture Center, University of Minnesota
  

Judging Criteria for Finalists

• Business Concept/Idea: Business concepts should have a clear and well-articulated value proposition. Judges will be looking to understand why the market needs this idea. Who is the target audience and how will does product/service standout in a competitive environment? Ideas can be for a product or service entirely new idea or the evolution of a previous idea. Ideas that show the greatest innovation will be viewed more favorably.
  
• Implementation: What is the entrant's strategy for turning the idea into a high-growth business? Judges will be evaluating ideas on their potential to generate revenue, profits and employment. Judges are looking for ideas that can generate a positive economic impact within two years.
  
• Quality of Presentation
  

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Media contact and RSVP for McNamara Alumni Center Reception:

Kim McMartin, Haberman & Associates, 612-372-6464, kim@habermaninc.com