Monday, December 10, 2007
By Darla Martin Tucker
The Business Press
Felix Zuniga perfected his one-minute pitch by practicing in front of family members, friends, mirrors and wherever else the opportunity to rehearse presented itself. "Every time I was by myself I would just start saying it," Zuniga said.
His diligence paid off Nov. 29 as he beat 14 other entrepreneurs in a "fast pitch" competition at the University of California, Riverside.
He won an opportunity to present his startup business plan to investors in the Inland Empire Tech Coast Angels network.
Zuniga's startup, Armada Business Services and its Web portal, proposes to handle the special licenses, permits, drug and alcohol test data, tax information and other regulatory paperwork for independent truck drivers.
He started his one-minute spiel at the fast pitch with a question to a panel of six judges. "Did you know that most of the diesel trucks you see on the road today are owned and operated by independent truckers?"
He told them most diesel trucks are independently owned and operated. The TriTech Small Business Development Center in Riverside hosted the first annual fast-pitch event along with the city of Riverside, Riverside County and UC Riverside.
Of the 139 people registered to attend, 102 arrived at the UC Riverside Extension Center to watch entrepreneurs boil their business plans down to a 60-second speech.
The development center offers consultation, training and referral services to entrepreneurs.
Zuniga was among five entrepreneurship students from California State University, San Bernardino invited to compete in the event at UC Riverside.
A panel of investors, business and education leaders listened to the quickly executed presentations then chose three entrepreneurs to give three-minute pitches and answer questions. Zuniga ultimately emerged as the top contender.
"He was an excellent presenter, he was clear on what he wanted to do, he was very understandable and very focused on a specific objective," said Mike Napoli, president of the Inland Empire Tech Coast Angels.
Napoli monitored the competition. The judges were angel investor Ed Setzer; UC Riverside business school Dean Dave Stewart; Tim Gerrity, Cal State's director of the Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization; John Tillquist, dean of technology and economic development for Riverside Community College District; John Morris, member of the Los Angeles Tech Coast Angels; and Al Schneider, member of the Pasadena Angels. Smooth presentation skills are key to winning fast pitch events.
But even entrepreneurs who don't win the "beauty contest" can grab the interest of investors, Napoli said.
The angels network is the largest angel investor group in the United States. It has four other networks, or chapters, in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and Santa Barbara/Westlake Village. It launched the Inland Empire chapter earlier this year. The local network has a core group of about 10 or 12 active investor members, Napoli said. The group will hold monthly deal screening sessions the second Monday of each month beginning Jan. 14. Three or four selected entrepreneurs will pitch their businesses during the meetings.
The network will rotate screening sessions among UC Riverside, Cal State, San Bernardino and the Claremont Colleges, Napoli said.
Zuniga expects to give a 15-to-20-minute presentation to the Tech Coast Angels network “after the holidays,” he said.
Armada Business Services seeks upwards of 0,000. The money will pay for officers’ salaries, marketing, computers, a computer programmer and other costs associated with bringing the company into full operation.
Zuniga got the business services idea a year ago from his cousin, Derrek Abundis, who worked in the trucking industry. “He was complaining about the problems they have to deal with,” and said that a business dedicated to aiding solving those problems would do well.
Zuniga, who functions as the company’s chief executive officer, is building a Web site at armadabusiness.com. He and five officers each committed ,000 to get the business off the ground. The money pays for legal advice, industry analysis and other startup costs. The officers — his brother, Michael Zuniga, and three friends — have graduated from Cal State San Bernardino with business, accounting and other degrees. Michael Zuniga serves as the company’s vice president of risk management and client services. Zuniga is studying entrepreneurship in a master’s of business administration program at Cal State, San Bernardino. He graduated in 2005 with an MBA in information technology and works as an information technology consultant at the university.
He put together the Armada concept as a class project in the entrepreneurship program and competed in a business plan competition at the school along with 55 student contestants. Zuniga ultimately landed in a group of five Cal State entrepreneurship students who won the opportunity to give one-minute pitches during the Spirit of the Entrepreneur awards Nov. 14 at Riverside Convention Center. Zuniga’s second place finish at the awards ceremony garnered him a ,000 prize. Napoli invited the five contestants to the one-minute fast pitch competition on Nov. 29 at UC Riverside.