There are 42 students from 21 different schools signed up for this year's program.  After 5 months of traning, we have 9 teams submitted their business plan for competition. 

Students from the following schools signed up for this year program:

• Acton Boxborough Regional High School
• AMSA Charter School
• Andover High school
• Boston Latin School
• Bunker Hill
• Commonwealth School
• Dover-Sherborn High School
• Franklin High School
• Groton Dunstable Regional High School
• Harvard University
• Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
• Nashoba Regional High School
• Needham High School
• Phillips Academy Andover
• Quincy High School
• The Macduffie School
• Univeristy of Massachusetts - Boston
• Wellesley High School
• Westwood High School
• Winchester High School
   

The business plan winners are:

First Prize Winner: Custom Buds

Eirik Somerville, Mariane Kin, Frank Zhou and Sam Jiang

Runner-Up Winner: Asesco Medical Technologies

Greg Zhang, Eric Liu, Bobby Zhang, Nalani Oines, Chris Yang

Best Presentation Award: Digital Biometrics Machines

Emre Anamur, Sean Ballinger, Austin Mei, Jordan Smith

Best Presentation Award (tie): Standby Stopper

Huayi Li, Jonathan Che, Kevin Kong, Pooja Sikka

Best Idea Award: Toy Saver

Shirley Yu

 

Final Competition Judges:

Joseph Perry, Regional Innovation Center Manager for the North American Eastern Region, IBM

Joseph Perry is the Regional Innovation Center Manager for the North American Eastern Region and Canada for IBM's ISV & Developer Relations. Joe has extensive experience with Internet technology and with business consulting.  Joe currently is a Ph.D. candidate in the Law, Policy & Society Program at Northeastern University, where he also is an instructor in the on-line MBA program.  He has experience working with Fortune 100 clients. Joe's areas of expertise include Internet privacy, health care technologies and policy, and networked communications. He holds an M.B.A. (concentration in technology) from Northeastern University and a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

 

Joel L. Singer, Managing Partner, Boston Digital Ventures

Joel L. Singer is an adjunct professor at the International Business School at Brandeis University.  Mr. Singer is the managing partner of Boston Digital Ventures, which focuses on clean / green technology solutions (www.boston-digital.com). In addition, Mr. Singer currently serves on the boards of: Syntha Corporation, a developer of decision support software applications for optimizing power plant operations (www.syntha.com); Enercom Inc., a provider of energy conservation software and services to energy and water utilities (www.enercomusa.com); and National Integrated Employer Solutions LLC, a provider of HR and benefit administration services (www.nebsinc.com). His prior board activities include: the Center for Advancement of Energy Markets, a Washington, DC based think tank; and New Energy Capital LLC, a developer of renewable energy projects.

Over his career, Mr. Singer has held a variety of CEO positions: President and co-CEO of Bay State Gas / Northern Utilities, one of the largest gas utilities and energy providers in New England (nyse: BGC); CEO of Navigant Consulting's Energy & Water Business, one of the world's largest independent energy consulting firms (nyse: NCI); and CEO of Boston Digital LLC, a start-up software development firm.

Mr. Singer received his MBA degree with honors from the University of Houston, and received his BS in Mechanical Engineering with high honors from Michigan State University.

 

Professor Raymond Liu, College of Management, University of Massachusetts Boston

Dr. Raymond Liu is a tenured professor of marketing at the College of Management, University of Massachusetts Boston. His research interests include Customer Value, Complaint Behavior and Relationship Management, Cross- Cultural Consumer Behavior, Marketing and Financial Performance, Country Image and Branding, and Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management. His research work has been published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Database Marketing, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Customer Behavior, Advances in Consumer Research, and many more.

Professor Liu was born and raised in China. After his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and master degree in Econometrics from China, he got his Ph.D. in Marketing from the US. Professor Liu spent his first sabbatical year (2000 – 01) at Tsinghua University as the Fulbright visiting professor and have been actively in many academic and research programs with Tsinghua University, Dalian University of Technology, and other Chinese universities. In 2006, Professor Liu won the Chinese NSF grant with other Chinese professors. In 2007, he was invited as a guest speaker and panel host at the Harvard China Review' s 10th annual conference. In 2009, he was invited to speak at the Global China Connection Conference at Columbia University.

Professor Liu has won many research and teaching awards and listed in Who' s Who in America. In the last six summers, Professor Liu took a class of MBA students to China, visiting Chinese firms and meeting with the executives of those firms, which gave the students a brand new learning experience and opportunity.

Professor Liu also has many years of consulting experience for both US and Chinese enterprises and organizations.

The following teams have submitted business plan to enter the YES 5.0 Program business plan competition:

• Access Education
• Asesco Medical Technologies
• ClubMeet
• Custom Buds
• Digital Biometrics Machines
• ReSeed
• Standby Stopper
• The Ride Buddy
• Toy Saver

 

Judges for semi-final:

Jeff Chin, CEO, Home Hubbub

Jeff is a successful entrepreneur with mix of financial and technology experience of almost 30 years. As CEO of Home Hubbub, Jeff is combining his background in software development and financial services to forge the next generation application for relationship marketing.

As a principal of Independent Mortgage, LLC, Jeff has been able to build from scratch, a thriving mortgage brokerage business with licenses in New England and Florida. The company has been in operating for over 6 years, and continuously operated profitably every year, with 2009 gross revenues over $1MM with eight (8) employees. Current sales to date indicate revenue will outperform all years for which the company has operating, despite current economic conditions.

Prior to establishing Independent Mortgage, LLC, Jeff had increasing roles in Internet Application product and business development for various companies. Starting in the early 1990s, Jeff started a marketing media business (Boston Multimedia) that developed website applications for local small business and regional universities. Jeff joined Fleet Bank (now Bank of America) to lead in introducing the first bank product for financial transactions (credit card payments) in the market as a product manager. One of Jeff customers (FairMarket, Inc) was so impressed the product that they pulled Jeff away to join them in their foray in the online auctions arena. Jeff, a business development director, integrated credit card payment. Jeff holds a patent for the auction transaction via mobile phone developed with the company. After Fairmarket successfully went public, Jeff joined Ariba Corporation to lead internationalization efforts for their supply chain B2B software applications.

Jeff' s initial career for 10 years was in manufacturing engineering with GE Aerospace and GTE Telecommunications. Key products he worked on was aircraft instrumentation (including flat panel displays) and integrated military communications equipment.

Jeff has an MBA from Suffolk University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Jeff is also an instructor for various consumer topics at the Boston Center of Adult Education and Mass Bay Community College. As an active Rotarian with the Newton, MA chapter, Jeff serves to help his local and global community.

 

Sean Mahoney, K&L Gates (bio)

 

Julian E. Orbanes, Founder and CEO of GeoPhoenix, Inc

Julian E. Orbanes is an advanced User Interface consultant and recently the Founder and CEO of GeoPhoenix, Inc.   Self-taught at age 5 with Atari BASIC, Mr. Orbanes has 29 years programming experience. Since attending MIT, Mr. Orbanes has asked the question -- Why doesn't practical software play like video games and movies?

Mr. Orbanes started releasing software in high school. His first was a video game, Copter. His second product, net.Form, at age 20, and his third product, GIFX, was released when at 22. His human-computer interface research has been praised by both academics and professionals. He published two works at the MIT Media Lab, which included the design and creation of Ping Pong Plus, an interactive ping pong table, and a wired cross country bike trip monitored through wireless technology. In 1998, he was a semifinalist at MITs 50K competition and was awarded 2 UI patents in 2004.

Recently Mr. Orbanes has been developing a 'Moore's Law' for User Interfaces(UI) which states that UI will develop exponentially like the computer chip. This so-called 'Orbanes Law' is based on the ability to scientifically develop and measure UI performance.

Class 5 - Finance

Instructor: Russell Cheung, Chief Financial Officer

Russell Cheung, CPA, has more than 20 years of experience in technology consulting, e- commerce, and financial services environments.  Mr. Cheung joined Intrinsix Corp., an electronic design service company in 2000, where he played a major role in its 2001 initial public offering. Mr. Cheung overseas the company’s finance operations with responsibility for all of the financial reporting, balance sheet management, treasury, audit and tax. He also focuses on strengthening the company’s business information systems, providing real-time access to critical operational performance metrics across the business.

Previously, Mr. Cheung served as manager of financial analysis of Be Free, Inc., an Internet marketing company. Prior to that, Mr. Cheung served as senior financial analyst at The Boston Consulting Group, a global management consultancy where he developed and standardized an automated forecasting and budgeting model for worldwide implementation and consolidation.

Before his role at BCG, he served as finance manager for Gordon Brother Group, a capital advisory firm with a focus on inventory lending and retail business restructuring. Mr. Cheung was responsible for corporate finance operations, including research and identification of new business opportunities, and the successful establishment of finance functions of an asset based lending operations. His financial management experience also includes tenures at Fleet Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Speaker: Nick Gildred, President and Founder of Agali Technologies

Nick Gildred, is the president and founder of Agali Technologies.  Nick has over 30 years engineering experience in radar, communications, networking, quality, systems reliability, product development and engineering management. His work experience includes time spent with Digital Equipment Corporation, SCI, Cabletron, Lucent Technologies (Bell Labs), Sonus Networks, 3Com Corporation and Hewlett Packard.  Nick was also the founder and president of Maine Desktop Publishing and its subsidiary Birch Tree Publications.

Class 1 - Introduction to Business Plan

Teacher: Joseph Perry, Regional Innovation Center Manager for the North American Eastern Region, IBM

Joseph Perry is the Regional Innovation Center Manager for the North American Eastern Region and Canada for IBM's ISV & Developer Relations. Joe has extensive experience with Internet technology and with business consulting.  Joe currently is a Ph.D. candidate in the Law, Policy & Society Program at Northeastern University, where he also is an instructor in the on-line MBA program.  He has experience working with Fortune 100 clients. Joe’s areas of expertise include Internet privacy, health care technologies and policy, and networked communications. He holds an M.B.A. (concentration in technology) from Northeastern University and a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
 

Speaker: Josh Thomas, Founder, Wonderland Development

Josh Thomas was born in 1987 in Baltimore.  He attended Friends School of Baltimore for high school, focusing on art and digital animation.  A born city-dweller, Josh chose Boston University for college over NYU or UCLA because of its unique creative department that mixed traditional graphic design with business classes. While a senior at Boston University, Josh worked at Digitas Boston as an Associate Art Director creating interactive ads for Procter and Gamble.  In May 2010, Josh graduated from Boston University with a major in advertising and a degree in communication.  After graduation he moved to Isobar North America as Innovation Designer, creating new types of prototype advertising for the iPhone, Android, and web. In 2008, while working at Digitas, Josh became a co-founder of Wonderland Development.  He concepted and designed Excursion Boston, an iPhone application that tracks MBTA subway trains and buses in real-time.  Josh currently lives in the South End of Boston with his girlfriend Christina who is just as much of an advertising nerd as he is.

For class materials, please use the left hand size menu "Reference Materials".

The following sponsors offer cash and/or internship/training opportunities:

• IBM -- offers cash and summer internship opportunities
• Deloitte -- offers summer internship opportunities
• EMC -- offers STAR training opportunities
• Home Hubbub -- offers market research internship opportunities

 

The following volunteers helped organizing the YES program for this year:

• James Du
• Mingsheng Hong
• Li Wu
• Lei Zhang

Class 2 - From Idea to Product

Teacher: Joel L. Singer, Managing Partner, Boston Digital Ventures

Joel L. Singer is an adjunct professor at the International Business School at Brandeis University.  Mr. Singer is the managing partner of Boston Digital Ventures, which focuses on clean / green technology solutions (www.boston-digital.com). In addition, Mr. Singer currently serves on the boards of: Syntha Corporation, a developer of decision support software applications for optimizing power plant operations (www.syntha.com); Enercom Inc., a provider of energy conservation software and services to energy and water utilities (www.enercomusa.com); and National Integrated Employer Solutions LLC, a provider of HR and benefit administration services (www.nebsinc.com). His prior board activities include: the Center for Advancement of Energy Markets, a Washington, DC based think tank; and New Energy Capital LLC, a developer of renewable energy projects.

Over his career, Mr. Singer has held a variety of CEO positions: President and co-CEO of Bay State Gas / Northern Utilities, one of the largest gas utilities and energy providers in New England (nyse: BGC); CEO of Navigant Consulting's Energy & Water Business, one of the world's largest independent energy consulting firms (nyse: NCI); and CEO of Boston Digital LLC, a start-up software development firm.

Mr. Singer received his MBA degree with honors from the University of Houston, and received his BS in Mechanical Engineering with high honors from Michigan State University.

Speaker: Lei Wang

Lei Wang is the first Chinese woman, as well as the first Asian-American, to climb the highest mountain on every continent and to ski to both the North and South Poles.  More information about Lei: http://www.leisventures.com/.

Class 3 - Company Structure and Team Building

Instructor: Amy Ling, K&L Gates (bio)

Speaker: Jeff Chin, CEO, Home Hubbub

Jeff is a successful entrepreneur with mix of financial and technology experience of almost 30 years. As CEO of Home Hubbub, Jeff is combining his background in software development and financial services to forge the next generation application for relationship marketing.

As a principal of Independent Mortgage, LLC, Jeff has been able to build from scratch, a thriving mortgage brokerage business with licenses in New England and Florida. The company has been in operating for over 6 years, and continuously operated profitably every year, with 2009 gross revenues over $1MM with eight (8) employees. Current sales to date indicate revenue will outperform all years for which the company has operating, despite current economic conditions.

Prior to establishing Independent Mortgage, LLC, Jeff had increasing roles in Internet Application product and business development for various companies. Starting in the early 1990s, Jeff started a marketing media business (Boston Multimedia) that developed website applications for local small business and regional universities. Jeff joined Fleet Bank (now Bank of America) to lead in introducing the first bank product for financial transactions (credit card payments) in the market as a product manager. One of Jeff customers (FairMarket, Inc) was so impressed the product that they pulled Jeff away to join them in their foray in the online auctions arena. Jeff, a business development director, integrated credit card payment. Jeff holds a patent for the auction transaction via mobile phone developed with the company. After Fairmarket successfully went public, Jeff joined Ariba Corporation to lead internationalization efforts for their supply chain B2B software applications.

Jeff’ s initial career for 10 years was in manufacturing engineering with GE Aerospace and GTE Telecommunications. Key products he worked on was aircraft instrumentation (including flat panel displays) and integrated military communications equipment.

Jeff has an MBA from Suffolk University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Jeff is also an instructor for various consumer topics at the Boston Center of Adult Education and Mass Bay Community College. As an active Rotarian with the Newton, MA chapter, Jeff serves to help his local and global community.

Class 4 - Sales and Marketing

Instructor: Professor Raymond Liu, College of Management, University of Massachusetts Boston

Dr. Raymond Liu is a tenured professor of marketing at the College of Management, University of Massachusetts Boston. His research interests include Customer Value, Complaint Behavior and Relationship Management, Cross- Cultural Consumer Behavior, Marketing and Financial Performance, Country Image and Branding, and Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management. His research work has been published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Database Marketing, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Customer Behavior, Advances in Consumer Research, and many more.

Professor Liu was born and raised in China. After his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and master degree in Econometrics from China, he got his Ph.D. in Marketing from the US. Professor Liu spent his first sabbatical year (2000 – 01) at Tsinghua University as the Fulbright visiting professor and have been actively in many academic and research programs with Tsinghua University, Dalian University of Technology, and other Chinese universities. In 2006, Professor Liu won the Chinese NSF grant with other Chinese professors. In 2007, he was invited as a guest speaker and panel host at the Harvard China Review’ s 10th annual conference. In 2009, he was invited to speak at the Global China Connection Conference at Columbia University.

Professor Liu has won many research and teaching awards and listed in Who’ s Who in America. In the last six summers, Professor Liu took a class of MBA students to China, visiting Chinese firms and meeting with the executives of those firms, which gave the students a brand new learning experience and opportunity.

Professor Liu also has many years of consulting experience for both US and Chinese enterprises and organizations.

 

Speaker: Joseph Kershenbaum, founder of The Mortgage SuperCenter

As an entrepreneur, Joseph Kershenbaum has helped build companies in three different industries.  Most recently, he founded and built The Mortgage SuperCenter, a Massachusetts-based retail financial services company. Previously, he was the founding Chief Operating Officer of E-Solutions Integrator, a technology strategy and software development firm that later became Cambridge Technology Enterprises. Prior to that, he advised numerous large and small companies as a corporate and securities lawyer with Day, Berry & Howard (now Day Pitney LLP), with an emphasis on the bioscience, medical device, IT, Internet, telecom, manufacturing, chemical, real estate and financial services industries.

With his family, Joe helped to build a commercial real estate development and property management firm.  He also was an audio engineer with United Nations Radio and Television.

Joe has a BA in Music / Audio Engineering from Beacon College, an MBA from The University of Connecticut and a JD, cum laude, from Western New England College School of Law, where he was Managing Editor of the law review.

Effective Communication and Presentation Training

Instructor: Ru Zheng, Professional Trainer, Dale Carnegie Professional Training

Ru Zheng a professional trainer certified by Dale Carnegie Association, specializing in communication and leadership skills training. Since 2004 she has been involved with Dale Carnegie Training and has trained professionals from many well-known companies including Charles Schwab, Cisco, EMC, McCue, Boston Scientific, Mass General Hospital as well as entrepreneurs and executives. Ru brings more than fifteen years of business management experience at a variety of companies to her role as trainer as well as an executive coach and advisor. Ru is also a primary research contact for AMR Research's discrete products and high tech industry clients. She interacts with industry thought leaders and executives every day, refreshing her presentation training and interpersonal communication skills frequently.

Earlier in her career, Ru worked in various industries. She held multiple operations and marketing positions at Boston Scientific Corporation, State Street Corporation, Mellon Financial, and Gillette. She also worked as a supply chain project manager at Guandong Machinery Import and Export Corporation in China. She was also a chief negotiator for Tiger Ltd. in Hong Kong. In this position, she represented Tiger at Chinese trade fairs and negotiated sales for Tiger's OEM team in China.

Ru earned her M.B.A. from the McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley College, where she graduated with distinction. She holds a B.A. in international business from Guangzhou University of Foreign Languages and Trade. Ru is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, and English. She is an active officer in the New England Chinese Information and Networking Association.

Program Description

This high-level seminar is designed specifically for you – the young, energetic busy startup executives. HIT (High Impact Training) incorporates the delicate balance of style and substance when representing the organization at conferences, industry seminars, "high touch" events, community service activities, panel discussions, etc.

You'll receive candid and constructive feedback from Ru Zheng. Ru has experience in leading and coaching business leaders cross-industry. Emphasis is placed on strategic messaging and the more subtle success factors that impact high profile audiences.

You'll benefit by learning:

• How to use body language and eye contact for executive presence
• Techniques for reading audience reactions as you present – making quick adjustments to maintain interest and promote buy-in
• The HIT Format: organization and time-management techniques that make your presentation the perfect length every time
• Principles for facilitating audience interaction
• Diplomatic approaches to handling tough questions and tough individuals
• How to paint clear, believable pictures with words
• Hands-on application of skill sets through videotaping and feedback
• Tips for using Exhibits

Some feedback from students and parents regarding this year YES 5.0 Program

 

Amy Wang, parent

Thank you so much for organizing and guiding the YES 5.0 program. This was an amazing program for the high school and college students. Not only the curriculum was well put together to introduce the key components of business and entrepreneurship, but the Business Plan contest also served as an important learning tools for the students.

Although I have only been there for half of the classes due to my scheduling conflicts, I was impressed with the lecture quality and the interest level students shown. I believe that this program had very positive impacts to many of the students, and would highly recommend it again next year.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help in the future if you decide to continue.

Shelley Song, parent

Thanks NECINA and IBM for providing the wonderful opportunity for students to engage in the real-world business. Also, thanks for the YES team for all the hard work and support. My son Chris Yang certainly enjoyed the program. I am very happy that he got involved in the program. I believe the knowledge and experience from this program will prepare him to enter the real business world in the future.

Micheline Kim, parent

The program was great, and I know that the kids learned a lot about business in the real world.  Even as someone who has been in the program previously, Mariane did not feel that the topics were redundant, on the contrary some of the similar topics were important for her to gain a better understanding.  The experience preparing the final project and presenting it a couple of time in front of the whole class was very useful and a great preparation practice for all these young people.
 
Many thanks again for the opportunity and thank you for having such a great program.

Angie Tso, parent

The originality of the venture idea. It appears the earplug headphone idea was originated prior than the program. The kid has started the business already, therefore, lots of consideration has been taken in. If the idea was originated prior, than they are not standing on the same ground. Also, the other kids on the team were not inspired/required to create more ideas which defeats the purpose of the program.

It seems that the "Smart Planet" theme was considered while judging even it stated that the idea has to be close to the theme. Jonathan's team did switch idea in the last minute so they can get close to the theme and they lost quiet a lot of time because of the last minute switch.

Regardless, they had fun and plan to come back next year. So the goal has achieved. Thanks for your effort putting this together.

Tom Zhang, parent

As a student parent, I felt they enjoyed the process. This program gave them a good opportunity to think some real world problem (v.s. some virtual on-line game), exchange idea, tackle the problem and bring the project to the conclusion.

My son were thinking  more business orientated during the 3 months program. I am sure they will keep this habit more or less in the future no matter what they do.

Overall it is a great journey for them. Thanks for the great efforts to make YES 5.0 a great success.

 

Mariane Kim, student

The YES Program offered by NECINA was a great program that really peaked my interest in entrepreneurship. The classes were very well organized into easy to follow sessions that would teach the students about a specific topic. The speakers also did wonderful jobs of keeping the students interested through the use of power points and interactive questions. As a returning student to the program, I originally thought that the material we learned in YES 5.0 would be the same as the material covered in YES 4.0. This turned out to be false however, and I ended up learning much more about business and entrepreneurship. Not only did I learn many things, but I also made new friends. Our group originally consisted of two separate pairs that decided to join up, and together, we worked hard, and won first place. These are people that I had originally not known, and am now friends with. Overall, this was a wonderful program to participate in, and I do not regret giving up my Saturday mornings for it.

Thanks again for organizing this, it was a wonderful opportunity, and I enjoyed it very much!

Greg Zhang, student

The program was fun, the instructors were definitely instructional but some of the topics were rather dull and/or were not implemented in the business plan. It was great to see so many great ideas from the groups, and to be a part of the competition.

Bobby Zhang, student

This is the second time i have attended the YES program. I find that this time, things were a bit different in the sense that we actually have less seniors and actually a couple of college students. In addition, the seating was a bit trouble some as line of sight does not cover the whole room thus making it sometimes a tad hard to look at someone when they're speaking. Overall the the program was still great and i found still very instructive despite having done all this before. The couple of problems i found with the program is that the scheduling could using  a little bit of a workaround due to testing and such. Also while the lessons were still very helpful, i did not understand the point some of some of the guest speakers. I didn't really get how they related to business. Finally, my friend also mentions how some of the parents made points that weren't entirely correct and as such we found that a little annoying as the parents may or may not know that they may be mistaken but we are too polite to say so. All in all though this is a great program and very educational to someone who wishes to look at business as a possible future.

 

Alex Qian-Wang, student

This year's YES program was great. The speakers were interesting, the classes were very informative, and the overall structure of the program was very well done.

One suggestion is to maybe have some food after. Personally, I would always be hungry by 11:30 and to have some pizza afterwards would have been great. Otherwise, I really enjoyed YES this year.