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Tim Putnam and Tad Andreason

Tad Andreasen, entrepreneur and North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) student, is a modern day David who beat Goliath for one of the top three spots in the recent Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan competition for college and university students.  Andreasen’s business plan was the first time a community college student captured one of the top spots.

“Tad has always been a very driven student and his passion for what he does is very apparent when you talk to him about his business,” Tim Putnam, NIACC John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center associate director, said about Andreasen’s recent award.  “Tad has never been one to just sit around and talk about what he wants to do, he actually goes out and does it! He has been very active in the NIACC Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) from providing leadership as the organization’s president and attending the National CEO Conference in Chicago.”

Reaching the state level is not easy and competition is stiff.  The journey for competitors to reach the winner’s circle began with an Intent to Compete application and required that Andreasen submit his business plan to the NIACC John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center.  A team of judges then reviewed the submitted business plans and selected three winners to advance to the state competition.  In addition to Andreasen’s business plan, winners from the NIACC JPEC included the Visionary Agenda team from Luther College at Decorah and the Intellectual Giant team from Buena Vista University at Storm Lake, both four-year institutions. 

Competition rules required submittal of a business plan, which included an Executive Summary and a Description of Use for the $5,000 award, to the nearest John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center by February 22.  Regional competitions were scheduled at each center and the NIACC regional competition was held on March 6.  This level included an oral presentation to a panel of judges, who used criteria which included a review of the content and viability of the plan as measurements of scoring.  Regional winners then advanced to the March 27 statewide competition which was held in Des Moines.  At this final step of the process, competitors were required to give a 3 – 5 minute oral presentation to panel of Equity Dynamics staff in Des Moines. 

Fourteen projects from the five regional Pappajohn Centers made it to the final stage of the competition, with Andreasen Racing the only plan to be sponsored by a community college.  University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University each had three teams in the final competition, while Central College, Buena Vista College, American Institute of Business and Luther College each had one competitor from their school.

Andreasen is the first student from a community college to win one of the top awards since the inception of this competition eight years ago.  His business, Andreasen Racing, is a marine sales, service and repair business, which specializes in one thing – selling and maintaining personal watercraft (PWC).  “We want to be known as the experts in personal watercraft and want our customers to think of us as the “Ozarks Watercraft Specialists” by providing the best service in the region,” stated Andreasen. 
“I love maintaining and repairing PWC.  I have literally been a ‘Garage Entrepreneur’ for the past five years repairing, building and painting personal watercraft in my unheated apartment garage.  I can relate myself to Bill Gates and other ‘Garage Entrepreneurs’.”

The recent $5,000 award Andreasen received from the Pappajohn New Venture Business Plan competition will help Andreasen continue working toward his vision of providing the best personal watercraft service. 

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