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"Winning Entrepreneurs" to start NY business |
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Written by asap
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Tuesday, 13 March 2007 |
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They were up against an organic beauty bar, a design-your-own-wallpaper store and a dress rental service for women. But a group of three guys who call themselves the Mayhem Poets won over the judges at Microsoft Corp., snagging $100,000 in prize money to make their dream of a spoken-word poetry restaurant a reality.
As winners of the company’s Ultimate Challenge Contest, Kyle Sutton, Mason Granger and Scott Tarazevits also get a rent-free storefront in New York for one year and infrastructure and software to help run the business.
The Mayhem Poets and three other groups of finalists had been chosen from 5,000 applicants in the software giant’s nationwide search for the best small business idea in America.
THEIR IDEA: A restaurant that hosts weekend spoken-word workshops, nightly performances by artists and themed dinner menus.
WHY THEY WON: “They were off and running,” says Chris Capossela, a vice president at Microsoft. “This was a proven thing. For the last few years these guys have been making their livelihood doing these workshops and performances.”
WHAT’S NEXT: “I’m not easily contented,” Sutton says. “We want to take this as big as we can go. We want to keep spreading. We want to hopefully get an opportunity to franchise it. We want to take over the world with this stuff.”
Want to follow the Mayhem Poets as they set up their New York City endeavor?
Check them out at: www.ideawins.com
Caryn Rousseau is an asap reporter based in Kansas City, Mo. | Only registered users can write comments.
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