WEP announces the winners of 2011 Wharton Venture Award
Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs (WEP) has announced the 2011 winners of the Wharton Venture Award which is dedicated to financially supporting Wharton undergraduate juniors and first-year MBA students so they can continue development of their venture full-time over the summer in lieu of a traditional internship. A committee consisting of alumni venture capitalists and entrepreneurs bestowed four awards of $ 10,000 each.

The Wharton Venture Award is among numerous WEP activities supporting Wharton student and alumni entrepreneurs who have decided to choose an alternative career path--despite or because of the global economic crisis. Examples of recent entrepreneurial activity include: the debut of a student-run "Founders Club" peer-to-peer mentoring group; all-time high application levels to the Wharton Venture Initiation Program campus incubator; newly hired staff members in the MBA Career Services Office dedicated to serving students seeking positions at startups; and dramatically increased entrepreneurial scholarships and awards.

"The Wharton Venture Award will allow us to focus on building a great product this summer, instead of focusing on how we're going to pay our bills," said Wharton Venture Award winner Mike Kijewski, founder of Gamma Basics. "But the benefits of winning the award aren't just financial. It's a huge vote of confidence from the entrepreneurial community at Wharton, which goes a long way with our investors and early customers."
Wharton Venture Award finalists are required to provide a short pitch to the Wharton Venture Award selection committee. Judges this year were Wharton alums: Invite Media founder Nat Turner (former Venture Award winner), Shasta Venture managing director Rob Coneybeer, Novitas Capital managing director Dean Miller, and First Flavor co-founder Jay Minkoff.

Dan Getelman, Wharton Venture Award winner and co-founder of Coursekit, said, "We want to hit the ground running this summer, and winning the Wharton Venture Award makes sure we can. The award ensures we can keep our focus on our product and business, while providing invaluable mentoring to help propel us forward."