What's the big idea behind What's the Big Idea?!
In our view, a single word: entrepreneur.
What's the Big Idea?! is the Knoxville Chamber's Business Plan Competition. Rodefer Moss sponsors the event, because, well, we like Big Ideas!
Everything we see, use, play with, pay with, make money with, drive in, or fly in, started out as someone's big idea. What we know about big ideas is that when they sit inside a brain and don't go anywhere they prove the truth of what hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once said: "You miss 100% of the shots you never take."
That's why we love the competition; it spotlights creativity and initiative.
The top prize, awarded this summer at this year's competition, was taken by a company called Virtuous Products, Inc. Virtuous Products has a proprietary process that turns recycled bottles into casual furniture, flooring and countertops. Other finalists were DineTouch, a new company that enables people to order food from restaurants directly from their smartphones; and Lineshark, which provides professional audio input to any mobile device.
It's possible that when Virtuous Products company founder Mark Wassenaar first said to someone that he wanted to take bottles and turn them into furniture, the listener looked at him and said, "Yeah, right."
A lot of entrepreneurial ideas seem silly. They're someone's dream. Yes, it may seem silly to others. But success comes to those who try, whether it's marketing the concept of Pet Rocks, designing a computer system in a garage (a system that turns into Microsoft), or turning used bottles into furniture, flooring and countertops.
That's how Rodefer Moss began. Two accountants, Bob Rodefer and Bill Moss, had a Big Idea to start an accounting office in Greeneville, TN and today, that office has grown into seven offices across three states. That's just one reason we love big ideas. We were one.
The companies that competed in this year's competition were big ideas that are going to succeed. We're confident that all the big ideas in the competition are going to be, well, big, and we're glad to do our part to support them.
Click here to learn more about the What's the Big Idea?! Business Plan Competition Award and visit the Knoxville Chamber's photo gallery for pics of the event!