In one of the closest contests the Business Plan Competition has seen, the Klymit team came out on top in the final event Friday afternoon.

"It was nerve racking because there were so many good teams this year," said Ben Maughan, CFO of Klymit and one of the presenters. "I've never presented with Nick before and so I was just hoping for good synergy and it was there."

Klymit was involved in last year's competition, but did not make it quite as far. But since last year, the company has made progress in their plan and presentation while also being involved with other business plan competitions. Last weekend they were in San Diego and also took first in that competition.

"It's all about working hard and practicing so it just becomes natural," Maughan said. "If we hadn't tried last year we would of never learned the things we now know."

Only Maughan and Nick Sorensen, the Director of Business Development, presented in the BYU Business Plan Competition; the other half of the team was at Rice University competing in another business plan competition.

"This was my first time presenting and I never thought I would be up there on stage," Sorensen said. "It was pretty intense, so I'm glad we practiced 25 times in the last 25 hours."

Klymit's goal is to become the world leader in noble-gas-based technology for the outdoor industry. Klymit's flagship product presented at the competition, a ski jacket, is insolated with argon gas in a series of chambers that allows increased and self-controlled insulation, greater comfort and higher mobility than leading ski jackets.

Said to be one of the closest business plan competitions in years, this year's winner was chosen with only a few more votes, separating the three the finalists.

"It was a hard decision this year, they were all competitive companies," said Craig Earnshaw, a judge of this year's event. "All three have a good chance of making it in the real world."

Second place went to SchoolTipline, a network schools can use to prevent violence and stop harassment. And third place was awarded to GreetingCall, a service for personal greetings that can be retrieved through an individual's phone.

During their celebration, the Klymit team expressed their gratitude to other students, their mentors and family who supported them.

"Although we get to hold the check, there are so many more people behind the scenes that really made this possible," Sorensen said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 7 Apr 2008