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Tahoe Student Startup Tackles Canada's Spare Change Problem

Sierra Nevada College

Sierra Nevada College, in Incline Village, hosted its own version of Shark Tank this week. Reno Public Radio's Amy Westervelt was there to hear the winning pitch.

Apparently, Canada has a coin problem.

"We do not have a one dollar bill. So what this means is every time you get 4.99 back in change? It's all in coins.  It's just ridiculous. Personally, I went through my car the other day and found $17 worth of Canadian coins in there, and I don't even live in Canada anymore."

That's Grant Furlan, a student at Sierra Nevada College presenting the winning idea -- for a company called Change -- in this year's Trepp Business Plan Competition.  The company aims to create a card that Canadian consumers can use to both get and spend spare change. Their plan won $4,000. But the main point of the event, according to Kendra Wong, the school's business department chair, is to prepare students for the statewide and tri-state D.W. Reynolds competitions.

"I tell my judges to be hard on the students because I want them to improve their plans for the governor's cup."

Judge Scott Levy says he tries to help students bridge the gap between what might seem like a good idea in a college classroom, and what would actually work in the real world.

"You want to be frank, but you don't want to make them go fetal. You don't want to end the vision."

For the company Change, the judges suggested that the students get a better sense of how retailers would use the card. Now, Furlan and his team have six weeks to work on it before the statewide competition in April.

Amy Westervelt is a former contributor at KUNR Public Radio.
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