Two School of Management undergraduates swept a recent entrepreneur competition with their business idea to host and regulate online video-game events.

Nathan Bachus and Jinson Jose won first place as Ready Up Technologies Inc., the name of their team as well as the actual company they have formed to put the business plan in motion.

The pair also won the Audience Favorite award at the event, the  New Venture Creation Competition, held March 26 at the University of Evansville’s Schroeder Family School of Business Administration in Evansville, Ind.

“This business-plan competition win reflects both our ability to excel and be recognized on a national scale,” said Joseph C. Picken, executive director of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UT Dallas (IIE).

“The IIE, the School of Management and UT Dallas are committed to enabling our students to be ‘business ready’ when they walk across the stage at graduation. Winning the Audience Favorite award as well highlights the presentation skills that make good ideas successful.”

Of 24 teams that applied, 14 from around the country and Canada were invited to compete, and eight advanced to the final round. UT Dallas fielded one of only two teams from Texas.

Ready Up Technologies offers a service that hosts and regulates online video-game events through remote consoles located in data centers. The patent-pending software portion of the system offers an automated scheduling, playing and monitoring environment to host independent player groups as well as tournaments involving hundreds of gaming players around the country.

“This is huge for us,” said Bachus, chief executive officer of Ready Up Technologies. “It again confirms our technology as well as our business plan moving forward. We are really excited about the opportunities this award opens up for our small company to implement planned improvements in our current systems.”

Bachus and Jose won $10,000 and plan to use the funds to expand service offerings to enhance revenue opportunities.

“This allows us to pursue our goal of being a leader in the industry,” Jose said.

Ready Up Technologies was the top winner in the undergraduate division of the Third Annual UT Dallas Business Idea Competition in November 2009.  Since then, the company has gained  exposure and recognition by hosting a series of online gaming competitions, including one event sponsored and broadcast online for the History Channel.

Bachus and Jose “practiced and refined their presentation around their busy academic schedules,” said faculty adviser and UTD Business Idea Competition event director Dan Bochsler. “They did a tremendous job in preparing and presenting, and the diverse judging team, as well as the audience, acknowledged that.”