GIS Certificate student, Dean Olsen, won two awards at the Steve Burrill Business Plan Competition hosted by the UW Madison Business School this spring. With assistance from UW Cartography lab staff, Dean is developing an interactive mapping software product called LifeMapping to help people tell and share their life stories with family. The competition was a great opportunity for Dean to raise support to help get his project off the ground. The audience member and judges were inspired by his vision.

Dean took Third Place ($4,000) overall out of 43 entrants and about 168 students. He also won the Perkins Coie LLP Innovative Minds Award ($1,500) and, as one of eight finalists, he will receive a UW Student Business Incubator membership this fall.

You can see Dean’s business plan overview here. See his final presentation at the competition here at minute 55:45.

Interested in learning more or supporting the development of this project? Contact Dean at dolsen4@wisc.edu.