"I have just one word for you. Do I have your attention? Plastics! There's a bright future in plastics." Those lines didn't work on Dustin Hoffman's character in The Graduate. But they did for the cycleWood Plastics team, which cribbed from the film to introduce its product: a biodegradable plastic bag. They knew there was a market: Cities in 25 U.S. states have passed legislation banning or regulating nonbiodegradable plastic bags, which are primarily found at retailers. But the science sounded too good to be true. "We have three engineers on the team, and we're very skeptical," explains CEO Nhiem Cao. But after talking to several chemists, they were confident that the technology for lignin-based plastic was the real deal (lignin is a byproduct of paper production).
What was a class project is now a full-fledged venture, even as three team members work full-time. They're looking for $100,000 to license the patented technology from the University of Minnesota and produce a prototype bag. The team's CMO, Priscila Silva, who juggles a day job at Procter & Gamble, sees it as a mission. "I can't live with myself if I don't see this through."
Judge's comment: "They seem to understand the market for biodegradable grocery bags well. If they had actually brought some bags their case would have been a lot stronger."
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