George Washington University Business Plan Competition

04.18.2011 The $25,000 top prize in the Third Annual George Wash­ington Uni­versity Busi­ness Plan Com­pe­tition went to a team of four area natives: Antho­ny Shop, an MBA student at the school; Danny Zaslavsky, an exec­utive with Country Hill Motors; and Thomas Sanchez and Dave Raffel. Their plan is for a dig­ital platform called Lead Driv­er, which is be­ing used at five area car deal­er­ships. It’s designed to help buyers decide more quickly what kind of vehicle they want, which also helps deal­ers sell their inventory faster.

Shop said the four were old friends who brought differ­ent strengths to the project. “Danny has the car deal­er­ship background,” Shop said, and he and Sanchez “have the technology and busi­ness background.” And Raffel “gave us the guid­ance and vi­sion we needed.”