$1.2M in startup cash, 6 business plan winners

Placing at a business plan competition is no guarantee for startup success, but Fortune caught up with a few past winners of Rice University's competition, and most are still swimming.

For the vast majority of small businesses — the ones away from New York and Silicon Valley and in industries like dentistry and auto repair — getting financing is a massive pain. It involves reams of documents, weeks of waiting, and frequent rejection.

The year 2012 marks a coming-of-age for physical devices that are designed for a connected world. Created with digital at their core, these products are not “digitally enhanced” or merely gadgets for Dad on Father’s Day (although some could be).

It was my first startup. I was 18 and we had just raised our first real financing round – $250,000 from a local angel group. A lot was riding on us, even though the scale seems minuscule in hindsight.

(Morton Fox)

We’ve seen drug company IPOs. But are you ready for a DRUG company IPO? I’m talking  marijuana, folks.