WYOMING – Big Piney native Perri Meeks and his B3 co-founder Brayton Sanders of Evanston are one of nine University of Wyoming student-led teams that competed for the John. P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition on April 23-24.

The competition pitted nine different start-up companies against each other for the prize of seed money so their businesses could reach new heights. Teams entered the competition with various business models in hopes of earning at least some share of prize by showing significant business potential.

The event was sponsored by the University of Wyoming’s College of Business and also includes students from Wyoming community colleges.

All nine finalist teams in the competition enrolled in a class called “ENTR 4700: Business Model Creation and Launch” and were paired with a mentor.

Meeks is one of the co-founders of B3, an online web application designed to optimize inventory management for online retail companies.

“Inventory management refers to the practices of maintaining optimum inventory levels, just enough but not too much,” a description stated in a release. “The costs associated with poor inventory management are incredibly high: cost of missed sales, cost of reputation and costs of tying up cash with stale inventory. With the help of B3, entrepreneurs can feel confident in knowing how long their current inventory will last, when they should order more and how much.”

The competition was held during a public webinar hosted by the University of Wyoming, headed by UW College of Business Rile Chair of Entrepreneurship and Leadership Patrick Kreiser.

“The dedication and work ethic shown by our nine finalist teams have been outstanding,” Kreiser said in a release. “More than anything, the purpose of experiental learning is to convince students to dream big and then provide them with the support to turn those dreams into reality. We are confident that all nine teams offer compelling propositions and sustainable business models to help support the Wyoming economy.”

Meeks is a senior in mechanical engineering at UW. B3 was entered in the annual Impact Laramie Pitch Day earlier this month, where it was one of six companies presenting. All the companies at Pitch Day received funding.