The Insider: Support an entrepreneur or ... buy a boat?

Entrepreneurs who want to pitch Second Avenue Partners -- a Seattle investment firm led by former Microsoft, aQuantive and Nextel execs -- need to know what they are up against.

At the WSA Investment Forum last week, partner Mike Slade described the difference between Second Avenue and other venture capital firms. The big difference, he said, is that the firm invests its own money. That means when they are evaluating opportunities the thought process goes something like this: "Should I buy a boat, a beach house or invest in this company?" said the former Microsoft and Starwave executive. Oh, the troubles of being rich.

Slade, a panelist at the event, is known for speaking his mind. And that was no different last week. After his remarks about the boat and the beach house, he openly criticized 3-D instant messaging service IMVU. The startup had just been touted by Menlo Ventures' Shawn Carolan as a vibrant community of animated characters. Slade called the idea "wacko" and said it provides more evidence that "we are in Bubble 2.0."

BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION WINNERS: The University of Washington's ninth annual business plan competition last week brought together entrepreneurial students from around the region looking to transform everything from the energy to communications industries. But in the end, it was a team consisting of Washington business, engineering and law students that took home the $25,000 grand prize. Thermopeutics, led by Amgen scientist Hongbo Chen, a surgeon and MBA candidate at the UW business school, is attempting to develop a long-lasting "thermogel" that assists in post-surgical pain relief. Other team members include Christopher Brown, Anna Fishburn, Connie Wan and John Gagnon.

Interestingly, Thermopeutics was the only team from the UW to make it into the final four this year.

The second-place finisher was BrightWave, a team of Washington State University MBA students that touted a home inspection tool that pinpoints mold, moisture and other problem areas inside walls. BrightWave won $15,000.

Seattle University scored with two teams in the final four. Cardinal Winds won $5,000 for its remanufactured wind turbines, and Ivus Industries won $5,000 for a rechargeable flashlight.

The competition drew 62 entries from eight universities, with more than 180 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and attorneys volunteering to coach teams or judge presentations.

The final presentations were judged by a high-profile panel of entrepreneurs, including Cranium founder Richard Tait, Second Act Partners founder Jack Gallagher and iConclude Chief Executive Sunny Gupta.

FROM BOSTON TO SEATTLE: Farecast Chief Executive Hugh Crean is a Boston guy. The 34-year-old graduate of Boston College moved to Seattle from Beantown in 2004 to take over the top post at Farecast, an online travel startup.

So is that the reason the company's new online airfare prediction service is starting out with Seattle and Boston as its two test markets?

Crean says that's not the case, adding that the two cities have a large percentage of people who use online travel services. He added that both Logan and Sea-Tac airports have a lot of airlines serving them, creating a good deal of price volatility and making them ideal test beds.

"It was just pure coincidence that it ended up being the last two cities that I have lived in," he said.