Working on his plan up until the very last minute, literally, must have paid off -- Ravit of West Palm Beach tied for third place for his plan for a national provider of DVD rentals for college students.

Judges were most impressed with Ravit's very targeted marketing plan -- from finding the busiest locations for his kiosks to figuring out which titles to offer. Ravit's partner in the business is Marc A. Spungin, a money manager who invests in and also advises the 25-year-old Ravit on running his first business.

There are already plenty of kiosks around the country in large retail and grocery chains but not on university campuses. The big companies that control those kiosks don't want to deal with university red tape or the slow summer and holiday breaks that are inevitable, Ravit reasons.

But Ravit sees the upsides of his market: College students tend to be impulse buyers. They generally represent a captive marketplace (read: no car). They also aren't fond of committing to long-term relationships, like cable and movie subscription services.

Ravit's model is simple: Locate the kiosks in busy areas of campus, stock them with current hits like Slumdog Millionaire and price them right. "In this economy, everyone would love to save a buck, " Ravit said.

As retail locations such as Blockbusters diminish, the kiosk market has grown. While the overall DVD rental market is projected to remain essentially unchanged at $8.2 billion in annual revenue over the next three years, kiosk revenue will nearly triple to $1.2 billion by 2013, according to Adams Media Research.

And Ravit points out: If you fail at a retail location, it's a big deal. If you fail at a kiosk location, you just move it.

Since January, he has positioned four kiosks around the country, mainly in the snow belt. His first Florida location -- Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach -- is set to open in a couple of weeks. Close to 20 other contracts are pending.

Ravit chooses his locations carefully, favoring schools with high dorm occupancy and strong summer programs.

His top-selling location is a grocery near University of Wisconsin at Madison housing, where movie rentals go for $1.49 a night. "It brings people to my store and they buy other items, like beer, chips and pizza, " said Mitch Eveland, owner of Capitol Centre Market. "It's also a service for them. A lot of my customers don't have cars."

Eveland pointed out that his customers can easily go to his website to find a link to UniversiDVD. There they can see a constantly updated list of the 60 or so movies available at his store and how many copies are left.

"We're real happy with the way things are going. Bryan makes it very easy for us to be successful, " added Eveland. All he has to do is load new DVD releases every Tuesday. Ravit selects them using research and polling data on popularity, the college market and other factors and sends them to Eveland.

Ravit runs and tracks the business remotely, down to the return on investment of each DVD. Once a movie loses its rental luster, it is sold for between $29.99 and $5.99, depending on supply and demand.

Another way UniversiDVD differentiates itself from the competition and further targets its market: Those side panels on the kiosks can display plenty of paid advertising. DVD cases are another opportunity. One kiosk recently brought in more than $1,000 in monthly ad revenue -- but Ravit said the potential is there to make up to $5,300 per machine at his current pricing.

His advertising strategy is still evolving. At one location he is partnering with the student newspaper. He is also considering outsourcing.

Judges were impressed with his financial plan, including clear, logical unit pricing and internal rate of return projections for potential investors. Ravit plans to grow to at least 70 kiosks by 2011.

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