This year's winning entry of Harvard Business School's annual Business Plan Contest is Karen Grajwer. Her venture, Uplift, was the first plan for a bra business to be submitted in the nine years of the contest's existence. The concept, which she is currently pitching to VCs and angels, involves using both retail and Internet channels to offer expert fitting assistance as well as sophisticated, fashionable bra styles for fuller-sized women. Her advice to future entrepreneurs:

"My advice is to know your market. Whatever it is you are selling, you should understand every aspect of it...To be successful you must truly understand every aspect of the psychology and the implications of what you are selling or providing. To do this right, you have to get out there and talk to everybody. There are subtleties to every number and every research organization that only industry insiders know, and they will tell you if you ask the right questions. Only by understanding what the numbers don't tell you can you really gain the insight necessary to succeed in a particular market."

Thanks to our friend Steve McDonnell at Mercer Human Resource Consulting for passing along this great article.