The Gary W. Rollins College of Business Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship and the UTC E-Club hosted the 2019 Southeast Entrepreneurship Conference(SEEC) on the UTC campus March 1 and 2.
Students from UTC and from colleges and universities around the country participated in the two-day event. Students heard from the founders of successful start-up companies, angel investors, attorneys, and digital marketers. Many students also participated in a pitch contest where they were able to win prize money to put towards their venture ideas.
SEEC is a student-focused, regional entrepreneurship conference. UTC was thrilled to host the conference for the third year in a row in Chattanooga with support provided by the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization.
The conference was attended not only by students and faculty advisors from Tennessee, but also Mississippi, Iowa, Ohio, Alabama and Florida.
“The 2019 Southeast Entrepreneurship Conference was another tremendous success! This was our third year hosting the event and in addition to our own UTC students, we had attendees from sixteen other colleges and universities, hailing from Iowa to Florida. The conference allowed us to showcase to these collegiate entrepreneurs what a great place Chattanooga is to live, work and play…and to be an entrepreneur!” said Professor Libby Santin, Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business at UTC.
A whopping 36 students participated in the pitch competition and presented their new venture ideas in 90 seconds. Contestants were coached and critiqued by local entrepreneurship professionals. The winners of the 2019 SEEC Pitch Competition are as follows:
1st Place: Dyad Syringe – Bryson Pritchard – Stetson University. The Dyad Syringe is a multi-compartment syringe used to deploy two solutions at once. Traditionally, medication 
administration takes two syringes to properly give a patient an IV.
2nd Place: VerdiLife LLC – Mahdi Eghbali and William Braverman – University of Iowa. VerdiLife strives to make the Earth a healthier planet by replacing harmful agrochemicals with an all-natural solution. VerdiLife produces a 100% organic fertilizer and pesticide, derived from wood waste, produced via a unique environmentally-friendly process with zero emissions.1st
3rd Place: PlateMap – Jaynanne Sheehan – Kent State University. PlateMap is a gamified mobile application for kids to help reduce accidental allergic food reactions.
