Fly! Mocs Business Pitch Competition winners received checks for their business ideas. Photo by Flint Chaney.
Rizwaan Abdulkadir still remembers his first attempt at pitching a business idea.
It was during an entrepreneurship competition in high school. His presentation was packed with data and a carefully thought concept, but he didn’t place. The judges didn’t really “get it,” he said.
“They didn’t think of it as real,” said Abdulkadir, a Chattanooga native. “My friend asked, ‘What do we need to change?’ They’re like, ‘If we actually had to put money down, we’d choose yours.’ That showed me that we had a really thought-out thing—but we weren’t entertaining.”
Years later, he got the chance to try again—this time at the Fly! Mocs Business Pitch Competition on Thursday, April 17, hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE).
The competition gave students a chance to pitch startup ideas to a panel of industry judges and, for the first time, received sponsorship from the Spencer Patton Foundation—which contributed $10,000 in prize money and helped raise the event’s profile.
“They brought structure, they brought money and they brought people,” CIE Director Mike Bradshaw said. “What more could you ask for?”
“The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UTC stood out to us and we have a deep respect for the foundation they’ve laid to support entrepreneurs in the region,” said Kylie Larson, chief brand director for the Spencer Patton Foundation. “Their team isn’t just talking about innovation—they’re building the systems, offering the resources and doing the hard work of helping people turn ideas into real businesses.”
Spencer Patton, a Tennessee native and founder of multiple successful companies, served as a judge for the competition.
“Entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful economic forces of change in the universe,” Patton said in his opening remarks. “It is incredible what one successful entrepreneur can do for their community.”
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Fly! Pitch judges included:
- Spencer Patton, Patton Foundation
- Marua Bradshaw, Look Up LLC
- Donna Ehart, The Company Lab
- Clark Holt, 50/50 Wine and Martini Bar
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Rizwaan Abdulkadir (left) poses with Spencer Patton after receiving the top prize for his business “Parleii.” Photo by Flint Chaney.
Abdulkadir’s business “Parleii” took home the top prize of $5,000.
The business originated as a class project during his senior year at UTC as a computer engineering student. “Parleii” offers pre-assembled circuit boards and a custom software platform to help students and instructors practice safer and more streamlined lab work.
Abdulkadir, who is now pursuing a master’s degree in electrical engineering, said the Fly! Pitch experience helped him gain confidence in his presenting abilities.
“It wasn’t until Mike (Bradshaw) invited us to his last competition last semester when we actually started thinking, ‘OK, let’s try to make a business plan,’” he said. “The last competition is what actually motivated me to realize that I do have some skills.”
Second place and $2,500 went to “rainipak,” a student team consisting of Knox Brashier, Amber Briggs, Sydney Brooks, Ainsley Gillespie and Apryl Johnson. Their product—a waterproof crossbody bag with built-in umbrella storage—is designed to make it easier for students to get to class on rainy days without having to carry a wet umbrella into class.
Connor Mackey received third place and $1,000 for “customduckmaker.com,” a platform where users can generate and 3D print AI-created duck models. Mackey has more than 123,000 downloads on MakerWorld and said the tool is aimed at creators who want to “design ducks like me in minutes with no 3D design software.”
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Three competitors earned $500 each for their presentations:
- Pearson Smith and Harrison Faulkner – The Wellness Stage
- Carter Ramthun – Field Locker
- Ana Morris – Foodies
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“The Fly Pitch Competition tries to stand in the way of the ‘build it and they will come’ mentality,” Bradshaw said. “We’re trying to turn guesses into facts.”
Bradshaw said that the Fly Pitch competition encourages students to test their ideas early, talk to real customers and figure out what actually works before investing time or money into building a business.
“Getting up on stage, thinking your way through a problem, articulating a vision, persuading people and presenting real evidence—it creates something in a student’s mind that I don’t know how you get any other way unless you’re out there pitching in front of investors,” he said.
Whether they walked away with a check or not, Bradshaw said the competition is ultimately about experience.
“Our success isn’t launching former student-run businesses,” he said. “Our success is in providing a meaningful experience that helps prepare students for life outside of the academic program.”
Learn more
UTC Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Competition participants presented their ideas at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
