On Thursday, May 4, 2017, seven local entrepreneurs pitched their innovative business ideas to an audience of nearly 100 at the Model City Event Center in Kingsport, Tennessee.
Pitches and Pints is an event that was conceptualized by Startup Tri-Cities, a network of entrepreneurs and organizations that support new startups as they take their big ideas from concept to reality. This is the second time that Startup Tri-Cities has hosted the Pitches and Pints event and they look forward to hosting this event again in the future.
The Startup Tri-Cities team describes Pitches & Pints as, “An event that was created by active entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. A startup community is stronger when the talented people behind the companies come together and network on a regular basis.” Pitches and Pints is just one of the ways that entrepreneurs can “stand up, stand out, and start something new together” in the Tri-Cities.
(L-R: Edwin Williams, Arnab Chakraborty, Travis Rother, and David Nelson.)
At the Spring Pitches and Pints event this past week, seven entrepreneurs pitched their big ideas, with three taking home prizes.
John Cowan of Pano took home the grand prize, opening his pitch with “Students are missing out on events. Organizations are having trouble targeting students.” His idea is the solution to that problem. Pano is an app that crowdsources activities from colleges, student organizations, and thousands of students on campus, so you never miss out on something fun to do again.
Coming in second was Michael Rice of IncrediMed with his core product called HealthBase, a population health management solution. “We’re trying to help change patient behaviors,” Rice stated during his presentation. “With IncrediMed’s real-time predictive analytics engine, we are delivering better results and more clinically relevant information to doctors, caregivers, and patients.”
And in third place was Luke Champouillon who presented his concept of developing a large family-friendly sports complex in Johnson City, featuring the area’s first indoor skate park, as part of the revitalization of downtown. He describes the complex as “The region’s best action sport complex,” that will also offer merchandise, a cafe, music, a yoga studio, special events and more.
Other startups who pitched were:
- Ben Collins – Cami.tv is an easy-to-use, content management device that is USB-powered and works wirelessly with nearly any digital screen.
- Charles Kunene – Obaa is a group collaboration platform designed to allow users to communicate and collaborate on files without any 3rd-part integrations.
- James Eaton – Thought Box Creative, a media production and management company, helps businesses and organizations tell their stories online through quality media to attract the right clients.
- Paul Champion – SpectrumVR, a virtual reality concept designed to help children with autism learn important communication and life skills.
Startup Tri-Cities was founded by AccelNow clients, David Nelson and Travis Rother, of BrewFund, Arnab Chakraborty of Flow MedTech, and Edwin Williams of Perserbid. Their joint effort to create an organization to support and give back to the entrepreneurial community through training and networking is one of the ways that the Northeast TN entrepreneurial environment is evolving and growing.
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