Startup Mountain Summit kicks off with Pitch contest, awarding two out-of-state founders
The Pitch is normally held at the TVA Credit Union Ballpark; however, due to dropping temperatures, it was moved to the ETSU campus.
For the first time in the history of the FoundersForge Pitch event, the start-up support organization welcomed out-of-town and out-of-region founders to pitch in Appalachia. The line-up of six entrepreneurs included three from in-town and three from out-of-town.
David Nelson, the Executive Director of FoundersForge, explained his intention behind the idea. The first part was to compare and show Tri-Cities founders to what other entrepreneurs are working on across the county, and the second intention was to expose out-of-state founders to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Northeast Tennessee. As such, three founders were from the Tri-Cities, and the other three traveled in from Los Angeles, Chicago, and Wilmington, NC.
Winner of $10,000 | Top Tier Lessons
Joining the Startup Mountain Summit Pitch contest from Chicago, Illinois, Cara Bognar pitched her company, Top Tier Lessons, as a way to connect families with NCAA athletes for private or small-group sports coaching.
Bognar was a team captain of the swim team at the University of Illinois, living her dream as a student athlete. The news of the NIL legislation was exciting for her and her teammates. They were all working very hard and had hoped NIL would help them make money on the side of their schooling and training.
“We watched this billion-dollar market take off in just the first year alone… and quickly realized that we weren’t the target market for it,” she said. “My teammates and I weren’t able to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars of merchandise online.”
But there are certain pockets of people who would benefit from learning from NIL athletes.
“We’re an online platform that matches college student athletes with parents looking for sports lessons, camps, and clinics for their kids,” Bognar said.
The start-up handles venues, scheduling, payments, and ensures NIL and safety compliance to create scalable youth sports opportunities. The platform launched in February with $1,000 in sales. Today, Top Tier Lessons has grown to over $17,000 in monthly sales to date, with a lifetime value of over $200 for every customer who comes on our platform.
Winner of $1,000 | PADí
Joining the Startup Mountain Summit Pitch contest from Los Angeles, California, Titilope Olotu pitched her women’s health start-up, PADÍ. It is the first of its kind menstrual pad designed by a woman, for women. But it’s more than a traditional pad. The pads are made with biodegradable banana fibers, which are embedded with microfluidic biosensors that can detect reproductive health issues (such as PCOS, UTIs, and anemia) via colorimetric changes.
Users of PADÍ can also tap into the user-centric platform, which uses AI features to offer personalized health insights.
Winner of $500 | ZyNori
Founded by Jessica Patrone and Beth Jenks, ZyNori is a women’s health telehealth platform focused on menopause and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The platform couples treatment and education to fill care gaps and improve access for women.
The other participants in the pitch contest were Verora Solutions, founded by Tracy Skinner. He shared about his invention, which is a portable hybrid exercise device for stroke recovery.
AJ Trelease drove seven hours from Wilmington, NC, to pitch his company, HomeCare Health, and its “Graciela” device. It is a smart medication dispensing device and caregiver app for seniors.
And Joseph Paysinger also pitched his start-up called N.E.M. Sports, which is developing a multifunctional basketball training system designed to elevate player development. He said his system, called an “SRV Trainer,” helps athletes improve rebounding, shooting, and other essential basketball skills.
This year, the Pitch served as the opening ceremony to the Startup Mountain Summit, which takes place on Friday and Saturday. Other featured programming on Friday includes Adventure Networking, presentations on patents, search engine optimization, and a funding with Market Square Venture’s Brandon Bruce, Launch Tennessee’s Avery McConkey, and Pathway Lending’s Paige McVity. Saturday’s programming includes brand-building with Amanda Goetz, using AI to innovate with Katie Taylor, and a virtual keynote with Brad Feld, the co-founder of Techstars.
Regional awareness seems to be a key theme for this year’s conference. At the beginning of the program, Nelson announced that attendees registered from 14 different states, and that more than 200 founders would be in attendance throughout the weekend of events.
Learn more about the Summit here.
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