UF Startup Launch Competition Demo Day
Ever had an idea for a company or the thought of one day being an entrepreneur? Come learn from a founder who has taken a startup from idea to millions in annual revenue and hear investors share the top things they look for in a startup before deciding to write them a check.
The UF Startup Launch Competition kicked off in early November and student teams have been working around the clock to build their startups. The top 3 teams will be presenting at demo day for a panel of judges comprised of venture capitalists, angel investors and accomplished entrepreneurs. Before hearing the pitches, attendees will get a chance to hear judges speak and ask them questions.
SPEAKERS
VC Panel
Andreas Calabrese, General Partner at Tampa bay Ventures; Nick Guerero, VC at PS27 Ventures; Kelly Reeser, Managing Director at TechFarms Capital; Kyle Asman, Managing Director at Backswing Ventures
Founder Panel
Samyr Qureshi, Co-founder/CEO of Knack, a peer-to-peer tutoring marketplace. Samyr started Knack with Dennis Hansen in 2015 while they were students at UF. They took home 1st place in the UF Big Idea Competition in 2016 and have since raised over $10m to scale their platform to universities all over the nation.
Thomas Reed, Co-founder/Chief Production Officer of Altavian, a drone company focused on gathering data with both military and commercial applications. Thomas Reed and Thomas Rambo started Altavian while they were engineering students at UF; they scaled the company to over 40 employees and sold it in 2020.
AGENDA
4-4:15 - intro to demo day
4:15-4:45 - founder keynote
4:45-5:15 - venture capitalist panel
5:15-5:45 - student founder pitches
5:45-6:00 - announce winner and closing remarks
This program is hosted by OneSixOne Ventures with support from UF Warrington College of Business - Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center.