About Get Seeded
Get Seeded provides students with the opportunity to pitch their ideas to an audience of their peers. Teams that are selected to pitch have an opportunity to earn up to $1,000 in seed funding for their idea, mentorship, as well as support from other students who may be interested in joining their team. Students that do not yet have ideas or who are not ready to pitch, are invited to attend. The audience votes on which teams are funded. Get Seeded pitch nights are open to all students and is a great way to network and connect with other students.
Winning Teams:
2020-2021
Medical Minds Matter ($1,000) - Parth Patel & Sumeet Kadian, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, and Paige Long, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Energy Helpers ($750)- Connor Ratte, School of Business
Frontlines ($500) - Sameer Laul & Sahil Laul, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
BeeWell ($1,000): Raina Jain, School of Engineering
Reach Bar ($750): Eva Quigley, College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources
Refreshr ($500): Alex Kim, Jamison Cote and Prabhas KC, School of Business
Immaculate the Brand ($1000): Patricia Oliva, School of Business and Djuly Fleurant
SchoolME ($750): Hritish Bhargava, School of Engineering and Abhishek Bhargava
Flush Warranty ($500): Nick Anderson, School of Business
2019-2020
AERI ($1,000): Bryan Koski-Bissonnette and Jason Wilerson, School of Business, Stanley Chen, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Noah Pacik-Nelso and Will Boyd, School of Engineering
Black Swan Biosciences ($600): Robert Samples, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Bloom ($500): Ben Grosse, School of Business
Chiron Recovery ($1,000): Christopher Papa, School of Business
Chronic Disease Software ($996.93): Tatjana Knezevic, School of Business
CTOP Wireless Charging ($500): Kevin Chn, Michal Ciebielski, School of Engineering and Michael Gaulin, School of Business
Gridlite ($1,000): Allyn Sweet and Dylan Nenadal, School of Business
iRIS ($500): Tyler Shoban and Ryan Checo, School of Engineering and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Kona Brand ($1,000): Zachary Will, School of Business
Kweza Women's Brewery ($951.23): Meg North, School of Business
MIIST ($1,000): Evan Alfano, School of Business
Milgaia's Way ($700): Rosalinda Ratino and Keian'na Beeson, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Momentum ($1,000): Janoye Williams, School of Business
NHS Solutions ($1,000): Timothy Krupski, School of Business and School of Engineering
Omega Lighter ($500): Bryant Caron and Matt Ruyffelaert, School of Business and School of Engineering
SimpliGreen ($850): Matthew Ternullo, School of Business and College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources
StartHub Africa ($800): Astou Diallo, Lydia Hanlon and Merlin Stein, School of Business and Philip Gitman, School of Engineering
StudEase ($800): Benjamin Buchanan, Donna Agogliati and Lenny Adams, School of Engineering
S.U.N. ($850): Alex Oddo, College of Liberal Arts and Adam Yaeger, Evan Earle, and Jason St. Peter, School of Business
Traveling Interactive Museums ($700): Michael Toomey, School of Fine Arts
VeraDermics ($1,000): Madeline DeWane, School of Medicine
Women and Kids Empowerment ($700): Batouly Camara, Neag School of Education
WECAN ($1,000): Astou Diallo, School of Business
Wrap Up ($500): Kishan Patel, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
2018-2019
Auto Combat ($1,000): Stefan Lopuszanski, School of Fine Arts
Bend the Trend ($500): Julia Gilliard, School of Business
Cook Safe ($700): Joseph Maloney, School of Engineering
CT Insure ($500): Adam Gelbs and James Willson, School of Business
Cultivation ($800): Nathan Smith, ACES
Curated CT ($1,000): Donald Pendagast and Shelby Iapoce-Lintz, School of Business
FitTrek ($400): Joe Rapisarda School of Business, Aakash Balaji School of Engineering and Tatyana Marugg School of Law
Follow ($1,000): Alec Richards and Caleb Saleeby, School of Business, Aakash Balaji and Zach Zambuto, School of Engineering
Fusion Technologies ($500): Nicholas Wehrle and Ray Li, School of Business
Geyser Remediation ($1,000): Nikolas Franceschi-Hoffmann, School of Business and Engineering and Elizabeth Perry, School of Business
Heirloom Happy ($500): Donald Pendagast and Shelby Iapoce-Lintz, School of Business
Laundry Check ($500): Jared Lawrence, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Darien Campbell and Aditiya Dubey, School of Engineering
Levo International ($1,000): Christian Heiden, College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources
Next Generation Industries ($500): Jake Winter, Massyl, and Jeremy Amoro, School of Engineering
OutfitHunt ($500): Sayantan Acharjee, School of Business
Pisces Atlantic ($800): Peter Goggins, College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources
Roast Me ($500): Ben Morneault and Chris Muller, School of Business and Ato Eyyiah, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Robin Food ($500): Matthew Yang, School of Engineering
Secure Election Systems ($500): Daniel Ruskin, School of Engineering
Transit2College ($400): Brendan Mabey, ACES, Michael DaCosta, School of Business and Ankit Saini, School of Engineering
Unlimino ($300): Jack Matherson and Pranav Thaker, School of Business, Andrew Martino and Brandon Lebiszczak, School of Engineering and Harrison Burr, School of Fine Arts
Voyager ($500): Jack Kimball, School of Business
The Team:
FAQs
Is there an application deadline for Get Seeded? Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and teams can apply for any of the pitch dates at any time. If the pitch night is full, the application will be rolled to the next pitch night.
What if I am not selected to pitch? If you are not selected to pitch, program mentors will provide teams with feedback on how to make their application better for the next round.
What if I don't have an idea, can I still attend the event? YES! The Get Seeded Pitch Nights are just as much for those who are pitching as it is for audience members to provide feedback and vote. The audience plays a role in which teams are funded.
What if my idea is very early, should I still apply? YES! The goal of Get Seeded is to support student's ideas and help them move their idea to the next level. As long as you have thought through your idea enough that you can pitch about it for 5 minutes and answer 3 minutes of questions, and have a need for funding, this program is the right fit for your idea.
What if I pitch and I am not funded? If you pitch and are not funded, the program mentors will provide the team with feedback and suggestions on ways to improve. Teams can reapply to pitch at a future pitch night.
What if I was funded through Get Seeded, can I pitch again? Students that have been funded before can pitch again, however, it has to be with a completely new business idea! Teams cannot pitch for additional funding after being funded already. Get Seeded is intended to move students ideas to the next level. If you have used your funding and are looking for additional resources, please contact CCEI's Director, Jen Murphy at jennifer@uconn.edu
I keep seeing the word "team" but there is only one person working on my idea, can I still pitch? YES! The word "team" is how we categorize each idea, so you can certainly be a team of one! Hopefully after one pitch night, you will make connections and potentially add additional members if that is what you are looking for!
I am pitching, can I invite my friends to attend the pitch night? YES! We encourage teams to bring friends to the event!
What is the format of the pitches? Each team will have 5 minutes to pitch their idea with 3 minutes of Q&A from the audience. Teams will be provided with a template and suggested outline that they can use when building their pitch.
Can I get help reviewing my pitch deck prior to participating in Get Seeded? YES! Feel free to send us an email on ccei@uconn.edu with 'Pitch Deck Review' as the subject.
What can the funding be used for? Funding can be used for almost anything which the exception of: Any travel not affiliated with customer research or discovery, the purchase, rent, and renovation of office/business space, equipment that is not the core of the business (e.g., cell phones, laptops, etc.), salaries of founding team members, and no illegal substances.
Program Sponsors:
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