Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

The Traction Program is made up of bi-weekly workshops and office hours with the potential for seed funding based on participation and the opportunity to apply for incubation space. The workshops are free and open to all undergraduate and graduate students at UConn.

In this workshop, we will be discussing the foundational principles of introducing a new product or service to market. We will analyze and discuss best practices for conducting customer discovery to hone in on actionable customer problem statements, and ultimately market insights, to maximize success potential when launching a startup business. 

Office hours with the workshop instructor are available the following week to those that attended the workshop.

Traction Workshops are coordinated by the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI) at UConn. CCEI was founded in 2007, and is a focal point for entrepreneurial activity within the University. CCEI supports student, faculty, staff, and alumni entrepreneurs across all academic departments, schools, and colleges. For more info: ccei.uconn.edu

Have a business idea? Looking for seed funding to help you get started? Get Seeded provides UConn students across all schools the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a live virtual audience who then votes on which ideas are funded. Students that are selected to pitch have an opportunity to earn up to $1,000 in seed funding for their idea as well as support from other students who may be interested in joining their business venture.

Don’t have an idea yet? Not ready to pitch? Just want to watch other students pitch? Get Seeded pitch nights are open to the public and are a great way to network and connect!

Here’s how it works:

1. Interested students can apply to pitch an idea at one of our “Shark Tank style” pitch nights
2. Selected participants will then pitch their idea for 5 minutes at one of our virtual pitch nights to members of the audience
3. At the end of the night, the audience votes for their favorite ideas
4. The top 3 teams of the night will win $1,000, $750 and $500 respectively, in non-dilutive seed funding towards their new business venture or idea!
5. In April, the top five teams from our pitch nights are invited to pitch at Demo Day, where teams can win up to $5,000 in seed funding!

2023-2024 Pitch Nights

• October 10, 2023 at 6pm
• November 2, 2023 at 6pm
• December 6, 2023 at 6pm
• January 30, 2023 at 6pm
• February 22, 2023 at 6pm
• March 20, 2023 at 6pm
• Demo Day: April 16, 5pm

Apply to pitch at Get Seeded HERE

Teams are selected up to one week prior to the pitch night.

RSVP to attend an upcoming pitch night HERE

Get Seeded Pitch Competitions are coordinated by the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI) at UConn. CCEI was founded in 2007, and is a focal point for entrepreneurial activity within the University. CCEI supports student, faculty, staff, and alumni entrepreneurs across all academic departments, schools, and colleges. For more info: ccei.uconn.edu

Have a business idea? Looking for seed funding to help you get started? Get Seeded provides UConn students across all schools the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a live virtual audience who then votes on which ideas are funded. Students that are selected to pitch have an opportunity to earn up to $1,000 in seed funding for their idea as well as support from other students who may be interested in joining their business venture.

Don’t have an idea yet? Not ready to pitch? Just want to watch other students pitch? Get Seeded pitch nights are open to the public and are a great way to network and connect!

Here’s how it works:

1. Interested students can apply to pitch an idea at one of our “Shark Tank style” pitch nights
2. Selected participants will then pitch their idea for 5 minutes at one of our virtual pitch nights to members of the audience
3. At the end of the night, the audience votes for their favorite ideas
4. The top 3 teams of the night will win $1,000, $750 and $500 respectively, in non-dilutive seed funding towards their new business venture or idea!
5. In April, the top five teams from our pitch nights are invited to pitch at Demo Day, where teams can win up to $5,000 in seed funding!

2023-2024 Pitch Nights

• October 10, 2023 at 6pm
• November 2, 2023 at 6pm
• December 6, 2023 at 6pm
• January 30, 2023 at 6pm
• February 22, 2023 at 6pm
• March 20, 2023 at 6pm
• Demo Day: April 16, 5pm

Apply to pitch at Get Seeded HERE

Teams are selected up to one week prior to the pitch night.

RSVP to attend an upcoming pitch night HERE

Get Seeded Pitch Competitions are coordinated by the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI) at UConn. CCEI was founded in 2007, and is a focal point for entrepreneurial activity within the University. CCEI supports student, faculty, staff, and alumni entrepreneurs across all academic departments, schools, and colleges. For more info: ccei.uconn.edu

The Traction Program is made up of bi-weekly workshops and office hours with the potential for seed funding based on participation and the opportunity to apply for incubation space. The workshops are free and open to all undergraduate and graduate students at UConn.

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. It is a foundational document for detailing a startup company and is required to access debt and equity capital. In this workshop, we’ll discuss the key components of a business model (and the short form version, referred to as a Business Model Canvas) and how we can use it to highlight value creation and identify risks and assumptions in your business. All participants will leave the session having begun (or honed an existing) business model canvas.  

Office hours with the workshop instructor are available the following week to those that attended the workshop.

Traction Workshops are coordinated by the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI) at UConn. CCEI was founded in 2007, and is a focal point for entrepreneurial activity within the University. CCEI supports student, faculty, staff, and alumni entrepreneurs across all academic departments, schools, and colleges. For more info: ccei.uconn.edu

The Traction Program is made up of bi-weekly workshops and office hours with the potential for seed funding based on participation and the opportunity to apply for incubation space. The workshops are free and open to all undergraduate and graduate students at UConn.

Learn the basics of creating a pitch deck for your startup. A great pitch deck gets your audience excited about your idea and engages them in a conversation about your business — hopefully leading to investment. In this workshop we’ll cover what slides you should include in your deck, how you should structure your pitch and how to make your deck look visually appealing.

Office hours with the workshop instructor are available the following week to those that attended the workshop.

Traction Workshops are coordinated by the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI) at UConn. CCEI was founded in 2007, and is a focal point for entrepreneurial activity within the University. CCEI supports student, faculty, staff, and alumni entrepreneurs across all academic departments, schools, and colleges. For more info: ccei.uconn.edu

Have a business idea? Looking for seed funding to help you get started? Get Seeded provides UConn students across all schools the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a live virtual audience who then votes on which ideas are funded. Students that are selected to pitch have an opportunity to earn up to $1,000 in seed funding for their idea as well as support from other students who may be interested in joining their business venture.

Don’t have an idea yet? Not ready to pitch? Just want to watch other students pitch? Get Seeded pitch nights are open to the public and are a great way to network and connect!

Here’s how it works:

1. Interested students can apply to pitch an idea at one of our “Shark Tank style” pitch nights
2. Selected participants will then pitch their idea for 5 minutes at one of our virtual pitch nights to members of the audience
3. At the end of the night, the audience votes for their favorite ideas
4. The top 3 teams of the night will win $1,000, $750 and $500 respectively, in non-dilutive seed funding towards their new business venture or idea!
5. In April, the top five teams from our pitch nights are invited to pitch at Demo Day, where teams can win up to $5,000 in seed funding!

2023-2024 Pitch Nights

• October 10, 2023 at 6pm

• November 2, 2023 at 6pm

• December 6, 2023 at 6pm

• January 30, 2023 at 6pm

• February 22, 2023 at 6pm

• March 20, 2023 at 6pm

Demo Day: April 16, 5pm

Apply to pitch at Get Seeded HERE: https://ccei.uconn.edu/getseeded/

Teams are selected up to one week prior to the pitch night.

RSVP to attend an upcoming pitch night HERE: https://ccei.uconn.edu/getseeded/

Get Seeded Pitch Competitions are coordinated by the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI) at UConn. CCEI was founded in 2007, and is a focal point for entrepreneurial activity within the University. CCEI supports student, faculty, staff, and alumni entrepreneurs across all academic departments, schools, and colleges. For more info: ccei.uconn.edu