Meet the Six Finalists for Knoxville’s Startup Day 2017 Pitch Competition

Innov865 Week is a week-long series of events, taking place September 18–21, 2017, to celebrate and showcase Knoxville as a great place for entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses.
We have partnered with the Innov865 Alliance to bring you stories of innovation born in East Tennessee.
In less than a month, six east Tennessee startups will vie for a chance to win up to $15,000 to grow their business on the U.S. Cellular Stage at The Bijou Theatre in Knoxville. “This year’s Startup Day pitch competitors more than exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit found here in East Tennessee,” says Jim Biggs, Executive Director of the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center (KEC). “I am excited to see just how far they will go.”
The 2017 Startup Day pitch competition, the capstone event to the second annual Innov865 Week in September 18–22, will have something new in addition to the finalists. The competition will feature two prize categories: the Startup Day 2017 Judge’s Choice Prize presented by the Innov865 Alliance, worth $10,000, and the Startup Day 2017 Crowd Favorite Prize presented by SunTrust Bank, worth $5,000. Competitors will have an opportunity to win both prizes for a grand total of $15,000.
Startup Day is free and open to the public, as are most events during Innov865 Week. Be sure to RSVP at http://innov865week.com/register/
Let’s meet the finalists:
Mac Bartine, Smart RIA
Smart RIA is a cloud-based, secure software platform that simplifies and automates regulatory compliance for the registered investment advisor (RIA) industry, serving firms that are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Smart RIA’s software streamlines the process through customized tools that use customer data to track and address compliance issues.
In the current cohort of KEC’s The Works accelerator program, you may have seen Smart RIA before; they were part of the Village 36 startups and pitched on stage at 36|86 entrepreneurship and innovation conference.
Anna Douglas, SkyNano Technologies
SkyNano Technologies has developed an open system manufacturing technique to produce low cost, high value carbon nanotubes, a material with potential applications in a variety of areas from energy storage to consumer electronics. Compared to traditional manufacturing processes that require high vacuum and high pressure gas flow systems, SkyNano’s patent-pending technology relies on the electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide, resulting in a process that is lower in cost and scalable for commercial applications.
SkyNano was part of the first cohort of Innovation Crossroads, an ORNL-supported entrepreneur program in energy.
Flora Ellis, Unveil
Unveil is a free online tool that makes wedding planning much easier. The Unveil team has taken the experiences of a hundred couples who planned their own weddings and distilled their feedback into a comprehensive and easy-to-use tool. With Unveil, couples can compare vendors side-by-side to make important hiring decisions.
Brandon Hardin, Joyce Development, LLC
Joyce Development, LLC has developed the Command Glove™, a lightweight, Bluetooth enabled glove embedded with sensors that control functions on electronic devices, such as cell phones, mp3 players, and tablets. The Command Glove™’s patent pending technology promises to change the way people interact with electronics, making it easier and more efficient to interface with wearables and mobile technology while on the go.
Hardin is no stranger to pitch competitions in Knoxville. He recently won $10,000 at Knoxville Area Urban League’s Paradigm Challenge. More on Hardin can be found on Tom Ballard’s Teknovation profile.
Jonaaron Jones, Volunteer Aerospace
Volunteer Aerospace, Inc. (VAI) uses metal powder bed additive manufacturing to produce hardware and fully functional prototypes for the aerospace and defense industries. VAI uses state-of-the-art additive equipment that has been production hardened to produce aerospace grade components with lower lead times.
Melissa Kreis-Stephens, Tomboy Organic Skincare
Tomboy Organic Skincare is an organic skin care company for adventure enthusiasts that formulates plant salves, skin care products, and makeup using herbs and roots from the southeast’s native deciduous forests. Born from an experiment to create a poison ivy salve in a Tennessee high school science classroom, Tomboy Organic Skincare has expanded its focus to create earth-inspired, preservative-free products that provide relief from sunburn, sore muscles, scars, and insect bites and stings.
The company was awarded the American Choice Best Brand Award in 2016 and its War Woman Scar Oil Salve was recognized as one of Trailblazer Girl’s Top Skin Care Products of 2016.
