The 2018 Summer Launch Program completed its eight-week program with a pitch competition in front of a distinguished panel of judges on July 30. Automated chatbot company, bobchats, walked away with the top prize of $5,000.
The teams pitching their business ideas spent the previous eight weeks refining their concepts and working on acquiring paying customers, which five out of six teams were able to achieve. All participants in the Summer Launch Program are University of Georgia students and most were past participants in the UGA Idea Accelerator.
Conducted by the UGA Entrepreneurship Program with support from the Advanced Technology Development Center, the program is in its second year and focuses on getting new businesses to recurring revenue during the eight-week course.
“The Summer Launch Program at UGA is a great way for students to focus on their business ideas for an intensive eight-week session,” said Bob Pinckney, director of the UGA Entrepreneurship Program. “Getting a startup to revenue generation is a critical step in creating value for any business idea.”
Teams are selected for the program based on prior participation in the UGA Idea Accelerator program and the continuing growth of their business. During the program, teams are paired with business mentors to give them advice and feedback, focused on generating revenue.
Bobchats helps e-commerce owners automate online sales and marketing processes on social media platforms. Launched in May, the company has initial customers, revenue, and just brought on a chief technology officer to expand its platform. Founder and CEO Justin Hackney is an MBA student who previously ran his own marketing agency.
“The Summer Launch Program helped me narrow my focus on a particular customer base with a real need for my product,” Hackney said. “I was introduced to numerous advisers and potential customers during the program.”
In total, the Summer Launch Program and the UGA Idea Accelerator have awarded more than $100,000 to help student teams launch companies, including bobchats and spring 2018 winner AvantiCure.
Other participants, such as Fee Favor and Reservoir, went on to generate significant revenue, hire initial employees, and raise additional rounds of funding. Previous winners include Puppyfax, a platform for dog breeders, and the first cohort winner, Athens-based adventure sharing platform Vestigo.
The UGA Entrepreneurship Program is a campus-wide program open to UGA students from all academic majors. In addition to the Summer Launch Program and UGA Idea Accelerator, the Entrepreneurship Program oversees the UGA Next Top Entrepreneur Pitch Competition, the Georgia Kick Start Fund, and the Collegiate Consensus Great Brands Show (formerly the Collegiate Next Great Consumer Brands Pitch Competition).
The UGA Entrepreneurship Program is housed in the Terry College of Business and facilitates the UGA Certificate in Entrepreneurship at both the undergraduate and now graduate levels. New for fall 2018, the program introduces a Living Learning Community at Creswell Hall where incoming freshman live and connect with other entrepreneurial students and get an early start on their entrepreneurial journey.
For more information, contact the Entrepreneurship Program at ep@uga.edu or visit ugaentr.com.