{"id":10488,"date":"2014-02-03T13:23:50","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T18:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=10488"},"modified":"2014-02-07T15:05:22","modified_gmt":"2014-02-07T20:05:22","slug":"utc-student-entrepreneurs-win-trip-tampa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2014\/02\/utc-student-entrepreneurs-win-trip-tampa\/","title":{"rendered":"UTC student entrepreneurs win a trip to Tampa"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Zach Taylor, University Relations Student Writer<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

Three UTC students walked away with start-up capital and a paid trip to Tampa, Florida, following the second annual Elevator Pitch Competition. Sponsored by the UTC College of Business CEO Club, seven contestants were given 90 seconds to summarize and deliver a pitch for their business ideas to a panel of judges.<\/p>\n

\"Left<\/a>

Left to right: Stuart French and Andrew McPherson, the first place winners of this year’s competition<\/p><\/div>\n

This year\u2019s first place winners and the recipients of $2,000 were Andrew McPherson, a junior Computer Science major, and Stuart French, a junior Computer Science: Software Systems major, with their project, Viditor<\/a>. The program is a comprehensive online video development environment that allows users to collaborate in real time during the editing process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed the opportunity to talk about our project and ideas. It\u2019s been great getting to meet so many interesting and inspirational people throughout this whole process,\u201d said McPherson.<\/p>\n

Accessible through a desktop, laptop, tablet, or handheld device, Viditor is run completely online, allowing users to access and edit projects anywhere and at any time.<\/p>\n

Chelsea Larkins, a senior Entrepreneurship and Marketing major, finished in second place, and was awarded $1,000, for Temp Tats, an organically based vanishing tattoo ink. The tattoo can last between two to five years, depending on what the customer wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a great experience for myself and everyone else involved. I received very constructive guidance from professors and other advisors and gained a lot of insight into networking and how to represent myself and my ideas. From working on the marketing aspect as well as the legal side of things with a lawyer, I feel much more confident about my vision and moving my business forward,\u201d said Larkins.<\/p>\n

Larkins\u2019 goal is to provide the freedom of choice to customers, while expanding the market by allowing people who don\u2019t want to commit to a permanent tattoo to still get one. Larkins plans to sell the ink to parlors across the country.<\/p>\n

Other contestants included:<\/p>\n