On Thursday, April 13th, the Spring 2017 cohort of the UGA Idea Accelerator will complete an 8-week program with a pitch competition in front of a panel of local judges at 5:30pm at the UGA Thinc Studio in downtown Athens. Finalists will pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges in hopes of winning $5,000 while, past and current Idea Accelerator participants will be on hand to talk about their entrepreneurial ventures, including the Fall 2016 winner, Nedza’s Waffles, who will be selling their waffles & ice cream.

Sponsored by the Advanced Technology Development Center, the UGA Entrepreneurship Program, Aprio, and Fulcrum Capital, the sixth cohort of the Idea Accelerator program began in February with over 35 original teams from UGA and the local Athens community. Over the course of the 8-week curriculum designed by ATDC, the initial 35 was whittled down to a final 10 based on key startup success areas such as Customer Discovery, Financial Literacy, and Investor Readiness. In the final pitch competition, judges will assess each idea’s business viability, the problem being solved, whether the solution actually solves the problem, and how suited the team members are to the task. The panel of judges will include Jud Doherty (Stadion Asset Management), Rick Fine (ten.0), Lisa Rawls (Evergreen CFO), Lee Collier (Docebo), and others.

The Idea Accelerator is operated by local economic development nonprofit Four Athens in partnership with the program’s sponsors, and representatives from each sponsoring organizations serve as subject matter experts, mentors, and guides for the participating teams. Applications to join the Fall 2017 cohort will open May 1st at fourathens.com/accelerator.

Since its first round two years ago, the Idea Accelerator has awarded $25,000 to five winning business teams, including the winners of the Fall 2016 class, Nedza’s Waffles, winners of the Spring 2016 competition, MiraBlue Bio, a biotech startup led by student Song Kue, and QuickPick, led by UGA student Larson Collier. Other previous winners include eleez, a concert ticketing startup, and the first cohort winner, Athens-based adventure sharing platform Vestigo.

The Spring 2017 Accelerator pitch event is part of the second annual Athens GA Startup Week, a week-long series of programming designed to support and strengthen the local entrepreneurial community through open opportunities to connect, learn, and be inspired by expertise and talent in the area while celebrating Athens’ unique culture. Part of the official TechStars Startup Week initiative, Athens GA Startup Week occurs April 10th through 14th. The complete event schedule is at athensgeorgia.startupweek.co.