What's The Big Idea Pitch Competition - Finale

Join us for the 2025 What's The Big Idea Pitch Competition held at Scruffy City Hall in Market Square on Sunday, March 2nd. 

Finale Schedule: 

5:30 PM - Doors Open

6:00 PM - Event Kickoff 

6:15 PM - Pitches Start

8:00 PM - Winner Announced

Meet the Finalists!

0 CRB | Founder: Yewande Akinse

At 0 Crb, the big idea is to revolutionize sustainability by turning everyday products into tools for environmental impact. In addition, their patented CO2-to-O2 decomposition technology (0crb) captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converts it into breathable oxygen. This groundbreaking innovation transforms footwear and industrial systems into active climate solutions, empowering individuals and industries to combat climate change.

TeachCraft | Founder: Joel Smith

TeachCraft is a groundbreaking platform that helps teachers create impactful, standards-aligned Project-Based Learning (PBL) experiences. It integrates CASE-compliant standards with localized data (like health, labor, and historical trends) to help educators design engaging curriculum that is deeply connected to their students’ lives and communities. At its core, TeachCraft addresses one of the most pressing challenges in education today: teacher retention.

Partnerly | Founder: Blake Hopkins

Partnerly was created by a content creator who experienced firsthand the issues of finding the right partnerships as an influencer. Partnerly matches users with the right paid partnership candidate, helps them to negotiate efficiently, ensures all criteria is met, and assists with the payment process to complete the partnership.

Modern Day SAHM | Founder: Kimberly O'Neil

Modern Day SAHM connects moms with flexible, remote job opportunities tailored to their schedules, offer exclusive discounts to ease financial burdens, and foster a supportive community where they can share experiences and grow together. By partnering with businesses willing to hire talented moms, they are bridging the gap between motherhood and professional growth.

FibarCode | Founder: Brian Iezzi

FibarCode’s big idea aims to address one of the most challenging materials to sort, textiles, by embedding a fiber-based, digital label at the time of manufacture that allows for durable information transfer across the entire lifetime of the item. This fiber-based barcode, or Fibarcode, uses an all-polymer, recyclable composition, and leverages structural optical characteristics which allow low-cost, handheld detectors to be used, allowing for more widespread adoption.

DataRook - footyLab | Founder: Gustavo Alvarez-Suchini

DataRook’s “Big Idea” is footyLab, a groundbreaking program that transforms the soccer field into an engaging STEM learning laboratory. They address the critical STEM education gap by combining the excitement of youth soccer with hands-on data science, making complex concepts accessible and relevant, especially for underserved communities in the Knoxville area.